The Dreamer - Book 1
by Cae-Leigh Anne
Summary: People always knew that there was different types of magic out there, most people had heard of a Wandless but what if there was something else, something that was even more feared and even rarer. How would you feel if you grew up not knowing just how different you were. Set in the Maruader's Era. First in the Dreamer Series.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Looking in through the window of the house that situated within the countryside one would think that the party goers were completely normal, but it wasn't until you looked closer and began listening into their conversation that you realised they were in fact wizards and witches and they practised magic.

It wasn't just that though, no, most of the people in attendance were a part of families that were considered to be sacred, some of them were even noble.

No one that they considered lower class was in attendance either, to them the party was only with the elite of society and that's the way it should stay.

There were murmurs among them about a rising power and because of the topic of conversation everyone was oblivious to two of the younger children in room doing as they pleased instead of following their parents' wishes.

"O?" a young boy with black shaggy hair and slate grey eyes whispered as he made his way through the room filled to the brim with people, he had lost the girl, the one friend he had at party.

"Over hear," the young boy turned around and found the girl standing there with bright red hair and bright blue eyes, more so a bright turquoise in colouring.

The boy frowned, taking in her nervous behaviour. She had never been one to be comfortable around a crowd, she stayed quiet and kept to the background but he knew the truth, he knew just how loud and outspoken she could be when she was comfortable.

"Octavia I do hope you and Sirius are behaving over there." Both of the young children turned and faced the man who had addressed them.

"Yes father," she nodded at him, he returned the nod before leaving the children to their own demises.

"Tell me again why we are here O?" Sirius asked and the girl rolled her eyes.

"You know why, Sirius. They are celebrating that we have been accepted into Hogwarts."

"I just can't wait to leave, two more days."

Octavia nodded in agreement. "Yes but we have my brother and sister to deal with while we are there."

"Oh we can't forget dear Bella and Narcissa." Sirius frowned at the mention of his cousins while Octavia placed a sympathetic hand on his arm.

"That's what happens when we belong to the prestige families like the Blacks and Carrows, come on let's go see if Dinky can bring some food to my room."

The Carrows and the Blacks had always been close but it wasn't until Cygnus Black and Amycus Carrow had opened a business back in the day, that brought the families closer together, and now it was booming, it was something both families still profited from. To begin with it was just a small realtor company but these days their company is almost always responsible for a building or apartment that has been put up for sale.

Cygnus and Amycus also happened to be Sirius and Octavia's great, great, great grandparents, just enough time for the realtor business to flourish.

"O, stop! What are you doing?" Sirius hissed when the two of were in the library.

Octavia looked at him in confusion for a moment before she found the book floating in front of her.

In the end Dinky refused to bring food for them to Octavia's room, Dinky couldn't go against Master and Mistresses' rules but stated that they were allowed to eat in the library.

"I didn't realise…" she whispered slightly and the book dropped with a thud.

They both sat there in silence, watching it almost as if it would levitate on its own again. This wasn't the first that Octavia had shown a bit of accident magic, hers seem to be more prominent than anyone else's.

It wasn't until the last couple of years when her older siblings at been at Hogwarts that it had gotten worse, but her parents had yet to realise what was going on. It was only Sirius that had noticed, the onetime Sirius' younger brother Regulus had noticed it they played it off that he was losing it and needed more sleep.

Sirius was worried about his friend, he didn't know how much longer they could keep her magic a secret. They left for Hogwarts in two days, wouldn't they see that something more was going on than accidental magic? There was a part of him that had hoped as long as she always had her wand on her person than no one would question it, just assumed she was a slight air head and she had to stop waving her wand around so much.

"Tell me again what Ollivander said," Sirius demanded and Octavia narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Why does it matter, we all know that he is a loon. The only reason we went to him was because Gregorovitch was forced to close up shop while the Aurors investigated him."

"Please O…" Sirius pleaded with the young girl and she eventually relented, taking a deep breath before speaking.

 _"We can expect great things from you, it may not be common practise to wield wands that are made from two different types of wood they are rare and the witch or wizard themselves are generally known for great things. It's rumoured that Merlin himself had two types of wood in his wand…_ He then began to ramble on about how it was strange that I had such a long wand for such a small body structure, he mentioned something about large personalities tend to control that aspect while he said nothing about my core although we all know that dragonheart strings are particularly powerful."

"Bloody unicorn hair…" Sirius muttered to himself causing Octavia to giggle.

She remembered when Sirius turned up to complain about his wand, in all tense and purposes it's like a typical male wand…until he mentions it has unicorn hair as a core. Octavia tried to remind him that it doesn't matter what the core is, it's how you use it but Sirius wouldn't hear her, he just continued to mutter about having a girls' wand.

"It's not that bad, just lie if people do ask you." She shrugged in response, it was something she was hoping to do. It wasn't until you looked at her wand closely that you could note the two different woods, she was lucky the two woods were similar in colour.

"Has Alecto said anything about your wand?"

"No one knows but you and it's only because you picked it up and noticed the colouring differences, they weren't even in the shop. They were too thrilled with the idea that Alecto was Prefect and Amycus was made Quidditch Captain. They were both getting presents while I was getting my wand."

"I also know because I'm worried about you O."

"It's just accident magic, I will grow out of it."

"You should have grown out of it by now."

"Who knows, maybe once I'm at Hogwarts it will be alright." Octavia tried to sound convincing, she needed to get Sirius off her back about her magic

"How are you going to be without dear old Reggie?" Sirius teased and Octavia couldn't help it, she picked up the cushion she was leaning against and threw it at him.

"Don't start, you're just jealous. I don't know how I would be having been promised to a Rosier." Octavia shivered while Sirius glared at her.

"What I don't understand is why it's only now that our two families are merging, why did they wait until now?" he questioned and she was silent at first, unsure of how to answer herself.

"Don't you remember all of our lessons? It wasn't until now that there was both a male and female in the same generation, most of our families have been boys."

"Why couldn't we have been promised to each other?" Sirius grumbled and Octavia silently agreed, but at least she got along with Regulus, to an extent anyway.

"No idea, something to do with our births? We know it's all done the moment we are born, maybe our parents thought it would be best to pair you off instead of hoping for another girl. I'm almost a year younger than you Sirius, I only just qualify for Hogwarts this year and Regulus is only a couple of months younger than me. Your mother had to have been pregnant with Regulus when I was born, they must have made the pact that had he been a boy we would be married one day." Octavia explained, having it had explained to her before with her being a girl and all, knowing one day she will have children and have to do the same thing one day.

"I still think it's stupid."

"Yes well we still have seven years to worry about it."

"No O, you have eight. You have to wait until Regulus graduates but I bet you anything, you will spend that year planning your wedding." Octavia stuck her tongue out at him in response and they both launched into a fit of laughs until tears were rolling down their cheeks.

The both stopped laughing as the door opened interrupting their conversation.

"Octavia there you are!" an older girl that shared a similar resemblance to Octavia, except she had green eyes instead of bright blue, barged into the room startling both the young children.

"We hoped if we sat in here we wouldn't disturb any of mother and father's guests Alecto."

"And that is understandable but now you are required back in the dining hall, you too Sirius."

Neither Octavia nor Sirius said anything as they stood up and followed Alecto out of the room and back downstairs to re-join the party.


	2. First Year - The Sorting

_First Year_

Chapter 1: The Sorting

"Now you be good this year Octavia, your brother and sister will be there for you if you need them. Don't forget to write and inform us that you have been sorted into Slytherin, I'm so proud of you for getting accepted into Hogwarts." Octavia just smiled at her mother and nodded, she could see the fake act a mile away but suspected her mother was only like this because of the people around them at the station.

"Of course mother, I will owl as soon as I can and I promise to go to Alecto or Amycus if I need to. You don't need to worry so much," she responded knowing that if she didn't act like she was the nervous first year with a caring mother that come Christmas time it will make things so much worse for her.

Octavia said her final goodbyes before climbing on to the train in search of her brother and sister, she knew Sirius would be here shortly but they stated she would sit with them and be introduced to some of the other children at Hogwarts that are more respectable than others. She knew it would be easier to just agree with her family and find Sirius later, she didn't want to question why Sirius wasn't forced to meet them either, maybe that was left to Narcissa and Bellatrix she thought.

She looked out the window just in time to see what she had hoped her departure had been like with her family, a young boy had a mother fussing over him with tears in her eyes, the father looking incredibly proud while the boy was trying to pull away due to embarrassment but yet he gave in hugging his mother back.

She pushed back her tears before opening the compartment door where she knew her brother and sister were waiting for her.

"So glad you can join us Octavia, surely you recognise everyone here?" she nodded sitting down, but didn't say anything. She might have recognised the faces coming and going throughout their house during the summer but she didn't know their names.

Alecto and Amycus must have noticed their sisters' discomfort and pulled their friends' focuses from their sister and into a conversation that would keep them distracted allowing Octavia the time to ease into the conversation.

"Ah Katarina there you are," Octavia jumped at the sound of the voice and looked over at the door that just opened, seeing a girl the same age as her looking in.

"Yes well you wanted me to come find you at some stage Nikolaus," the girl responded sounding bored.

"Octavia this is my cousin Katarina Greengrass, she like yourself will be going into her first year. Hopefully the two of you can become good friends." Octavia smiled at Katarina and she smiled in return.

She knew if she wanted an easy seven years at Hogwarts not being yelled at by her parents or siblings until they graduated, she knew she had to do as they requested. If they wanted her to make friends with the Greengrass girl then she would, she just hoped she wouldn't lose Sirius in the process but if he was her future brother in law, would she lose Sirius at all?

"You're Alecto and Amycus' younger sister aren't you?" Katarina questioned when she made herself comfortable next to Octavia.

"Yes I am, I didn't realise you knew my brother and sister."

"I don't actually, they've just spent a lot of time at my family home. Well technically it's the families' summer house but we live there all year round since my father isn't the heir for the Greengrass name."

"That's right Nikolaus' father is the holder of the family Title, I'm sorry I haven't heard anything about you. Normally when Alecto and Amycus have their friends over there is so many of them I just decide to hide out in the library or my room, if I'm lucky I get to leave and go see my friends."

"Yes I heard you're close with the Black family, their eldest is our age isn't he?"

"Yes, Sirius is our age and somewhere on this train, speaking of which, Alecto can I go find Sirius?"

"Not just yet Octavia, you are being rude. Continue talking with Katarina and when I have to head up the front for the Prefect meeting I will help you find Sirius." Octavia nodded and looked back at the Greengrass girl.

"It's fine, I understand. I also have friends elsewhere, but I'm meant to be here." Katarina whispered in Octavia's ear and the girl smiled in recognition.

"What subject are you looking forward to the most?" Katarina questioned hoping to start a conversation with the now painfully obvious shy girl.

 _Care of Magical Creatures_ Octavia thought to herself but knew she couldn't voice it in front of her siblings, so she stuck with the safe option.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, you?"

"Potions, I love knowing that I can throw all this stuff together and create something so precious or absolutely disastrous." There was a sly smile on her face that unnerved Octavia but she was used to this by now, she was used to pushing down the sickening feeling in her stomach and smile when needed.

Octavia just smiled away as the two girls fell into a conversation about their expectations for their classes and they looked forward to the most at Hogwarts, aside from classes.

Octavia didn't expect to begin letting in Katarina, but yet here she was laughing with the girl about stories they were sharing when she noticed Alecto stand up.

"Come now Octavia, I will help you find Sirius on my way to the front."

"It was nice meeting you Katarina, I'm sure I will see you at the Sorting." Octavia gave her a smile before following her sister out of the compartment in search of Sirius.

Octavia just hoped that Sirius wasn't wallowing, she just hoped that he had found someone to sit with and she just hoped that someone wasn't Bellatrix.

"Please behave O, I notice more than you and Sirius seem to believe. I will see you at the sorting." Octavia gave her first true smile for the day.

Octavia and Alecto were a lot closer than people suspected, she didn't understand why Alecto was different towards her around people and only truly friendly when they were alone. Even the O nickname only came out in private.

"I promise Alecto."

"Good, enjoy the rest of the ride." Alecto kissed her cheek before continuing down the train.

Octavia slowly opened the compartment door, glad to see that Sirius wasn't alone.

* * *

The train pulled away from the station and Sirius was only slightly worried, he hadn't seen Octavia yet but he knew there was no way her family would miss the train. He just hoped that she was being forced to sit with her brother and sister and that she would turn up at some stage.

The compartment door opened and he eagerly faced it hoping it would be her, but he was faced with a scrawny kid with glasses and black hair.

"Sorry everywhere else is full, do you mind if I join you?"

"Of course not," Sirius gave the boy a smile, if he didn't recognise him then chances are he wouldn't end up in Slytherin like everyone else he knew his age.

"I'm James, what's your name?"

Sirius was unsure as to why the kid didn't mention his last name, but brushed it aside. If he was anything like the families he grew up to know, they boasted about who they were, this kid was modest.

"I'm Sirius, it's nice to meet you James. I'm assuming you are a first year?"

"Of course are you?"

"I am, I'm so excited to start at Hogwarts. I've been looking forward to attending ever since I got my letter last year." Sirius exclaimed and James laughed.

"I haven't had my letter that long, only a couple of months. My dad had a habit of joking that I was squib before my letter turned up." James frowned and this time Sirius laughed.

"I'm sure you've had accidental magic to know for sure though?"

"Of course, my dad enjoys the art of pranking." James smirked in response, Sirius thought that just maybe he would get along with James as long as they ended up in the same house.

The compartment door slide open again and James noticed how Sirius jumped to attention but deflated when he saw who was on the other side, there was a young red headed girl standing beside a young boy with black hair that looked a little on the greasy side.

"Mind if we join you? We got kicked out of our compartment," the girl questioned while the boy just looked plain annoyed at the idea.

"Sure…" James responded and the two of them sat down.

"What are your names? I'm Lily Evans and this is Severus Snape," Lily gave them both a smile.

"I'm James and this is Sirius."

"No last names?" James and Sirius looked at each other and shrugged. Lily gave them one last look before facing her companion.

Sirius pulled a face at their antics and James burst out laughing causing Lily to glare at them before.

"No need to be rude to us boys."

"Well you came into our compartment and then refuse to talk to us," Sirius replied and Lily's gaze soften.

"Oh right, what house do you think you would be sorted into? I myself think Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw would be okay, I'm not really sure. I'm muggleborn and don't have any family to go off of."

"I will be sorted into Gryffindor, the Potter's have been in there for centuries. Gryffindor is where the bravest hearts dwell."

"Or if you are self-righteous and arrogant maybe." Severus mumbled but yet James heard him anyway.

"And what is so perfect about whatever house you will be sorted into?" Sirius spat out.

"Slytherin where we are known for cleverness and ambition."

James burst out laughing at this, he couldn't even notice the look on Sirius' face at this.

"You seem better suited to Hufflepuff Snape."

"You're arrogance is showing Potter," Lily snapped before standing up. "Come on Sev, let's go somewhere else."

"Bye Snivellus…" Sirius waved at him with a smile on his face and James raised an eyebrow. "What?" Sirius questioned once Lily and Snape were gone.

"How did you come up with Snivellus?"

"I've been thinking about it ever since I heard his name, the prat already rubbed me the wrong way before he spoke." He shrugged and James laughed.

"So what house do you think you will be sorted into since you never responded to Evan's question?"

"Oh…well if you must know I'm Sirius Black and the Blacks have been in Slytherin for centuries." James' jaw fell at that, he hadn't suspected he would belong to a family as dark as the Blacks.

"Blimey! I thought you were alright."

"Who knows, maybe I will be the first one to stray from tradition." Sirius shrugged and James agreed.

* * *

"O! There you are." Sirius spoke when he saw Octavia standing there once the compartment door slide open.

"Yes, who's this?" she questioned and he looked at her before looking at the other boy, it was then he realised what was going to happen, he knew Octavia and knew she would be quiet until she felt comfortable around him.

"This is James Potter," Octavia couldn't help the smirk that appeared on her face, Sirius really was trying to piss off his parents.

"Who would have thought Sirius, a Black and a Potter in the same room and wands aren't drawn…" Sirius glared at her but she stuck her tongue out at him, she looked at the James momentarily forgetting about him and the smile on her face dropped. "Hi I'm Octavia Carrow, it's nice to meet you."

"Can I now make a joke about a Carrow and Potter being in the same room and no wands drawn?" James spoke with a smirk on his face, Sirius carefully watched Octavia hoping she would retreat into herself after this mistake but he was glad when a smile appeared on her face.

"Not yet anyway, it's been less than five minutes Potter," she teased before sitting down beside Sirius.

"Well we have the whole train ride to change that, are you going to follow in your families footsteps or break away from them?" Octavia looked at Sirius at James' question, it was obvious this was something they had already spoken about. Sirius shrugged before looking out the window.

"I'm not sure, it's harder for me because I have an older brother and sister still at Hogwarts."

"Understandable, what class are you looking forward to the most?" James questioned and Octavia grinned knowing she didn't have to hide this from James. There was no way anyone that would tell her parents what was said would associate with a Potter.

"Care of Magical Creatures and it sucks that we have to wait until third year before we can pick up our electives." This caused Sirius to laugh.

"What's so funny," she frowned at him but he grinned.

"Come on, I bet you've been dying to tell someone other than me all summer."

Octavia crossed her arms and stared ahead, not happy with Sirius picking on her like he was. It didn't matter how true it was, they both knew how her parents would react if they found out she was more interested in learning about magical creatures instead of spells in Charms, Transfiguration or Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"O I'm sorry," she looked out of the corner of her vision and saw Sirius kneeling on the bench begging for her forgiveness but when she looked at James it looked like he was holding back his laugh.

"What's so funny Potter?"

"Nothing just seeing Sirius like that," Octavia rolled her eyes and looked at Sirius.

"We're the only company we have amongst our families, even if he didn't beg for forgiveness I would have forgiven him eventually. I can't go back home at Christmas and not talk to him."

"You won't be able to talk to me if I'm not Slytherin."

"Honestly Sirius I don't know why you keep up this whole thing about not being in Slytherin, our families are been in Slytherin for centuries. Why do you think now all of a sudden you will be different, you can't even claim you are adopted. You look too much like Regulus." Sirius shrugged in response to Octavia, she huffed before resting back on the bench.

"You have a brother?" James questioned, it was obvious he didn't know them as well as they did each other but there was something that seemed closed off about Octavia.

"I do, he's younger. He will be joining us at Hogwarts next year, he's the golden child."

"Wouldn't know that's like, I'm an only child."

"Why is that, most Pureblood families try to have at least two children in hopes of securing the family line?" James shrugged not really knowing the answer as to why he was an only child, he looked at Sirius and Octavia and even though they were related it was obvious that they had grown up together and acted that way.

"If you have a younger brother Sirius why was it just you two growing up? Why don't you have the same connection with you brother?" James questioned and Octavia looked at Sirius, she didn't want to tell them him about their arranged marriage that would happen the moment Regulus graduates Hogwarts.

"He's the youngest, the golden child, the baby, whatever you want to call him. We all get along okay, but O and I get along better." Sirius replied half-heartedly and hoped James would buy it.

"Fair enough, so what is it like growing up in a big family?"

"Do we have to talk about our families?" Sirius replied a little too hastily and it caused Octavia to give him a look.

"Carrow doesn't seem to have a problem with her family since she's stated it will be harder for her to not follow them into Slytherin."

"Yes well we each have our own issues with our own families," Sirius replied with a bitter tone before looking out the window.

James looked at Octavia hoping to get something out of her but she just shrugged before kneeling on the bench and moving closer to Sirius so she can place a hand on his shoulder.

"He didn't know, if you want to pull away from your family so much then that involves making friends they haven't picked out for us." She spoke softly and Sirius slowly turned around before looking at James.

"Your take on Quidditch?" Sirius questioned and a big smile appeared on James' face giving them a sign this was a safe topic for everyone.

* * *

The compartment door slide opened shocking the three of them since the trolley lady had just left after they brought a copious amount of sweets. James couldn't help but notice how Sirius and Octavia stiffened at the person who arrived, he finally looked over at the door and noticed who was there. This must be the sister Octavia mentioned since they looked similar but it was the eyes that were different.

"You are still here Octavia, Sirius it's good to see you again."

"Likewise Alecto," Sirius nodded at her and she turned her gaze onto James, not like the unfamiliar presence around her family.

"And you are?" she questioned and James quickly looked at Sirius before back at her.

"James Potter," he spoke hoping she wouldn't notice the nervousness coming out in his voice.

"At least you are a Pureblood, Octavia come find me at the 10 minute warning."

"Yes Alecto."

"What did she mean by at least I am a Pureblood, how does she know that?" James questioned as soon as the compartment door was closed and Alecto was gone.

"Our families are big on blood purity," Sirius responded before looking at Octavia.

"Our families are so set on us being in Slytherin that she didn't even reprimand us befriending a Potter Sirius." She looked at Sirius, he didn't like the look in her eyes, it was obvious she was worried about this one action.

"It will be fine, if they are convinced we are going to be in Slytherin and allow us to make friends outside the usual circle for now, let them." Sirius smirked at her and she shook her head, he was glad she wasn't that worried anymore but he knew exactly what she was worried about.

Octavia was worried about what would happen once she left in search of Alecto, what would happen in that compartment away from Sirius.

James watched the two of them and couldn't help but notice the small amount of fear that went through Octavia, he pushed it aside knowing he wouldn't find out the truth, especially if she was destined to follow her family into Slytherin.

* * *

A voice echoed throughout the train, _"We will be reaching Hogwarts in 10 minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train as it will be taken to the school separately."_

"I guess it's time to go find Alecto, I will see you both at the sorting," Octavia gave them both a small smile before slipping out of the compartment and heading down the train towards the compartment where she remembered Alecto and Amycus to be.

"Good you came back," Alecto spoke as soon as Octavia slide the door open.

"You asked me too and I said I would."

"Once the sorting has taken place you won't be able to talk to that Potter Octavia." Alecto warned her sister and everyone that was still in the compartment turned and looked at Octavia.

"You found a Potter?

"There is a Potter at Hogwarts."

"Bloody blood traitors."

"Hogwarts is no longer at the same prime it was when Phineas Black was in charge."

"Oh come off it Nikolaus, everyone is better than bloody Dumbleodre."

Octavia stared at everyone, unsure as to why they were going on like this. She thought Dumbledore was the greatest Wizard anyone has seen since Merlin himself, well that's what the Daily Prophet had said. Maybe this was something that she shouldn't voice in front of her family and their friends.

"Don't be like that, Octavia knows her place and knows its in Slytherin with us and away from blood traitors. You should get changed, we will be arriving soon." Octavia nodded before heading over to her trunk and pulling out her robes, heading towards the bathroom to get changed.

Octavia headed back to the compartment and couldn't help but notice how eerily quiet it was, it was obvious they were talking about something until she had arrived, her opening the door triggered their silence.

This wasn't the first time she had entered a room and noticed it eerily quiet, she always wondered what was so special about they were talking about that she wasn't allowed to know. Most topics were generally spoken around her, especially considering at the dining room table she was mostly ignored by her parents and they spoke as if she wasn't there.

"Is everything alright Alecto?"

"Yes of course, now when it comes to the sorting remember to sit still and let the hat do its thing. Let the hat do what it wants and you will be placed in Slytherin like the rest of us." Octavia nodded as Alecto placed a hand on her shoulder, this was the most affection Alecto usually showed around people.

This wasn't the first time Octavia had been told about the procedure around the sorting, she had questioned it when her family began talking about her placement in Slytherin at the beginning of the summer. They all slightly laughed before looking at her as if to say it was stupid to question something that wouldn't matter in the end.

In the end they told her about the hat, about how it was placed on their heads in front of the entire school before going through their minds to determine where they would be placed and the place and people they could home and family for the next seven years.

That caused Octavia to swallow the lump that formed in her throat, there was a part of her that always wondered if she was like her family, would she follow them to Slytherin and what would happen if she didn't? In front of the entire school population at that.

Alecto pulled Octavia out of her thoughts and directed her off the train, Octavia was so busy in her thoughts she hadn't even realised that the train had stopped.

"Now the first years are meeting over that way, don't worry about your luggage or Bellamy. They will be taken care off, someone will take your luggage to the Slytherin common room and let Bellamy go and he will take off towards the Owlery. Enjoy the ride, I will see you shortly." Alecto gave her a smile before turning and catching up with her own friends.

Octavia cautiously moved to where Alecto had pointed out the group of first years, she made her way through the crowd to where she spotted Sirius standing beside James. She stepped in beside him and squeezed his hand before wrapping her arms around her. She always hated Scotland, it got too cold too quickly.

At the feel of someone squeezing his hand Sirius turned and found Octavia standing beside him, she looked at him and gave him a small smile and he was instantly relieved. He hadn't voiced it to James but as soon as Octavia left the compartment dread instantly filled him, he was worried about what was going to happen to her when she was with her siblings, he had no idea if she would be alone with them.

Alecto may love Octavia but that wouldn't prevent what could possible happen if she acted in the wrong way and isn't befriending a Potter the wrong way they were taught to act?

"Everyone here?" The booming voice belonging to the large than average man spoke above the First years. "Perfect now follow me," he turned around and help up a pink umbrella and the group of students followed him down the path that was only lit up by the moon.

"Alright you will get your first glimpse at Hogwarts just around this bend…" he spoke as he disappeared around the bed and slowly Octavia followed the rest of the group, eager to see the Castle for herself.

"Its more beautiful than I could have imagined." Octavia whispered to herself but Sirius still looked at her in recognition and smiled.

It seemed as though they were all stunned by the imagine that is the Hogwarts Castle since most of them turned to face their companions and whisper something before they realised the large man was still directing them somewhere.

"Alright no more than four to a boat," he ordered and everyone began climbing into the boats, Octavia shared one with only James and Sirius with their fourth spot staying empty.

The large man ordered the boats forward and slowly but surely they began drifting across the lake.

"What do you thinks in the water Sirius?" Octavia questioned as she leaned over the edge to peer into the water hoping to spot something.

"Imagine if there is a giant squid!" James yelled before leaning over and joining Octavia's search.

"Oh come on, out of all the magical creatures you can think of, you come up with a plain old boring squid?" Octavia rolled her eyes but it was then that boat rocked harshly and they had to hold on tight.

They looked around at the other boats and noticed theirs was the only one that was rocking as bad as it was.

"What did you do O?" Sirius questioned while gripping the edge so tight his knuckles turned white.

"What makes you think I did anything?" She yelled at him in response.

"Because it's always you! You are too goddamn curious for your own good."

"And plus you insulted the squid." James added in

"Again why do think there is a bloody giant squid in the lake?" she yelled at them and it was then the boat was tipped over.

All three of them raised their heads over the water spluttering out the water trying to catch their breath, Octavia was barely above the water for a minute before she felt something wrap around her leg and pull her back under.

"O!"

"Octavia!" they both yelled and they finally caught the attention over everyone else, the large man had stopped the boats before turning his back around to go to where James and Sirius were floating while trying to search for Octavia.

"I sure do hope this doesn't hit her…" he spoke before pointing his umbrella at the water and it was moments later that Octavia's head was visible above the water.

He lifted them all out of the water and back into their boat before speaking to them.

"What happened?"

"Is there a squid in there?"

"Yes he's known as the Giant Squid amongst the students, we don't even know how he turned up in the lake. One day he was just there, now I do hope none of you mention what I did since I aren't allowed to preform magic?" they all nodded and the boats started moving again.

"I told you there was a Giant Squid."

"You had to go and anger the thing didn't you O?" they both yelled at her but she just shrunk back in the boat as the cold began setting in.

"Bloody girls…" James muttered to himself as he himself began shivering and it wasn't long until all three of them were cold and shivering with their excitement over the day, the Castle and the sorting had disappeared with it.

They were finally led towards the entrance of Hogwarts and the three of them were beyond annoyed, all they wanted was to get warm. They were sick of being cold and were not looking for to the aftermath that is falling into the lake.

He opened the door and led them inside before bidding them goodbye.

All of the first years began looking around, unsure as to where they were meant to be going. They thought they were being led towards their sorting but yet here they stood in a practically empty room.

"Look a cat!" someone yelled at and everyone instantly turned around to face the cat, they all watched it with curiosity. They knew it wouldn't be rare for them to come across cats at Hogwarts since it was an allowed pet.

"Is that our sorting? Depending on how we react with the cat depends on where we are sorted."

"Bloody Hufflepuff…" Octavia heard someone mutter beside her and when she turned her head she found Katarina standing with another person off to the side, she shook her head before looking ahead.

She noticed the smirk on Sirius' face, she knew he knew the truth behind the sorting because she had told him. She wasn't sure as to what James knew or not but either way she could tell he wasn't intrigued by the cat.

Sure enough a brave student stepped forward towards the cat, it then jumped off the ledge before turning into a witch.

"An animagus…" Octavia whispered as everyone reacted to the transformation.

"Welcome to Hogwarts everyone, the start of term feast will begin shortly but before that you will all need to be sorted. The Sorted Ceremony is a very important part of your education because it determines where you will be placed for the remainder of your time at Hogwarts. We have four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The house you are sorted into will be like your family, you will sleep with your house, eat with your house, share classes with you and spend free time in the common room you share."

"While you are at Hogwarts any triumphs will earn your house points while any rule breaking will lose your house points, at the end of the year the house with the most points will be award the House Cup."

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes up in front of the rest of the school, I will check to see if they are ready for you." She looked over the crowd. "I suggest you all smarten yourselves up." She then made her way past them all but when she noticed the three wet students, she gave them a look before waving her wand.

At the wave of her wand, they all became instantly dry and warm. Octavia was internally grateful, all she wanted since she ended up in the water was to be warm and dry and now she was.

It was only moments later that the witch returned and stated that they were ready for them, they entered the Great Hall and they were all shocked at the room. It was marvellous and no one expected the room to look like this.

It was in this moment that the nerves set in for Octavia, she was truly worried about where she was going to be placed. There was a part of her that wanted to branch away from her family but the other part wanted to keep them happy.

The first years all stopped walking and the witch made her way up and placed a stool on the raised level followed by a pointed hat, they all watched the hat carefully and it wasn't long until the hat opened and began to speak memorizing everyone in the hall.

When the hat finished the witch unrolled a piece of parchment, "when I call out your name make your way up here to be sorted." She spoke and cleared her throat before speaking again.

"Abbott, Michael." She called out and a small pudgy kid slowly made his way up to where she was standing.

The witch placed the hat on his head and it was silent, Octavia wasn't sure as to what was going on but it wasn't long until it spoke.

"Hufflepuff!" a table erupted in cheers and applause making Octavia think that must have been the Hufflepuff table.

"Black, Sirius." Sirius gave Octavia a small smile before he made his way up to the front where the hat could be placed on his head.

Octavia watched, she hated that she was so far back that she couldn't see the look on his face. She wanted to make sure he was okay with what the hat was saying, was he happy with the decision.

"Gryffindor!" The hat finally called out and the Great Hall was so silent you could have heard a pin drop.

It didn't last long before the Gryffindor table erupted into applause, she suspected everyone was in shock at his sorting.

Sirius made his way towards the Gryffindor table, he got what he wanted. He wanted a reason to pull away from his family, he hated their ideals and the way they were. He knew if he was placed into Slytherin he would be stuck, he would be stuck with his marriage and everything that comes with it.

"Carrow, Octavia." Sirius watched as she slowly made her way up to the front for her own sorting.

The hat was placed on her head and Sirius watched her, he could see the look of worry written on her face beneath the hat. He knew his best friend, he knew her well enough to know her fears about the sorting. She was torn at what she wanted, she loved her family dearly even though there was a part of her that didn't.

"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted once again the hall was deathly silent again.

Have one of the darker families have a member sorted into Gryffindor was rare, but having two in the same year was unheard of.

"That's ludicrous!"

"The hats faulty!"

"I call a resort!"

Three voices were heard from the Slytherin table and when Sirius looked over there he noticed the familiar faces standing up after they had banged their hands on the table, Bellatrix, Alecto and Amycus were all standing up looking downright annoyed.

"I can assure you that the hat is in working condition, if not you are welcome to test it out yourself." Dumbledore stood up and spoke, the three Slytherins fell silent and sat down while Octavia pulled herself off the stood and made her way down to the Gryffindor table sitting in beside Sirius.

"It will be alright, we make it through this and come out on the other side. Remember it's you and me against the world." Sirius spoke while squeezing her hand, she turned her head and gave him a sad smile before pushing back her tears, she couldn't let a room full of people she doesn't know see her cry.

The two of them sat in silence watching the rest of the sorting and Octavia was glad she wasn't facing the Slytherin table, she didn't want to see the look of her brother and sister's faces at the thought of her being in Gryffindor and not Slytherin like she was supposed to be.

She had even tried to reason with the hat, but it stated that she was too much of a Gryffindor that she wouldn't fit in in Slytherin. She eventually gave in and that was when the hat shouted Gryffindor.

In the end James had joined them in Gryffindor like he stated he would be, in total there were four boys and four girls in Gryffindor. One of the other girls with Octavia was Lily Evans, she looked shocked at the idea of being in Gryffindor and the look on her face when Snape was sorted in Slytherin was disappointment.

"Now that everyone has been sorted, and I assure you Slytherin students that the hat is in perfect working order I have some important information to tell you all. Returning students should do to remember that the Forbidden Forest is just that, forbidden. Trips into the local town of Hogsmeade is only allowed to third years and above in they have permission from their guardians on allocated weekends. Some of you will soon learn that a new tree has been planted on the grounds, a Whomping Willow has been planted and I don't recommend anyone try and get to close to it as it could end up in injury or worst case, death." Dumbledore fell silent as a hum of whispers were raised in the Great Hall as to what the importance of the Whomping Willow will be.

"Now let's begin our feast." Dumbledore waved his wand around and food appeared in front of them.

Everyone eagerly dug in but Octavia just sat there, she reluctantly twisted around in her seat and instantly locked eyes with her sister, Alecto looked annoyed and it worried her, she was worried she would lose her family over this.

"Please eat O." Sirius whispered in her ear before placing food on her plate, she nodded before picking at what Sirius placed on her plate.

"What's so special about you that deems such an outrage like we witnessed?" Octavia raised her head and looked at where the voice was coming from, two girls sitting across from her. One had red hair very similar to hers, who James and Sirius knew to be Lily Evans, while the other had blonde hair. It was in this moment Octavia wished she paid attention during the sorting.

"Are you both muggleborns?" Sirius questioned.

"I am." The red head responded

"No but my parents are, what's so special about her?" the blonde responded while narrowing her eyes at Octavia.

"It's not just me, it's both of us. For centuries Blacks and Carrows have been in Slytherin, they were annoyed at both of us being sorted here, they assumed the hat was faulty having both of us here. They thought that maybe one of us they could deal with if we kept the right friends but not both." Octavia responded and the blonde just narrowed her eyes at her.

"So what, you have some special last name with some fancy relatives and that deems you so special that they cry out like that?" the blonde spoke bitterly and Octavia looked down at her plate.

"Ignore them, I'm Lilith Longbottom." Octavia looked up at instantly recognising that surname, they were also a sacred family but nowhere near as dark as her own. Lilith had raven black long hair and brown eyes.

"Octavia," she smiled at Lilith and she nodded before going back to her plate.

"The red head is Lily Evans and the blonde is Kara Blake." Sirius whispered in her ear.

"Thanks," she replied and it was then Lilith struck up a conversation with her and it helped ease Octavia.

Octavia thought maybe being in Gryffindor with Sirius wouldn't be so bad, it seemed like she had potential friendships in Lilith and James and she hadn't even met the other two boys yet.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and set alerts to this story it means a lot to me.**

 **To the Guest who reviewed, I'm glad you loved it and I hope you continue to love the story.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think, reviews help me improve as a writer.**


	3. The Future Sinks In

Chapter 2: The Future Sinks In

When Octavia woke up in the morning she launched up into a seated position in her bed and took in all the red and gold that made up her dorm room.

"Are you alright O?" it didn't take long into dinner for Lilith to pick up on the nickname that Sirius used.

Octavia looked at the other girls and found them still asleep, "yeah just shocked, I thought last night would be a dream." Octavia found it easier to talk with Lilith since she came from a Pureblood family as well, the pressures on her weren't as high as the ones Octavia had but it eased her mind a bit about the girl.

"It's not, I'm sorry but you will be fine in Gryffindor. The hat must have seen something to think you will do well here and plus you aren't alone, you have Sirius and you have me." Lilith smiled at Octavia and it eased her worries.

"How come you are up so early anyway?" Lilith shrugged before going over and taking a seat on the end of Octavia's bed.

"Used to it, my brother is obsessed with Quidditch and likes to wake me up and watch him train. I don't know why he can't do it on his own anyway." She rolled her eyes and Octavia laughed.

"Who's your brother?"

"Frank, he's in Gryffindor as well but in third year, he's also on the Quidditch team."

"My brother is on the Quidditch team as well."

"He's one of the ones that yelled out last night isn't he?"

"Yeah, along with my sister and Sirius' cousin."

"You have to know the hat isn't faulty, it must have seen something in you just like it did with the rest of us."

"I know, it will just take some getting used to."

"Good, now come on let's get ready and head down for breakfast." Lilith smiled brightly at Octavia before pulling the girl off her bed and towards the bathroom.

Sirius entered the Great Hall with James and was glad to see Octavia laughing about something, he walked over and sat beside her happy that she was making a friend in Lilith

"Glad to see you in a better mood this morning O."

"Carrow,"

"Potter," Octavia grinned at him and it caused Lilith to raise an eyebrow at their actions.

"Wait I thought you two got along?"

"Oh we do but I made a joke about a Black and Potter being in the same room as each other with no wands drawn and then he made a joke about a Potter and Carrow being in the same room with no wands drawn and thus led to us constantly calling each other by our last names." Octavia explained it to Lilith while Sirius laughed.

"I believe they will continuing doing it until wands are drawn on each other, whether or not it's friendly fire."

"So Sirius!" Octavia exclaimed loudly and grinned when he frowned at her. "What are the other two boys like in your dorm?"

"Ones horribly quiet while the other is star struck," James rolled his eyes.

"And their names are?" Octavia questioned, she was hoping the boys would tell her the names of the other boys in Gryffindor since she didn't pay attention last night and she was not pleased with the smirk on Sirius' face.

"Oh no, I'm not giving you that one. You can work that one out on your own."

"Sirius…" Octavia threatened.

"You don't scare me O, but I will make you a deal."

"What is it?"

"If you stand up and make a loud announcement about anything at all I will tell you their names." The smirk was still in place on his face and her stomach dropped.

Sirius knew that Octavia wouldn't be able to do this, it went against everything in her but he also knew that if she was in room filled with people she knew or had been around long enough, she wouldn't even have to be dared to do it.

"So what classes do you think we will have today?" Lilith spoke hoping to break the tension that had now developed between Sirius and Octavia.

Lilith had already realised that Octavia was shy and it would take some time to open up to anyone. It was why Lilith introduced herself, said she was a Longbottom in hopes that Octavia would realise that she understood about her predicament. Lilith knew that if she was placed in any house other than Gryffindor her parents would be upset but they would still love her, she hoped for Octavia's sake that her parents still loved her.

"What do you think O? Transfiguration and Charms would be cool?" Sirius joined in on their conversation.

"Oh as long as it's not History of Magic, I doubt I will be able to stay awake long enough. I had trouble staying awake during our own History lessons."

"No kidding, I remember your mother's talk about the back story of how our families came into business together."

"No remember the time Dinky came crashing into the library?"

Sirius and Octavia burst out laughing at some fond memories and it caused Lilith and James to look at them weirdly. Lilith didn't realise how close the two of them were, she just thought they knew each other because of their family connections.

"How close are you two?" Lilith questioned hoping to break up their laughing.

"Since we born, our families have been close ever since they started the business together, however long ago it was." Lilith watched as Octavia smiled at Sirius before she began eating her breakfast again.

"Are you and Sirius so to speak 'engaged'?" Lilith whispered in Octavia's ear and it caused her to choke on her juice and Sirius raised an eyebrow at her actions.

Octavia stared at Lilith, why would she think something like that. It sent panic through her as she looked at Lilith but Lilith didn't act any different she continued on with her breakfast and even started up a conversation with James.

"No but why would you suggest that?" Octavia finally responded bringing Lilith's attention back to her.

"My grandparents had an arranged marriage but they were lucky they were in love and didn't request the same thing on their children. My grandmother was a Burke, we understand slightly as to how those families work. I'm sorry if I thought wrong though O."

"It's fine Lilith but they still deal with arranged manages, I'm in fact promised to Sirius' brother." She spoke quietly but Sirius still heard her.

"Speaking of my brother, with us in Gryffindor I doubt they will still stand, both yours and mine." He spoke and Octavia shrugged, she wasn't too happy with the idea of having no say in who she spends the rest of her life with. She wanted to fall in love, decide if she wants to spend the rest of her life with said person and then decide if she wanted a family with them.

"Sirius you finally have your way away from Rosier," Octavia spoke in pretend shock before placing a hand over her mouth.

"Oh god the horror, what will I ever do without my dear, dear Rosier?" Sirius put way too much drama into his actions and it caused Octavia to giggle.

Octavia giggling caused some people around them to turn around and look at her, she instantly stopped giggling and shrunk in her seat.

Sirius let out a sigh and ate his breakfast knowing Octavia will be quiet for a couple of moments while her embarrassment goes away. He looked over at James, wondering if he was curious about what the conversation was about but there was nothing on his face that gave it away. Sirius just had to wait and see if James questioned it at a later stage, he may not have even been paying attention.

"You three are sitting together, should I expect to have any more issues with you?" the witch that was in charge of the sorting spoke address James, Sirius and Octavia. They had found out at the end of the feast that this was Professor McGonagall and she was the Transfiguration Professor as well as the Head of Gryffindor.

"Of course." Sirius grinned in respond and Octavia noticed the thin tight lips.

"Here are your timetables, first period starts in 30 minutes. I suggest you head up to the common room and gather your books for all of your morning classes." McGonagall spoke as she handed out the timetables.

Octavia grabbed a copy of the time table and looked over it, noticing that they had Herbology and Potions this morning before lunch and both classes were with the Slytherin students.

Dread instantly filled Octavia at the thought of sharing her first ever class with a bunch of Slytherins, she didn't know what would happen. She didn't know what to expect walking into her first class, would the professors just talk or would they be asked to instantly start preforming?

If they were asked straight up to start producing Potions in class couldn't the Slytherin students do something because now she was hanging around blood traitors and that was almost the same as being a blood traitor.

"You worry too much O," Sirius laughed at her and she glared at him causing him to laugh harder.

"Come on Lilith lets go get our books." Octavia stood up and waited for Lilith join her.

"O…?" Sirius questioned but Octavia just stuck her tongue out before leaving the Great Hall with Lilith chasing after her.

"Seriously you and Sirius are too cute," Lilith cooed and it caused Octavia to stop in her tracks.

"What did you just say?" Octavia choked out and Lilith couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.

"You are hilarious O, come on lets head up before the boys catch up and I will tell you the other boys' names." Octavia grinned and followed after the girl.

"Alright spill, what are their names?" Octavia questioned quickly when she fell into step beside Lilith and she laughed at first.

"Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, Peter would be the star struck kid they mentioned because I remember the look on his face so the shy boy must be Remus."

"Noted and thanks sometimes Sirius can be insufferable."

"Again I'm back on the whole you two are cute thing."

"He's a boy and we're eleven for peat sakes."

"Well technically I'm almost twelve…" Lilith trailed off and Octavia perked up.

"When's your birthday?"

"September 16th, yours?"

"August 31st, so I got my letter before I even turned eleven."

"Oh that's so exciting, imagine if you hadn't been in my year. Imagine if you had been in the same year as Regulus, oh that would be so cute. You two could date and be oh so cute." Octavia laughed before giving the Fat Lady the password so they could enter the common room.

"What is with you this morning?"

"Oh that, that is me pretending to be over excited and making you feel better about our first class with the Slytherin students." Octavia looked at Lilith and noticed the friendly smile on her face, now she thought about it seemed like the over excited act was too much but it was too early to tell.

"You're the best thank you," Octavia hugged Lilith and they heard a cough behind them, they both turned and found Kara Blake standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You're blocking the way to the stairs." She snapped at them and Octavia instantly stepped aside while Lilith mimicked Kara causing Octavia to laugh, Kara shot them a glare before continuing up the stairs.

"Octavia I don't think she likes us." Lilith complained while pouting at Octavia.

"I think that's my fault, I'm so special." Octavia responded with a shrug before heading up the stairs to collect her books.

The girls didn't run into the boys again until they were down in the dungeons for Potions, the boys' were almost late stating that they had gotten lost but they were laughing about something which made Octavia curious about what they got up too.

Before she even had the chance to question them someone gripped her arm and pulled her down the corridor away from the rest of her classmates.

"What did you do Octavia? How did you get the hat to not place you in Slytherin?" Octavia jumped at how angry Amycus sounded, she looked at her brother and was shocked to see he was actually angry.

"I didn't do anything, I tried to plead with the hat to place me in Slytherin but it wouldn't work, he wouldn't listen. Just stated that I would be better suited in Gryffindor and that's where I was placed." Octavia stuttered out and normally Amycus' anger will drop at the sight of his younger sister like this but this time it didn't work, he wouldn't budge.

"You had to have done something you can bet I won't keep this from our parents, they deserve to know the disgrace you've put on our family." Amycus snapped and the tears welled up in Octavia's eyes.

"I didn't mean too, I tried so hard."

"It obviously wasn't enough Octavia!" Amycus yelled before storming down the corridor.

Octavia stood there for a moment collecting herself before walking back to where everyone was previously standing waiting to be let in for Potions, noting that they had already been let in. She walked in and Professor Slughorn instantly noticed her.

"Ah Miss Carrow, there is a spare seat next to Miss Greengrass." Octavia ignored Slughorn and sat down beside Sirius. "Or that one could do, very well. I'm not used to Slytherins sitting with Gryffindors but either way."

"Professor Slughorn Octavia and myself are in Gryffindor." Sirius spoke up and Slughorn went a little red in the face.

"Yes, yes of course. Now for today's lesson, please open your books."

"Thank you," Octavia whispered and Sirius responded with a slight head nod before the two of them focused on their books and what Slughorn was writing on the bored.

It was a few days' later and it seemed as though the first week was a repeat of what the first day was, Octavia didn't need to pull her wand out once to perform any magic. It was like they were going back to square one so the muggleborns didn't feel left out or feel like they were already behind in their studies and it was only week one.

Over the week Peter had begun sitting with them during classes and meals but the fourth boy seemed to stick to himself, seemed to be shyer than what Octavia could be.

Octavia was starting to open up a bit more in front of Lilith and James, no longer becoming embarrassed when they laughed at her for something she had done.

Octavia also hadn't heard from either Alecto at all since the beginning of term or Amycus since the first day, she had hoped her sister would have said something by now but she was continued to be ignored by her family.

They were currently sitting at breakfast when they heard the screeching that signalled the arrival of mail.

Neither Sirius nor Octavia were expecting anything since neither of them had heard from their families by now and aside from each other they had no one to speak to.

There were moments when Sirius was debating about whether or not he should write to his brother but was unsure of what the response will be.

They both froze when two red envelopes dropped in front of them, "woah…" Lilith spoke when she noticed what they were staring at.

"What are they?" Peter questioned and normally something like this would cause a laugh from everyone but no one did this time.

"It's a Howler, they're used when someone is too angry to put their thoughts down in words so instead they yell and the Howler captures it before sending it to the receiver." James explained to them while Lilith was carefully watching Octavia.

Over the last few days Lilith had begun to pick up on the things that would make Octavia uncomfortable and looking at the girl now, it was obvious she was not looking forward to this.

"Why would those two both get one?" Peter questioned, unsure as to why they would be getting in trouble so early in the year. The most they have gotten in trouble for so far was talking during class.

"Because we were placed in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin Pete, wait or on our own O?" Sirius spoke but before Octavia could respond both of the Howlers jumped up off the table.

 _"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!"_ Sirius' mother yelled. _"OCTAVIA LAKEN CARROW!"_ Octavia's mother yelled and they now fully had the attention of the Great Hall.

 _"HOW DARE BOTH OF YOU DISGRACE OUR FAMILIES LIKE THAT! WHERE DID WE GO WRONG WITH YOU?"_ Both mothers yelled together, their voices combined along with the two Howlers made their booming voices louder than the regular Howler.

Octavia placed her hands over her ears to try and muffle the sound.

 _"YOUR GRANDFATHERS WILL BOTH BE VERY DISAPPOINTED TO HEAR THAT YOU HAVE DISGRACED SUCH FAMILIES LIKE OURS! EVERYONE IS QUESTIONING WHAT WE DID WRONG WITH YOU TWO TO END UP IN A HOUSE LIKE THAT. THEY THINK YOU ARE PUNISHING US! JUST THINK WHAT THE ROS…"_

No one knows how it happened but it was at that point that the two Howlers caught on fire and the message stopped replaying. James, Peter and Lilith looked up and down the table trying to work out which older student had made the Howlers burst into flames like that while Sirius was looking at Octavia.

"O?" he questioned quietly and she just looked at him.

"I don't know…" she responded, she couldn't help it. She twisted around in her seat in search of her brother or sister hoping one of them had done it but neither were in sight.

"Well whoever did that picked the best time do it." Sirius clapped his heads trying to diffuse the still silent Great Hall and after that everyone began talking amongst themselves again.

"Why, who are the Ros?" James questioned and Octavia looked at Sirius, wondering if he would explain.

"If the Howlers hadn't burst into flames it would have said Rosier, it doesn't matter why our mothers spoke of them. Pass the toast Pete?" Sirius' tone made everyone realise this wasn't something they spoke about.

Sirius thought that if James knew about the arranged marriages throughout the sacred families then he would know who they were, it had been determined that Lilith already knew because she questioned Sirius and Octavia's friendship.

James looked over at Octavia, hoping she would explain what happened as well as explain Sirius' mood but she just shrugged before twisting in her seat and facing Lilith.

Octavia didn't want to betray Sirius, if he didn't want to tell the boys about his relationship with the youngest Rosier than she wouldn't either. She didn't even want to look over at the Rosier girl, it would be obvious to the Slytherin students that she was the one about to be mentioned in the Howler.

"Is that who he is paired with?" Lilith asked quietly and at first Octavia was confused, but then she realised. Lilith had just asked if Sirius was promised to a Rosier without actually saying it.

Octavia nodded in response but mouthed later, Lilith smiled before handing Sirius the muffin he was staring at.

Sirius grabbed the muffin before grabbing Octavia's arm. "Come on O."

"But I'm not finished," she replied but he just pulled her out of her seat and handed her the muffin to eat. "Thanks, what is so important it couldn't wait?"

Sirius was silent until they were in one of the side corridors, "I just want to make sure you're okay, you've never made something catch on fire before."

"There is no proof it was me, I've only made things levitate before."

"Maybe it was because you were hurt or angry at what they were saying."

"Yes I'm hurt, I didn't expect a Howler from them. I guess either Alecto or Amycus wrote home…" Octavia stopped speaking as her voice choked.

"Hey we've always known we were different to our families, we always knew their ideals didn't sit right with us, remember it's always me and you against the world." Octavia nodded at Sirius and he then hugged her.

"Oh sorry," they were startled at the sound of a voice coming out of nowhere.

They turned around and saw an older student there, glad it was only a Hufflepuff. They weren't sure where the other common rooms were but had heard rumours about the Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms were on the lower floors of the castle.

"Wait is that the kitchen?" Sirius asked, surprise coming through in his voice as he spotted the room behind the older Hufflepuff.

"It is, but you will have to work out your own way in." the Hufflepuff smirked slightly at them before closing the portrait and continuing down the corridor leaving them alone.

"That's the kitchen O."

"I know I saw it too Sirius." She rolled her eyes and he laughed at her.

"We have to find a way to get in there O, imagine it. Us being able to get food whenever we want."

"You are such a boy, always thinking about food. Come on we have classes."

"Do we have too?" Sirius complained and Octavia just laughed before walking off on him.

"Come on O, let's just try and get in and then we can go to class, please." Sirius begged her, a massive grin appeared on his face when Octavia hung her head in defeat.

"Fine but make it quick," Octavia huffed and Sirius did a little dance on the spot before turning and facing the portrait that contained fruit.

"Now how to open you…" Sirius muttered to himself while Octavia stood there bored watching him.

Sirius tried everything he could of, he tried pulling on the frame, pushing the frame, saying random words but nothing was working.

Sirius hung his head in defeat and Octavia laughed. "Not funny O…"

"Oh it so was Sirius, now if you are done we have Transfiguration."

"Do we have too?"

"Yes now come on or I will leave you here."

"Leave me here," Sirius grinned and Octavia narrowed her eyes at him, in the end she grabbed his arm and pulled him down the corridor.

"Glad you two could make it, take your seats and I will see you both tonight for detention." McGonagall spoke and Octavia gave Sirius a glare before moving and taking her seat.

Sirius quickly took the seat in between James and Lilith leaving Octavia to take a seat beside Remus, he was still quiet and practically kept to himself rarely joining in on conversations with everyone else in their dorm.

Octavia looked through her bag in search of her Transfiguration book when she realised that she didn't have it, she looked over at Sirius but he wasn't looking at her since he was laughing about something with James.

"Here…" Octavia looked over and saw that Remus had shifted his book so it was resting in between the both of them.

"Thank you." She gave him a smile and he nodded.

Octavia made it through Transfiguration without saying another word to Remus, she was unsure as to what to expect with the boy but she pushed it aside as she chased after him once McGonagall had let them go.

"Remus wait," she called after him and surprised when the boy stopped to wait for her.

"What do you want Carrow?"

"Please call me Octavia but I wanted to thank you, you didn't have to share with me, you could have left me to get in more trouble with McGonagall for not having my book."

"Fine Octavia, but just because I don't talk to you all doesn't mean I'm not a nice person. I didn't see the point in you getting a detention or losing house points because you forgot your book for the first time. I was there this morning, I witnessed what happened. No one deserves to be treated like that from their parents."

"Wait a minute, you're the boy I saw on the train. Well you weren't on the train, I was but anyway." Octavia shook her head trying to collect her thoughts before speaking again. "As I was saying, I saw you with your parents before the train left, your parents looked so happy and proud of you for going to Hogwarts. You're lucky," she gave him a smile as his cheeks slightly reddened.

"Thanks I guess but I meant what I said, you've had a bad enough day and it's not even lunchtime. You got lucky when the Howler burst into flames, any idea who did it?"

"Nope." She stuttered out quickly that it caused Remus to raise an eyebrow for a moment before his face relaxed. "You're more than welcomed to sit with us during meals and classes, I know most tables only sit four but we have to sit up most of the time because Pete wants to sit with us. Being at Hogwarts isn't all about classes and learning, you are allowed to make friends and memories." She gave him a smile.

"Thanks," he returned it slightly before turning and leaving and Octavia swore she heard him mutter 'who would want to be friends with me'.

"What were you doing there?" Octavia jumped at the sound of James' voice.

"Jeez Potter, do you have a habit of hiding in the shadows?" James grinned at the sight of Octavia looking startled.

"Nope just enjoy scaring you Carrow, but again I ask?"

"Oh I was just thanking him for sharing his book with me, I must have forgotten it. I told him he's more than welcome to sit with us."

"What is it with girls and assuming they can just ask any old person to join us during meals and classes?" James muttered as he walked off and Octavia chased after him.

"What are you on about?"

"Oh Lilith told the Hufflepuff, oh what was her name? Oh that's right, Susie. She invited Susie to sit with us during Transfiguration before you and Sirius turned up. Bloody girls." James muttered and Octavia laughed, it was obvious James hasn't had much experience around girls.

"Oh come on the professors like to push on the whole House unity thing."

"How about this, I will continue to let Susie sit with us if you go and play nice with the Slytherins you call family Carrow?" James deadpanned and Octavia glared at him before continuing down the corridor.

Octavia knew there was no way they would let her talk to them, even Katarina had been acting as if they didn't know each other during the classes they shared. After receiving the Howler this morning, she was worried about how Christmas Break was going to go, but was she meant to be going home like she was before she was sorted into Gryffindor?

Before the term had started her mother had stated how she was meant to come home for Christmas break, it didn't matter if any of her friends were staying the break she was meant to come and spend it with her family. What would they think if they knew who her friends were? Yes she wasn't associating with any muggleborns but yet Potters and Longbottoms were considered blood traitors. Lily had been ignoring her because of Kara, Kara was still annoyed at her because of what happened their first night here.

Octavia collapsed into an armchair in the common room with ease and also planning a nap, she was exhausted. Their Astronomy classes were held at midnight on Thursday nights, so she was up late the previous night and then up early this morning to be able to attend breakfast, which didn't take long for her to lose her appetite over the Howler incident.

"What are you doing Carrow?"

"Go away Potter, I'm sleeping."

"Oh cool, I didn't know you can sleep talk."

"I do much more than sleep talk." Octavia held her wand up, having no idea where James was standing but there was an eruption of laughter all around her and she slowly opened her eyes coming face to face with Kara who looked downright pissed off.

"What the hell do you think you are doing Carrow?" she yelled.

"Well I was going to turn Potter's hair pink but instead you're in my way." Octavia spoke while rolling her eyes, she didn't know what it was with Kara but she just rubbed her the wrong way.

"Pfft like you could accomplish magic like that," Kara scoffed while Sirius laughed in the background.

Octavia had a smirk on her face as she pointed her wand at the girl and spoke a few words in Italian before smiling at them all.

"Her hair isn't pink Carrow?" James whispered yelled while Sirius tried to think back on what he knew her to know.

Kara looked at her hair and then laughed, "I knew you couldn't do it Carrow." Kara walked off and Octavia stood up to find her friends standing there, shocked to see Remus had joined them.

"What happened there?"

"Did you speak in a different language?" were the questions she received from all of them but Sirius, he just looked at her before grinning.

"Who knew you had perfected the time delay aspect of the charms O," she smirked in response.

"Only one way to find out. Yes I can speak a little bit of Italian and Sirius here can speak Spanish but he didn't pay attention all that well so he sucks at it." She stuck her tongue out at him and he frowned while crossing his arms. "I had hoped to put a time delay on it, it should turn pink just in time for dinner."

"Speaking of dinner, remember O we have detention with McGonagall beforehand."

"That's right, it's all your fault you prat!" she yelled but he just shrugged before walking towards the exit.

"How come Remus was you all just now?" she questioned once her anger had diminished over the detention.

"That took you all of five seconds to forgive me for the detention?" he questioned and she shrugged in response. "Said someone reminded him that Hogwarts isn't just about classes, it's about making friends. Mind you we've tried all week to tell him he can join us but he wouldn't listen, all it takes is one conversation with a girl and he joins us."

"Seriously are you jumping on Potter's hating on girls wagon?"

"No, I just find it weird that you were able to convince him to join us."

"Or maybe he just needed enough people to ask him and he finally caved?" Sirius shrugged.

"You bitch!" Kara yelled as soon as Octavia stepped into the Great Hall with Sirius and McGonagall not far behind them.

"Miss Blake! I can assure you that is not appropriate language at Hogwarts."

"But look what she did to my hair Professor McGonagall!" she cried out and it was then Octavia finally noticed the hot pink hair she was sporting. Her and Sirius had to try hard to stifle their laughs but that didn't work with the rest of the students.

"I can assure you Miss Blake that Miss Carrow has been in detention with me for a better part of the afternoon, I doubt she would have done this to you." Octavia instantly thank herself for thinking of the time delay, no one would suspect that a first year could achieve that but there were some perks to coming from a family like hers.

Kara let out a huff of annoyance, glared at Octavia before going and taking her seat next to Lily. Octavia watched as Kara whispered something to Lily before the two of them glared at her.

"Looks like you've made some enemies O," Sirius muttered beside her.

"Oh well, it'll please mum and dad and plus, I was just in a bad mood. I didn't actually want to annoy the rest of the Gryffindor students, I was actually hoping we could all get along but if two don't like me I don't really care." She shrugged before skipping over to where the rest of her friends were sitting.

"Now I don't know if that's a record or not but we haven't even been here a week and you made enemies with two girls already Carrow." James spoke as Octavia sat down at the table and she laughed.

"Well if you count all of Slytherin, I made enemies my first night. Now I am starved!" she cried before helping herself to the food in front of them while the rest of her friends laughed.

"I think we're going to be happy here O." Sirius spoke quietly beside her, she gave him a smile before they both joined in the conversation their friends were having.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please leave a review and let me know what you think, or what you think your theories are for how the story will play out.**

 **To the Guest who left a review, I'm glad you loved it. I hope this didn't disappoint.**


	4. Halloween

Chapter 3: Halloween

The first two months were almost over, they had settled into a routine of attending classes, finishing their homework, attending meals and making time for their friends. Well not Octavia and her friends, they were spending too much time exploring the castle in their free time as well as serving detention.

They had their first flying lesson in the middle of their second week at Hogwarts, and even that went by without an incident, both Sirius and Octavia assumed that with that being shared with the Slytherins and them being high up in the air that they would take this as an excuse to try and knock one of them off their brooms, but nothing happened.

James had managed to calm Lily down enough that she wouldn't hurt herself on the broom, Octavia and Sirius had ended up just floating off to the side incredibly bored with the whole process. They were both used to being ignored while they were on their brooms, this allowed them to zoom around the backyard of their summer homes as fast as they could. Octavia was even lucky to have their family home in the middle of nowhere and she was able to fly her broom in the backyard and Sirius had joined in on occasion since his family home was in the middle of central London and they weren't allowed to fly in their backyard.

Classes had even picked up their pace in terms of what they were learning and there were moments were Octavia wondered when she would ever be without homework.

But now all the first years were eagerly awaiting the upcoming Halloween Feast, they had heard the stories from the upperclassmen and were excited for it and couldn't wait for the next couple of days to pass.

"O…." Sirius pulled on her ponytail and the glare he received didn't even cause him to flinch.

"What Sirius?" she hissed at him.

"I'm bored," he huffed and she rolled her eyes, she knew just how easy it was for him to become bored.

"Then go work out how to get into the kitchens and leave me alone."

"Come with me O."

"Go bug Potter," she snapped but Sirius just shifted around on the couch to face her properly.

"When are you going to start calling him James?"

"You said yourself, it won't happen until one of us draws our wand."

"But you did, first week. He was bugging you when you were trying to take a nap, you pulled your wand out."

"But I didn't end up pointing it at Potter now did I?" Octavia raised an eyebrow at him but he still didn't budge.

"One of these days, and plus James is in detention. Filch gave him one for tracking mud through the castle."

"Where did he find mud?"

"Who knows but please, if we find a way into the kitchen I promise to find a way to get you chocolate chip cookies." He grinned at her knowing they were her one weakness.

She narrowed her eyes, "I hate you…"

"Go on then, put your books in your dorm and I will wait here." Sirius sat back triumphantly.

Octavia gathered up her books and headed towards the girls' staircase. "Bloody boys and their need to always do something." She muttered to herself as she made her way up to her dorm.

Octavia hesitated outside the door leading to her dorm, she was unsure if Kara would be in there. She just wanted to leave her books and head back down without having another argument about who knows what with a girl that doesn't seem to like her.

Kara had stuck by her word that Octavia was the one behind her hot pink hair even though there was no proof because no one could prove what she had said in Italian. Lily had gotten over whatever annoyance she had and the two of them had brief conversations if they were paired together in classes but otherwise it was left at that.

Not hearing anything on the other side of the door she opened it but she managed to startled Lily, "Sorry I didn't realise anyone was up here."

"It's fine," Lily waved her off before focusing on her book, it was obvious she was confused about something.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm just trying to understand this History of Magic stuff, it's harder being a muggleborn because some of it doesn't make sense to me as to why you all went that way." Octavia made her way over and looked at what Lily was reading, it was for their current History of Magic assignment.

"Oh that," Lily was reading about the Battle of Elect.

"Yes, I don't understand why it was needed in the first place."

"Because to Purebloods anything that isn't magical and deemed to be muggle they don't want in their lives, it took close to 75 years before they realised how useful cars could be and even then they always paid someone else to drive them. So when some muggleborns and half-bloods started suggesting introducing electricity into our community it didn't end well. It ended up in a battle but it was after the battle that muggleborns realised that electricity doesn't work well around magic."

"Why is that? It doesn't make sense."

"Hogwarts for example has so many people within its confines performing magic all the time so that along with the wards placed around it, make it impossible for electricity work. The more witches or wizards in the one place the harder it is for electricity to work as well, some of the more intense so to speak Pureblood families also have wards around their homes."

"Like you and Black?"

"Yes more so Sirius than my own, Sirius' family live in the middle of central London. Muggles can't find their house due to the wards whereas my family home only has wards to keep out unwanted guests."

"Are they legal?"

"These days no but the houses get passed down through the generations, most of the family properties are centuries old as well as the wards that surround them."

"So the war was essentially Purebloods against muggleborns, the same issue that still stands today?"

"Yes, I believe it will for some time. It will take a lot for the Purebloods to realise their mistakes."

"But not everyone seems to have that issue, I haven't heard you once use the term mudblood."

"That would be because Potter reamed Sirius and I for it, we used it when there was no one else around. We grew up hearing that term, we didn't realise there was anything wrong with it."

"But still you have happily sat here and helped me out, even Lilith has no problem with me."

"Because not all of us are the same as those Slytherin students but in being said with that, not all of them are in Slytherin."

"You and Sirius are in Gryffindor."

"Yes we are, did that help?" There was an edge to Octavia's voice that startled Lily but she brushed it aside.

"A little, thanks." Lily gave Octavia a smile.

Octavia took that as a sign to leave and head down to where Sirius was impatiently waiting for her.

"What took so long?"

"Lily had a question about the History of Magic assignment."

"Oh that, that was easy."

"Yes Sirius, it was easy for us because we learnt about it at home, she didn't because she's muggleborn."

"Come on lets go." Sirius spoke not wanting to talk about the things they learnt at home.

Home life for both Sirius and Octavia had been a sore spot, Sirius had even given in and tried to contact his brother but he just received the letter back unopened.

"Hey are you alright?" Octavia questioned when the two of them were making their way down the stairs and there was no one else in sight.

"I received another letter from home this morning, you were late to breakfast and missed it."

"What did it say?" this confused Octavia, neither of them had received anything from home since their Howlers at the start of term.

"Dromeda got married, to some muggleborn. I was requested to cease all contact with her if I wish to fix the mess I made by being sorted into Gryffindor."

"Dromeda got married? I thought she was all set to marry a Goyle?"

"So did I, it was what everyone was talking about during the summer. I guess Dromeda must have taken off before the wedding and got married to someone else."

"I wonder when my letter will come, I knew Dromeda remember?"

"Maybe my family doesn't want anyone else to know?"

"Yes but doesn't sort of information have to be shared due to our marriage contracts? So surely my family as long with the Rosier family find out?"

"Who knows what's stipulated in those things, I'm hoping me being in Gryffindor they end it."

"Wouldn't the Rosiers have to pay something since they have the girl? I wouldn't be surprised if my parents are still hoping on my marriage with Regulus and the only way it will end is if your parents don't want two Gryffindors in the family."

"We'll find out at Christmas I guess, it's not like Makenna talks to me anyway."

"That's her name?" Octavia was shocked, Sirius had always referred to his future wife as the Rosier girl like her, but then again it made sense for him to know her name.

"Yes, now how do we get in here?" Sirius questioned putting his focus on the bowl of fruit portrait resting on the wall in front of them.

Octavia ended up taking a seat on the floor and watched as Sirius tried everything he could think of to get into the kitchen.

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yes I remember it being a bowl of fruit when the Hufflepuff came out, this has to be it."

"And if there is more than one portrait like that."

"Don't think like that O, you have to be positive. I'm hurt you think so negatively." Octavia shook her head at his antics but let him continue on with what he was doing.

"Seriously maybe we just aren't made to get in, maybe it's only for the Hufflepuff students."

"If that was the case wouldn't access be from their common room?" Sirius snapped and Octavia lowered her gaze. "O I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap." He walked over and knelt in front of her.

Octavia slowly lifted her gaze and looked at her best friend, she knew he had a temper and this wasn't the first time he had snapped at her like this when he was already in a bad mood.

"It's fine, have you thought about actually touching the portrait in some way or another?" Octavia stood up and walked over to the portrait.

"O what's wrong?" through his own anger Sirius had yet to notice that something was off with her, he assumed something happened with Lily when she was in her dorm.

"Nothing Sirius," she spoke and it was only because he knew her as well as he did that knew it was the fake polite voice she had been taught to put on in public.

Sirius walked over and put his arms around Octavia, allowing her to bury her face in the crook of his neck so she can some privacy in a place like this.

"What happened with Lily?"

"I was helping her understand the Battle of Elect, I was talking about how some Purebloods are so set in their ways and I mentioned how not all of those certain family members are in Slytherin some get sorted elsewhere, mind you I didn't mention how normally it's Ravenclaw. She then went to say how like you and I were in Gryffindor, it was like she practically asking if we were a snake in hiding."

"Evans is an idiot." Sirius muttered and they stood in silence for a couple of moments before Octavia pulled away, she sniffed and wiped at her eyes before finally looking at him.

"Thanks now this portrait?"

"No I never thought about touching the portrait because most of them are alive and hate it when you touch them."

"Maybe this is one is different, it's the only thing you haven't tried aside from a password but they don't talk. Normally the ones that have passwords are talking portraits." Octavia softly rang her fingers along the portrait and stopped when she heard a giggle but nothing happened, so she did it again and the giggle was louder.

"You don't think…" Sirius spoke and then the portrait swung open. "You did it O!" Sirius spoke cheerfully before throwing his arms around.

"Only because you ruled everything else out Sirius, come on let's check it out and you owe me chocolate chip cookies." Octavia grinned as she walked into the kitchen, being careful as to not trip down the small number of steps.

"Look its house elves that cook our meals."

"No kidding Sirius, what did you think Hogwarts held people against their wishes in here?"

"Well the way our families talk about Dumbledore you never know…" he shrugged and it was then the elves noticed their visitor.

"That's true, we must be directly under the Great Hall. Look at the tables, they match the Great Hall."

"Mister and Misses, my name is Billzer. We all live to serve Hogwarts, is there anything we can get you both?"

"Hello Billzer it is nice to meet you, I'm Octavia and this is Sirius. If we aren't interrupting you we would love some chocolate chip cookies."

"Of course, of course it isn't a problem at all. Come now." Billzer spoke and he reached out to grab Octavia's arm and pull her towards one of the tables.

It matter of moments a few elves began running around doing who knows what and then there was a plate of cookies were placed in front of them as well as two glasses of milk.

"Thank you." They both spoke directing their thank you towards all the elves that helped make their cookies.

"This is perfect, James is going to be so jealous." Sirius was the one to speak up first.

"Lilith is going to love it."

"What about Pete and Remus?"

"Pete is obsessed with food and Remus, well he may sit with us but he is still a little on the quiet side." Octavia looked down at the plate deep in thought.

"What's going through your head O?"

"Well it's only been two months and Remus has already made one trip home and spent a few days in the Hospital Wing, what's wrong with him?"

"No idea," Sirius shrugged in response before reaching out for the last cookie, seeing the pout on Octavia's face he broke it in half.

"He lives in the same dorm as you, surely you know something just like I know that Kara isn't a natural blonde."

"He said he went home because his mother is sick."

"But then he was sick."

"I don't know O, you said yourself he is still a little on the quiet side. What do you want me to do? Threaten to push him down the stairs?"

"Oh come on I do that to Amycus one time, when am I going to get past that?"

"Never," Sirius grinned and she huffed in response.

It was her birthday last year and Amycus kept going on and on about him knowing what her birthday present was, he wouldn't budge every time she asked what it was saying it would ruin the surprise. It ended with Octavia threatening to push him down the stairs, it didn't help that she had cornered him above the stairs to begin with. He reluctantly caved not wanting to spend the last couple of days of his summer break in St Mungo's for falling down the stairs.

It was now the day before Halloween and they were thrilled to see that Halloween was the beginning of the weekend this year, on the Friday. Everyone was thrilled about the weekend and it turns out the upperclassmen also had a Hogsmeade weekend to top it off.

Octavia was currently sitting in the common room hoping to get her homework finished so she could enjoy her weekend

"Where have you been?" Octavia questioned when Sirius walked over and sat down beside her.

"Detention, what are you doing?"

"Charms homework, what were you doing in detention again for?"

"James and I might have sent some hexes at some Slytherins," Sirius shrugged like it wasn't a big deal and Octavia's jaw fell open.

"You did what!"

"Oh come on O, don't act like you haven't been in detention. You're just jealous I've had more detentions than you." He teased and she just looked at him in disbelief.

"Oh come off it Sirius, I'm not jealous. Because honestly, I don't have to be because I've had more detentions than you." She stuck her tongue out at him before looking back at the book in front of her.

Sirius scoffed in response before ripping the book from her hands.

"Hey give that back!" Octavia yelled at him but he just smiled in response.

"Wanna make a bet O?" she narrowed her eyes at him and the smile changed, the same one he always had when he was excited for a challenge.

"What's the challenge?"

"The one with the most detentions come June."

"Who will keep count?" she questioned, not even bothering to disagree with the challenge.

Maybe this was why the hat thought she would thrive better in Gryffindor, she wouldn't be able to be in Slytherin like this. Challenges and bets weren't as common since self-preservation is too high amongst them, they wouldn't take the bet unless they were sure they would win. With this Octavia had no idea if she would win, she just love a challenge.

Sirius looked around and just caught sight of Remus walking past them. "Remus will," he spoke loudly before standing up and walking over to where Remus was looking startled.

Remus had slowly began talking to them all but was still a bit shy around them.

"We need your help Remus," Remus looked at the two of them and noticed the looks on their faces, he was unsure if he wanted to be a part of this. The last time he clearly remembered seeing that look on their faces a group of Slytherins ended up wearing hot pink robes for three days.

"With what?" he stuttered and Octavia gave him a small smile.

"You aren't involved, we just need you to keep count."

"Of what exactly?"

"How many detentions we receive between now and the end of the school year." Sirius grinned once again and Remus shook his head, this wasn't the first challenge to take part between Sirius and Octavia, mind you they weren't as big or stupid, if you wish, as this one.

"Do you have any rules set yet?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well wouldn't it be unfair as to if you could just do something in front of a teacher and then you get handed a detention." Octavia and Sirius shared a look before looking back at Remus.

"Sounds fair, anything else?"

"Do you two ever think of that sort of stuff?" Remus questioned and they shrugged causing him to laugh. "Alright well, like I said no sense to pull pointless stuff in front of a teacher. Obviously pulling something granting you detention won't count, if you want a reason to not do it if you pull something like you will lose how many detentions you receive for it off your total."

"Oh you're cruel…" Sirius spoke while narrowing his eyes at Remus but he just shrugged.

"I'm fine with that if you're willing to keep count Remus."

"Sure but how about we wait until after Halloween and then we start fresh from then?" They both nodded in agreement with Remus, Remus was a little unsure about the look on their faces and how long it would take until James was a part of this bet but Remus was happy that his friends were keeping him involved in their plans, he pushed aside his concerns for how long it will last.

It was the following morning and everyone entered the Great Hall to see it filled with pumpkins galore, it was a Halloween display and it was the best any of the first years had seen.

The conversations that took place in the Great Hall during breakfast were only about the upcoming feast and what spectacle they would witness. The first years listened to the older students recount what has happened in previous years and it just made them that much more excited for that night.

The first year Gryffindor reluctantly pulled themselves away from the Great Hall and made their way up to the third floor to have Defence Against the Dark which was the first class of their day.

"Alright everyone I think today will be the day I finally decide to put you all against each other and see how well you shields work against minor spells. I will be calling you all up in pairs and grade you accordingly." Professor Briggins spoke and there was excitement throughout the room, up until now they had only practise their shield charms to see how they looked or used their jinxes and hexes against the dummies but not each other.

"Potter and Carrow." Briggins called out, they both smirked at each other before standing up and making their way towards the front.

"Now remember, basic spells only. Just mostly with your disarming and protective spells. Wands at the ready." Briggins spoke and they raised their wands' at each other seeing who will speak first.

"You ready for this O?" James spoke and Octavia instantly smile, not only had he dropped the last name but he also called her O.

"Of course James, are you?" he nodded and Briggins gave them the signal to begin.

Everyone watched as they both continued to throw spells at each other, it was obvious that James had the quicker reflexes but Octavia had a better knowledge of spells, she was throwing ones that James hadn't even heard of and it took a lot of concentration on her part to make sure she didn't throw any darker family spells at him that she had already learnt.

Sirius knew this would be hard, since he was already thinking about what spells he couldn't preform. It wasn't uncommon for the sacred families to begin teaching their children young in terms of magic, in some families they even practised spells with their parents' wands.

Even though you were better off using your own wand, you could use a family members' wand to some degree but not to the same power capacity as if it was your own.

Sirius had had his own wand since he turned eleven the previous year and Octavia had hers since she received her letter at end of July giving them at least some time to practise magic under the education of their parents.

It didn't matter if the Ministry placed a law that stated no magic should be performed by anyone under the age of 17, most of the time the law was only enforced with muggleborns since there were no adult witches or wizards around. The law couldn't tell you who performed the spell, it just gave an indication as to if there was magic performed around someone under the age of 17.

Octavia's shield had stopped working and this gave James the opening to aim a jinx to take out her feet, she fell to the ground declaring James the winner.

"Congratulations Mr Potter, Gryffindor will also be rewarded 15 points for both your amazing efforts today, well done." Briggins spoke and it was then James was lifted into the air.

"Oh dear," Briggins was the only to speak as everyone was shocked at James floating in the air, no one knew how this was managed.

Sirius was finally able to move and he rushed up to the front where Octavia was still sitting on the floor staring at James while he was up in the air.

They've been at Hogwarts for two months and nothing, aside from the Howler bursting into flames incident which couldn't be fully linked to Octavia had happened with her and her 'accidental magic' so they both thought that being at Hogwarts had helped fix whatever was happening.

Although now with Sirius watching Octavia like this there was the same blank stare on her face like every other time and her wand was lying on the ground beside her.

Sirius waited until he had a hold of James' arm before attempting to Octavia's attention. "O! Give me a hand?" Sirius called out and she snapped out of whatever she was in and James fell to the ground, Sirius' grip on his arm preventing him from falling to the ground completely but he did land awkwardly on his foot.

"Ouch, that hurts." James hobbled on the spot, Sirius put an arm around his shoulder to help give him support.

"Carrow why don't you help Black assist Potter to the Hospital Wing?" Octavia nodded before walking over and placing an arm around James as well and the three of them walked out of the classroom and headed towards the Hospital Wing.

"What happened there O?" James questioned and she averted her gaze.

"What makes you think it was her and not one of the Slytherins?"

"Oh that is a good point, aren't they still annoyed at the whole hot pink robe thing?" James bobbed his head.

"They've been biding their time to plan their revenge, we knew it would happen eventually. Looks like they placed the whole thing on you and not the three of us." Sirius spoke and the three of them slowly made their way to the Hospital Wing.

"Oh dear what happened here?" Pomfry spoke when the three of them entered the Hospital Wing.

"Mishap in class, he ended up being levitated into the air and he landed on his foot awkwardly." Sirius explained and Octavia just looked at James as he got up on one of the beds, there was no proof that it was her that did that to James but why did she feel so guilty?

"Very well, he will be just fine and will join you two at lunch. You can head back to class." Pomfry spoke before focusing her attention on James while Sirius pulled Octavia out of the Hospital Wing.

"He will be fine, but what happened? You've never done that to a person before." Sirius questioned and Octavia shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes.

"How do you know it was me?" she questioned softly and Sirius stopped walking to force her to look at him.

"Because I recognised that same look on your face and you were staring at James, who else could it have been? Pretty much everyone was fascinated with your duel, it was seconds later that James was lifted into the air, who had the time for that?"

"I don't want to hurt people…" the tears slowly escaped and Sirius frowned.

"James just rolled his ankle, he will be fine by lunch. You can't hurt people, it's not a part of you."

"But would have happened had you not help steady him?"

"He rolled both ankles? It wasn't like he was hanging by his feet where there was a chance he would fall on his head, James will be fine."

"What about next time?" her voice finally broke and Sirius wiped away the tears that were escaping.

"There won't be a next time, you'll learn to control your magic." Octavia pulled away from Sirius and used her sleeve to wipe away any trace of tears.

"We should head back to class…" was all she said before she headed down the corridor.

Sirius stood there and watched her leave for a moment before running a hand through his hair. This was Octavia, the same girl he grew up with that cried when she accidently stepped on a butterfly, she would never hurt someone would she?

Sirius chased after Octavia but nothing was said when he caught up to her, they just returned to class in silence.

Octavia was silent for the rest of the day, she barely said a word. Even when James returned from the Hospital Wing and joined them in the Great Hall for lunch she barely said anything, she was the first one to ask if he was okay and when he stated that he was she went back to pushing the food around her plate.

Sirius carefully watched her for the rest of the day, waiting to see if the mask she had up would crack but nothing happened. The rest of their friends had even noticed the unusually silent Octavia and they were worried.

"What's wrong with O?" Lilith questioned Sirius but he just looked at Octavia, he was unsure as how to answer this because he couldn't lie, it was too obvious that something was wrong.

"She had a run in with Amycus on the way back from the Hospital Wing, words were said. She will be fine soon enough."

"What was said? I can't imagine being on the outs with my brother." Lilith looked a little sad before looking over at were Octavia was sitting staring at the fireplace.

"Just the usual you disgraced our family, blah, blah." Sirius waved his hand around as Remus joined them.

"Come on we should probably head down for the Feast, is O alright?" Remus questioned and Sirius smiled, it seemed as though everyone cared about Octavia more than either of them had realised and it meant a lot to Sirius. He just hoped when Octavia was back to herself she would be glad as well.

"She will be fine, you lot head down and I will get her attention." They all reluctantly got up and left the common room leaving and leaving Sirius to deal with Octavia.

"Come on O, it's time for the feast."

"What if I had hurt him more than I did?" she questioned softly not pulling her gaze from the fire. All day Octavia just kept replaying the images of James floating in the air and then falling to the ground over and over and it was tearing her apart.

"But you didn't, he is perfectly fine. Come on you've been so excited for the Halloween Feast all week, you can't miss it now." Octavia reluctantly stood up and looped her arm through Sirius', he let out a sigh.

It's been years since Sirius had seen Octavia this distraught over something and it was because her grandmother had died, she was probably the only person in the whole family who didn't follow the same values they did. She just kept her mouth shut and her opinions to herself as to not make things harder for her than necessary, Octavia had learnt that from her.

"There are rumours going around that the ghosts are going to put on a show for us."

"Oh cool," Octavia spoke but Sirius heard the flatness to her tone, he just hoped after some sleep and fun this weekend she would return to normal and stop blaming herself for what happened to James.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and set alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please leave a review and let me know what you think, or what you think your theories are for how the story will play out.**

 **Olivia0707 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you love the story so far, hopefully I can keep it up for you.**

 **Dreams and Pixie Dust thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoyed the Howlers, it is something I always assumed Sirius received after his sorting, so why not Octavia as well. As for Lily and Octavia, yes it's true. Nearly every single story I have read when they have placed an OC in the Maruaders era they are almost always best friends with Lily, I thought this would be different, be a change of pace. It makes James work for Lily's attention without a girl friend in Lily's ear.**


	5. Finding Out Secrets

Chapter 4: Finding Out Secrets

It's been almost a month since Halloween and the challenge between Sirius and Octavia has been off to a great start, Sirius was right when he hoped that she would be fine after they had some fun over the weekend after what happened with James.

Octavia realised it was a mistake with what happened to James, she would never intentionally hurt one of her friends. It was obvious none of them made the connection to her and she was grateful.

Remus stuck to his agreement and continued to track the number of detention they were being given by their professors, in fact he was starting to find their bet rather interesting and was surprised that James had not noticed what was happening between the two of them so far, but he thought it had only been a month and James could clue in on what was going to happen at any moment.

Sirius was woken up by someone softly pushing him over to make room in his bed, he opened his eyes and saw a flash of bright red hair indicating it was Octavia, he only knew three red heads one can't get into Gryffindor common room and another wouldn't share a bed with him, before she burrowed herself closer to him.

"Are you alright O?" he whispered but the only response he was given was the shake of her head. "What's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare and it sounds so silly but it felt so real."

"Come on let's get some more sleep and you can tell me about it in the morning."

Sirius and Octavia were heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast without the rest of the boys, saying they can catch up.

"Now about your dream?" Octavia took a deep breath, she had been hoping he had forgotten about that but she supposed climbing into his bed in the middle of night prevents that.

"It's so silly but all I saw over and over was someone torturing a boy, the boy looked so familiar but I couldn't tell you his name."

"Who was torturing the boy?"

"That's the silly part, it could have been either Alecto or myself. We were older but I didn't get a good enough look at the eyes to know for sure."

"Come on O, we both know your sister is a bitch but there is no way she would do that. She is probably the nicest Slytherin we know."

"What about Narcissa?"

"Alright fine, there is a tie between those two but my point still stands."

"She's barely spoken to me and we've been here for almost three months…" Octavia trailed off softly as they entered the Great Hall letting her gaze linger towards the Slytherin table where she was hoping to catch a glimpse of her sister, even her brother would be fine.

"They're obviously siding with our parents, just wait till Christmas when you can corner them in their room." He gave her hand a squeeze before leading her towards the Gryffindor table.

"Where were you last night O?" Lilith spoke as she slide into the spare seat next to Octavia, she wasn't at all surprised that the girl had bet the rest of the boys down here. They always took forever to get ready, there had been some mornings where Remus and Octavia had sat there in amusement watching them run around the dorm trying to find whatever they were looking.

"I just had a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep, so I went and crawled into bed with Sirius." Octavia replied nonchalantly and a look appeared on Lilith's face. "Don't even think about it," she warned while pointing her fork at Lilith, but she just smiled innocently.

"Why is O threatening Lilith with a piece of bacon on a fork?" James questioned as him and the rest of the boys took a seat at the table.

"Oh because I found out that she shared a bed with Sirius, she is convinced I'm going to make another joke about how cute they are together." Lilith grinned and Octavia dropped the fork she was holding while Sirius choked on his pumpkin juice.

"Actually now that you say it, yes I can picture it as well." James smirked, unsure as to if he actually believed it but he loved the way they were reacting.

"Don't start James, remember I'm better at Charms and its not even Christmas yet." Octavia threatened while reaching for her wand.

"You wouldn't O, you'll miss me too much." James grinned and Octavia laughed.

"Who said anything about killing you? I was just thinking about maybe turning your hair hot pink…"

"What is it with you girls and hot pink anything?" James questioned, Octavia and Lilith shared a look before laughing.

"We're girls." They replied while shrugging and the boys just nodded.

"Hang on, haven't we lost track here. I thought we were talking about a possible relationship between Sirius and O, wouldn't they be so cute?" Lilith stated again and Octavia and Sirius just looked plain put out.

Octavia wasn't sure why Lilith was so stuck on this whole relationship idea between Octavia and Sirius, she was the only one that knew the truth, she was the only one that knew that both Octavia and Sirius had been promised to someone else.

"Come on now, I don't think that's necessary both Sirius and O don't look happy at the idea." Remus pointed out and everyone shrugged

"You two have never once thought it?" James questioned, they both shared a look before sighing they knew it was only a matter of time until the truth came out but they were still unsure as to if their future marriages still stand.

"Can't…" they both said at the same time and everyone looked confused.

Octavia lowered her gaze while Sirius looked around to see who was paying attention to them, but no one was.

"We're both promised to other people, it's something our families have practised for centuries." Sirius finally responded and they all looked shocked.

"It's what our mothers meant by the Rosier in the Howlers, Sirius is promised to Makenna Rosier, she's a fourth year in Slytherin." Octavia spoke, finally looking up at them. They weren't angry, just surprised, well except for Lilith.

"Who are you promised to?" James questioned hesitantly, Octavia looked at Sirius and he shrugged.

"Sirius' younger brother…"

"What!" James yelled a little too loudly for Octavia's liking and she glared at him. "Sorry…"

"It's fine but is it really that much of a shock after everything you learnt of us so far?"

"But you're in Gryffindor, would the families still want the marriages to be in place?"

"Who knows? My family can't pull out of my one with Sirius' brother because they have to pay but if his family decide to void the agreement they can, so mine may be voided come Christmas but Sirius may never get out of his." Octavia explained and they all nodded.

"So wait it's like old time medieval arranged marriages amongst the muggles?"

"Yes because Remus asking the two kids from very old and sacred Pureblood families if they know about something muggles were involved in way back when?" Sirius stated while Octavia giggled, Remus went a little pink in the cheeks and then everyone began picking on the poor boy.

"Alright leave him alone, it's not his fault for asking a stupid question." Octavia spoke and everyone stopped, Remus gave her a grateful smile and she nodded.

"Stop talking Sirius, we'll get caught," Octavia hissed at the boy and he just pouted at her but silently followed her along like an over excited puppy.

It was earlier this day that Sirius managed to convince Octavia, very little convincing on his part, to explore the area surrounding the Gryffindor common room. He explained that it was lots of fun figuring out the trick to enter the kitchen and he wanted to discover what else was hidden in the castle.

Octavia instantly perked up at the idea of exploring the castle, it was something the two of them had always done. They always explored whatever house they were at in hopes of finding some secrets, again this made Octavia think that this was another reason the hat placed her in Gryffindor, her sense of adventure.

"You can't tell me you aren't the at least a little bit excited about this?" Sirius questioned quietly and she spun on her heel to face him with a massive smile on her face.

"How can you not tell I am?"

"Because you're worried about getting caught, since when is Octavia Carrow afraid of being caught? For bloodly sakes we are in a competition to see who can get the most detentions." Sirius questioned but the girl just shrugged before spinning around and turning the corner but she stopped dead in her tracks. "O?"

"Are you trying to hurt mother more than you already are? When did you become this person? You've always been the girl who did what she was told but now, now I don't even know you anymore. You are disgracing your family by being in that house and now I find out you are willingly landing yourself in detention." Sirius heard Alecto's voice before he saw her.

"I've always been this person Alecto and that's why the hat put me in Gryffindor, I've always wanted the sense of adventure and I've been brave. Just because I kept my mouth shut at home and around you all doesn't mean I'm not brave." Octavia responded.

Sirius was shocked at how brave Octavia seemed to be standing up to Alecto like that, he has always known her to be the girl that kept her head down and did as they said. Her parents groomed her to be the shy agreeing girl that they hoped would make her the perfect wife one day and Sirius hated it, it wanted to see the person he saw when it was just the two of them all the time, regardless of who was present.

"And now you are talking back to your superiors, what happened to my baby sister? Maybe we should have kept you at home where you can continue to study, away from Hogwarts and all the blood traitors and mudbloods." Alecto spoke and Octavia could see the disappointment in her eyes but she didn't avert her gaze, she couldn't be afraid of her family anymore, she needed to be strong.

"You don't know anything Alecto."

"Just get back to your common room, there is no way I'm helping you and Sirius gain more detentions and ruin our families more than you already are." Alecto ordered, Sirius caught sight of her wand in her hand and grabbed Octavia's arm and pulled down the corridor.

"She hates me." Octavia choked out when they were out of Alecto's ear shot.

"She doesn't hate you…"

"No she does, just like our whole family hates us all because we were sorted in Gryffindor."

"O we don't know what will happen once we go home for Christmas break, we just have to give it another couple of weeks and then we can find out what we are walking into but if they do hate us, I don't hate you and our friends don't either. Our friends care about both of us, you didn't see them at Halloween they were worried about you because you shut yourself off from everyone."

"They're really such great friends, I just Remus would tell us he's hiding. He went home again last week and this time he missed classes."

"I know I'm worried as well O, but what can we do, he won't talk to us."

"But yet we've told him so much about us, hell we told him we were practically engaged."

"Who knows, come Christmas it might not be. We know the Rosier family has money and my parents might end yours, we might both free." Sirius grinned and Octavia laughed, there was a part of her that wanted out of her marriage contract with Regulus.

"Back to Remus, is James worried as well?" Sirius shrugged and they both fell silent for the rest of their walk back to the common room.

"Maybe we just have to remind Remus we are here for him Sirius?" Octavia finally spoke when they were in the common room.

"We have two and a half weeks until we go home, we have two and a half weeks to remind him he has friends who care about him. Goodnight O."

"Night Sirius," she gave him a smile before she slipped up the girls' staircase and into her bed.

"O what is going on with your sister and brother? I swear they are picking on the Gryffindors more than usual?" James questioned as he made himself comfortable on the armchair where he didn't really fit.

It's been almost two weeks since Sirius and Octavia ran into Alecto after curfew, neither of them had repeated what happened that night but since then it seemed like there was a war breaking out between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses. Both Sirius and Octavia had a feeling that the conversation that took place forced Alecto and Amycus to take action against the Gryffindor students but they weren't 100% certain.

No one was actually sure who threw the first blow but there was a constant string of spells cast in the halls and it was now becoming a habit for the students to wake up with something different about them.

"No idea, they refuse to talk to me." Octavia stated, she didn't want to repeat the things her sister said, she hoped come Christmas break when she was back home things will be normal.

"Well then how about we get involved in this weird war between the houses? So far first years haven't gotten involved, I would love to pull something over on Snivellus, Mulciber and Avery."

"Seriously how did you come up with the Snivellus nickname?" Octavia questioned.

James and Sirius had been using the Snivellus nickname since the beginning of term and Octavia was unsure as to how or why they use it.

"Sirius came up with it on the train, he says that it looked like the kid was going to cry when we bagged being a Slytherin and held Evans attention." James explained.

"You know Evans complains about that stupid nickname in our dorm, the two of them are best friends."

"Yes and she calls your best friend an arrogant toerag."

"No James, I believe she calls you an arrogant toerag."

"Oh I'm not your best friend?" James pouted at her and she laughed.

"You goof."

"Hey that's not very nice but I have heard her say some not so nice things to Sirius as well."

"I know but Evans and I have an agreement, we don't say cruel things to each other and it keeps our dorm somewhat peaceful. I keep Lilith under control and she attempts to keep Blake under control."

"I suppose I'm lucky since I get along with everyone in my dorm, although…" James shook his head before looking at her. "Actually never mind."

"No what is it James?"

"I worry about Remus…"

"His trips home and the time he's spent in the Hospital Wing? I worry as well."

"What about Sirius."

"He worries as well but he keeps saying that we just have to reassure Remus we are here for him and hopefully he will open up in due time." Octavia spoke and they both fell silent while James held her hand.

Octavia was grateful that James was giving some form of comfort, she hadn't voiced her concerns but she was worried that Remus' life at home was worse than her own. She had seen the scars as well as the cuts and bruises when his sleeves had been rolled up, he was always quick to roll them back down when he caught someone eyeing them.

"Come on, lets go pull a prank on the Slytherins. O you are the best in our year at Charms."

"Don't let Evans hear you say that," Octavia smirked but the none the less pried herself from underneath James. "Let me put my book away, wait, where's Sirius?" but James just shrugged and allowed Octavia to continue up to her dorm.

"So where are we going to find us some snakes?" Octavia grinned while rubbing her hands together.

They were currently wandering around somewhere on the fifth floor talking about their latest assignment for Potions, trying to figure out what each of them were missing from their essay but Octavia had gotten bored with the aimlessly wandering.

"Well I actually know what Sirius is doing, but we just have to find…ahuh there it is." James spoke before running over to what seemed like a piece of rubbish to Octavia. "He's here somewhere…" James trailed off while looking around the empty corridor, Octavia joined in but there was nothing, no one and she was completely confused.

"BOO!" Sirius yelled from behind Octavia and she jumped in a fright.

"Bloody hell Sirius," Octavia breathed out while she was leaning over trying to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry O but I couldn't help myself, you were just standing there waiting for it to happen."

"Where did you come from? I swear you weren't there moments ago."

"Oh but I was, this is James'" Sirius handed something over to Octavia, she grabbed it and examined it.

Octavia couldn't believe this, there was no way she suspected it to be what it was. For years she had always dreamed of having one, she wanted to be able to safety wander her house and hear the conversations that took place behind closed doors.

"This isn't it?" Octavia looked up at the boys and they both had massive grins on their faces.

"You mean an invisibility cloak then yes it is."

"It's been in my family for generations, dad gave it to me before the beginning of the term."

"I don't believe you, most of them the magic only last a few years at most and then some of them have flaws, and this one seemed flawless. There is no way this thing has been passed down for generations." Octavia explained as she ran her fingers over, the material was silky and soft and she couldn't believe it worked as well as it did, she couldn't see Sirius standing in front of me.

"It's what I was told, I trust my parents." James shrugged and she threw it over him.

"There has to be something, something that makes this thing flawless…" Octavia muttered but the boys laughed at her.

"Come on, we have snakes hiding out in a room on this floor. Let's have some fun." Sirius grinned and Octavia couldn't help but follow suit.

"I do wonder what you have planned for this Sirius, we haven't looked at any spells, actually I don't think I've seen either of you look at spells for anything we've pulled." James realisation the one thing that's been in front of his face since September, he had seen the spells that both Sirius and Octavia have used but so far the only person who had questioned them was Lilith but she understands, her grandmother was from one the darker families, an Burke, and had heard the stories of what they were like.

Both Sirius and Octavia stopped walking but didn't looked at James straight away, they slowly turned and faced him. "Do we have to do this now? Why can't it until after we get the snakes?" Sirius questioned, James didn't move straight away he stood there for a couple of minutes before nodding and following them down the corridor to where Sirius knew where the snakes were.

James threw the invisibility cloak over them and they all silently made their way towards the room with Sirius leading the way since he was the last one to see them.

When they reached the door Sirius slowly opened it, Octavia crept forward so both her and Sirius were able to point their wands in the doorway. They both whispered the incantation and the three of them watched as the magic happened.

Snape's shoulder length hair pulled back into his scalp so it was barely an inch long and turned blonde instead of his normal black, both Mulicber and Avery had something done to their hair while all of their skin colours changed a colour that resembled vomit.

All three of their heads snapped up to look towards the doorway, all three of the Gryffindors quickly pushed themselves against the wall as the Slytherins rushed out of the room and down the hallway in hopes of finding who did that to him.

Once the Slytherins were gone the three Gryffindors burst into laughter at what they witnessed.

"Okay you two need to begin teaching me some of the stuff you know," James spoke once the three of them finished laughing.

"No what we need is to improve our game, we are constantly pulling the same thing so they are going to realise it is us at some point." Octavia pointed out and Sirius looked like a wounded puppy.

"But it's so funny."

"Oh come on, we can come up with better stuff. I'm sure there is a Colour changing potion out there and we can put them in balloons…oooo what if we get them to drop from Filch above his door." Octavia rubbed her hands together a little evilly and the boys noticed the mischievous glint in her eyes.

"And where would we make the potion?" James questioned, Sirius barked out a laugh before speaking.

"Easy, in our dorm. I doubt Remus and Peter would care, Remus actually seems to enjoy our pranks but seem to also be a stickler to the rules and just needs some time to ware down while Pete…well…it won't take much convincing on his part." Sirius responded, it only took a moment before James agreed with him.

"But still how do you two know so much already, some of this stuff we haven't even touched base with yet." James questioned but they were silent.

"We were allowed to practise at home, the law in place only detects when magic is performed around a minor. If it is a family of wizards or witches then they just assume it's the adults and leave it up to the parents to control their children."

"What kinds of things have you two learnt?"

"A lot of stuff that we shouldn't perform at Hogwarts in front of our professors."

"Dark magic?" James questioned and they both nodded. "Very well, next prank we will find other spells to use on them instead of the stock standard you two have been using."

"Tell me again why you need my help Remus, you are incredibly smart." Octavia spoke as the two of them were heading towards the Library.

Earlier Remus had gone up to Octavia and requested her help with their Charms essay, at first she was unsure as to why he needed her help since the two of them and Lily were the top of their class.

"I've never had access to books like these, I don't even know where to begin in this library. Yes I enjoy reading but I'm running out of time and I know you and Sirius have finished the essay and something tells me you know which books are helpful."

"Most of it is from our textbook, what is really going on Remus?" Octavia questioned and she watched as he twisted the strap of his bag in his hands.

"Nothing, I'm just struggling with this one essay that's all and could do with the help." He replied softly not returning her gaze.

"I'm happy to help you Remus, you're a friend and I will help anyone of my friends. You know I'm always here for you right?"

"I do, it means a lot to me." Remus gave her a small smile.

"Coming from a family like mine isn't as perfect as it seems from the outside…" Octavia trailed off and Remus looked at her carefully, he wondered if she would explain herself properly but when she didn't continue to speak, he didn't want to question it.

"Alright so we mostly used our textbook and then grabbed a few bit and pieces of information from these three reference books as well…" Octavia spoke as wandered up and down the library aisles pulling out the three books that her and Sirius had used for the essay.

"How do you and Sirius know about these so well?" Remus questioned once they were sitting at a table.

"The libraries we have at home are very extensive, that along with the education we received from our parents helps. A lot of this stuff is second nature to Sirius and I at the moment, it's partly why we have no trouble getting in detention because our essays are easy to us. We could write double on this topic if needed because we had to for our parents."

"What did you mean by your family isn't as perfect as it seems from the outside O?" Remus questioned softly, he had even noticed how she froze at the question. "O you can tell me…"

"And you can tell me why you take so many trips home or spend as much time as you do in the Hospital Wing." Octavia softened her gaze, she hadn't planned on cornering him like this. She wanted him to open up in his own time, she didn't want to treat him like a mouse and she was the cat.

"O…"

"No Remus, Sirius and I have told you so much about our lives, whether or not you understood about the way we were raised or not. I saw the look on your faces when you found out that both Sirius and I are already promised to someone else, or if you want to be technical then we are already engaged. So much has come out but you can't tell us this one thing."

"My mums sick, why don't you believe that?"

"If your mum is sick, why don't you do what everyone else does and take the full time off? My grandmother died when I was eight, both my brother and sister were granted time off from their studies at Hogwarts to be at home with us a family as long as they kept up with their school work. They were at home for 6 weeks and then Christmas break, why haven't you spent more than a couple of days at home with her?" Octavia badgered him and it was then she noticed how terrified Remus looked, she was scared of how badly this had gone.

Remus stood up and walked away from the table, Octavia had no idea what was going on but considering his bag, books and essay were still sitting on the table she assumed he would be coming back for those at least, if not she would return them.

"Please don't tell anyone else…" His voice broke as he placed a book down on the table before collecting his things. "I'm trusting you in hopes you will tell me about your home life, trust goes both ways yes?" Octavia nodded and waited until Remus was gone before she opened the book, she assumed that was why he collected his things and left, not wanting to be present for when she discovered what his secret was.

Octavia opened the book, surprised at its size it was reassembly small but it wasn't until she began flicking through the pages that she couldn't believe what she was reading. There was no way this was true right?

She couldn't believe Remus was a werewolf, he was so young. But remembering the signs of a werewolf and looking back over the past couple of months, it was all starting to fit together and the only thing missing was whether or not it was a full moon when he went home or was in the Hospital Wing but Astronomy was her worst subject and she couldn't remember when the full moons were, she was lucky if she could get her star charts correct.

She didn't think Remus would hand her a book like this in hopes of lying about what was going on at home, who would hide abusive parents and lie about being a werewolf. She wouldn't even do that, she would just outright lie about her parents.

Octavia left the book on the table, unsure of where Remus actually got it from and packed up her things to return to the common room.

She had no idea what she wanted to say to Remus, she didn't want to lose him as friend. Yes he went home for two of the full moons…or did he? All they ever did was walk him to McGonagall's office and he returned a couple of days later. Even then, the one time he was as far as they knew still on the grounds when he changed no one had died.

Surely the professors knew about his condition, wouldn't they put precautions in place to make sure to one was hurt or killed by Remus during a full moon. It was then that Octavia remembered the Sorting ceremony and Dumbledore's words, _'some of you will soon learn that a new tree has been planted on the grounds, a Whomping Willow has been planted and I don't recommend anyone try and get to close to it as it could end up in injury or worst case, death.'_

The Whomping Willow was placed on the grounds because of Remus, they put it on top of the path that leads to wherever Remus is hiding during the full moon.

If Remus hasn't hurt anyone, if precautions have been put in place to protect the staff and students, could she really hate him for his conditions?

She had grown up around her parents views, her parents' views included views on werewolves and that was that they were the scum of the earth. Her parents agreed with the laws that the Ministry have put in place regarding werewolves, that they always had to state to their employers of their condition. There was no help set in place to help them, they had to struggle for the rest of their lives.

She had heard parents state how ridicules they thought other counties were for being so helpful towards werewolves, France, America and Australia were the countries that always stood out. They have laws in place that prevents employers firing employees due to being a werewolf, they can't fire anyone who becomes a werewolf. Werewolves our protected in other countries, why not ours?

Octavia entered the common room in a daze, it seemed like it was fuller than usual but she couldn't spot her friends. Lilith was most likely at choir practise with Flitwick while the boys were who knows where but sitting in the corner hiding from view was Remus, could she really hate the boy she had grown to be incredibly fond of over the last couple of months.

She walked over and took a seat beside Remus on the couch and they were both silent at first.

Remus was worried she would hate him, but why would she sit next to him?

Octavia was worried about opening her mouth and the words that came out were I hate you.

"O…" Remus started but she shook her head.

"Did you ever go home and visit your sick mother?"

"No."

"Is your mother actually sick?"

"No." Remus stated calmly and Octavia finally looked at him, he was shocked to not see a single ounce of hate in her eyes. She looked upset and had pity in her eyes.

"I don't hate you, I admit it's hard to put my parents' views aside to try and remember who you are but it's when I remember who you are that I realise I don't hate you. Yes you're shy, but I figure its because of that, you find it easier to have no friends instead of them working it out but you are incredibly smart and loyal. At Halloween when I was stuck in my funk you were just as worried about me as the rest of our friends, you wormed your way into our hearts just like we wormed our way into yours."

"How can you not hate me though, so many people in my own family do."

"Because I got to know you over the last couple of months, my parents don't have the best views and I know that. Yes there are some things I agree with them on but not everything, I don't agree with them on this. I got to know you, I got to know the person you are and you are nothing like the people my parents talk about."

"Thank you, it means a lot. I was so afraid of coming here and making friends, everyone whoever finds out the truth always ends up hating me. I was afraid of finally making friends and then losing them."

Octavia gave him a smile before placing his hands in hers, "I'm not going anywhere Remus, just give me the time push aside my parents views. 11 years of their views is a long time."

"Thank you but speaking of your parents what did you mean?" Remus asked and she pulled her left hand away.

"I was eight when I fell down the stairs," she turned her hand over and showed him the scar on her wrist. "Well actually I didn't fall, I was pushed."

"By who?"

"My mother, I got dirt stains on my clothes from playing Quidditch with Sirius."

"Why do I feel like there is more than you just being pushed down the stairs?"

"Because that is the only scar I've got, more things have happened but there is no proof. I was told to always state that I fell, St Mungo's believes I am the clumsiest person on the planet."

"Was it ever magical?" Remus questioned and Octavia was silent at first.

"Yes, on occasion."

"What about Sirius?"

"Not for a couple of years but Remus you have to understand that it isn't just our families that punish their children that way. It's all of the families we associate with, Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, Rosier, the list keeps going."

"How come his parents stopped but not yours?"

"Not sure, could be anything. He's their heir, he's a boy, he's the eldest, it could be anything."

"Well now we know each other's secret, I'm always here for you O." Remus pulled his hands out of hers and put his arms around her.

Remus always thought he had it bad, growing up with no friends but he always had loving parents but hearing about someone whose parents abused them, well that was something he had while Sirius and Octavia didn't.

"I'm always here for you as well Remus, I will bring you chocolate next time you're in the Hospital Wing." Octavia spoke with a smile and Remus let out a small chuckle.

"O are you alright?" Sirius' voice broke through breaking Octavia and Remus out of their moment.

"Yeah I'm fine, just not wanting to go home for Christmas break but we both know we have too." She gave him a smile and Remus gave her arm a squeeze.

"It'll be alright O, I'm going home as well. You won't be going home alone, now make some room." Sirius spoke as he pushed his way onto the couch beside Octavia, Octavia and Remus just laughed at Sirius for his actions.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and leave reviews. It means a lot to me, please continue to do so.**

 **Olivia0707 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Dreams and Pixie Dust thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As for what happened with James, it is never actually confirmed as to if it was her or not but everyone assumes so for the rest of the story. As for her magic, it gets explained throughout the story. I can't reveal anything as it's a part of her own storyline.**


	6. Christmas

**A/N: So I feel inspired, hence the two updates to close together. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5: Christmas

It was now officially the start of Christmas break and all the students that were going home to see their family for Christmas were now on the Hogwarts express heading home.

Octavia was walking back down the train when she spotted Lily sitting by herself, she slid the compartment door open startling the poor girl.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you, how come you're sitting by yourself?" Octavia questioned, she just assumed Snape would be going home as well, most Slytherin students do and she wasn't looking forward to the moment she comes across them over Christmas break.

"It's fine, I wasn't expecting anyone to come in here. As for why I'm by myself both Sev and Kara stayed back at Hogwarts for the break."

"Oh, you don't have any other friends?"

"It's kind of you hard when you all prank every single one of the other first years."

"No…we barely touch the other houses, it's only the Slytherin students. Maybe it's because you are friends with a Slytherin student, he's probably the only one who hasn't called you a mudblood so don't you think he's called other muggleborns a mudblood?"

"You're seriously asking that when I know exactly what you and your friends are like? You all parade around like you are better than everyone else because you are all god damn Purebloods."

"You're mistaken, Remus and Pete are both half-bloods."

"You're the one that is mistaken Carrow, Pettigrew is a Pureblood. Sev said he overheard him bragging to some Slytherin students about it."

That confused Octavia, but she pushed it aside claiming that Evans was mistaken.

"Snape is trying to brainwash you against your own house, one day you will see that your so called best friend is exactly like them."

"And one day we will all see that you and Black are just like your families, your brother and sister are insane and I don't know how she ever got given the Prefects badge."

"And here I was thinking I will be nice and invite you to sit with us for the train ride if you wished, but you're as bad as Blake, judging us on something you don't understand!" Octavia snapped back at the girl, grateful she left her wand back in the compartment with her friends.

She made her way out, slamming the door behind her before continuing along to where her friends were huddled in together.

Octavia slammed the compartment door opened startling her friends, they all took one look at her and instantly knew something had happened while she was gone.

"Don't tell me Alecto and Amycus are already on your back, we aren't even home yet?" Sirius questioned and Remus looked at her in concern.

Ever since Remus found out the truth about Octavia's parents and their form of punishment, he's been worried about what her Christmas break will be like but he didn't say anything, he couldn't. So Remus just kept his mouth shut about his concerns because he was grateful that Octavia kept her promise, she didn't tell anyone about his secret.

"God no, it was bloody Evans. I saw her sitting all by herself and when I tried to do the right thing and invite her to sit with us…"

"What?"

"Seriously?"

"Why?"

"Oh come on O."

Octavia couldn't help but laugh at the boys questions, Lilith just stayed quiet and shrugged when the boys looked at her.

"She isn't that bad." Octavia tried to reason with the boys but they just scoffed in response.

"Oh come on she is the most infuriating person, she thinks she is smarter than us." Sirius shot at her and they all agreed with him.

"Well she is smarter than you Sirius but it isn't a long shot," Octavia stuck her tongue out and he pretended to be hurt about her comment.

"Whatever, look she is more infuriating then the Ravenclaws, why couldn't she be in Ravenclaw since she seems like the type."

"Maybe the hat saw something in her, the hat saw something in us Sirius…" Octavia's comment shut him up since it was true and he had nothing to say in return.

"So…who is excited to go home?" Remus questioned hoping to break the tension Sirius and Octavia had caused, but this wasn't exactly the first time.

"I'm so excited to go home and see my family." Lilith spoke and everyone could tell she was over excited about this.

"No way I'm more excited about the present I'm getting from my parents." Peter spoke while he squirmed in his seat, it didn't take long but the rest of them eventually figured out that he was rather spoilt by his parents.

Peter was the one that received the most care packages from home, they always got to see what was in the packages but never the letters. Peter's letters were the only ones that weren't shared, Remus kept some of his hidden but Octavia now assumed it was because his parents mentioned his condition while James and Lilith had no problem sharing the funny stories or things their parents had said in their letters while Sirius and Octavia barely received anything from home.

"Presents? Is it your birthday?" Sirius questioned and everyone stared at him in complete and utter shock.

"No as in Christmas presents, you don't get them?" James explained, being the first one to recover from their shock.

"No we've never celebrated Christmas, most of the families we associate with don't either."

"O's right, closest we get is having everyone over on Christmas day and having a party but still no presents."

"Why is that?" James questioned, the only one able to speak at first.

"It's a muggle holiday…" Octavia shrugged and looked out the window in guilt. If her friends received presents growing up had they brought her presents? If so, when would she get the chance to buy them for her friends?

"Well maybe if your parents let you O, I'm sure my parents won't have a problem with you joining us." Lilith spoke but Octavia still hadn't turned around from the window.

"We don't think our parents will let us leave the house once we're home, yeah sure we will be able to visit each other but you guys probably not. I'm actually surprised we haven't received any letters stating that we are associating ourselves with the wrong sort of people." Octavia finally turned around once Sirius finished speaking and she locked eyes with Remus, yes she definitely knew that her parents wouldn't approve of her friendship with a werewolf.

"Well as long as you have each other Christmas should be alright, right?" James questioned and it caused Sirius and Octavia to share another look before she looked back out the window, she knew the truth and wouldn't be surprised if he did as well.

"O?" Remus questioned softly and it caused her to turn around and look at him, she shook her head slightly.

He didn't want to believe she was going home for Christmas just to get abused by her parents, he was terrified of what condition she would be in come their return to Hogwarts. Would they let her return with visible marks?

"Go straight to your room Octavia," Opehlia, Octavia's mother ordered as soon as they were home.

When the Hogwarts express pulled into Kings Cross both Sirius and Octavia reluctantly got off the train, they both agreed it was easier to say goodbye to their friends on the train so their parents didn't see who they were friends with.

Neither Sirius nor Octavia's parents said anything when they spotted them, they just led them towards the fireplaces set aside for use of the Floo network and they went straight home.

Octavia nodded at her mother before dragging her trunk upstairs, if this was all her Christmas break was going to be then she thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

She was in the middle of unpacking her trunk, she was careful to keep anything Gryffindor related at Hogwarts so her family wouldn't see it, when her bedroom door was slammed opened. She turned around startled and found her father, Keyon, standing there.

"Yes father?" she questioned wearily, she had no idea how her father was handling her sorting. In the sparse number of letters she received from home, her father was not once mentioned.

"I'm very disappointed in you, I thought we raised you better than we did, I thought you would be placed in Slytherin just like the rest of your family before you has been for centuries. Where did we go wrong with you?"

"Nowhere father, the hat was having trouble deciding between Slytherin and Gryffindor, said my bravery outweighed my Slytherin traits. I'm still the same person you raised."

"I do hope so, you are very lucky the Blacks still wish for you and Regulus to marry come his graduation."

"What about my friendship with Sirius?"

"You two are just friends?"

"Yes father, we understand what it means to be promised to someone else. He has the Rosier girl and I have Regulus."

"Very well, even though what you two have done disgraces both families with your sorting we believe you are both still the same people we raised. We hope one day your bravery will do you both some good when it comes to our side."

"I'm sorry but our side father?"

"You don't need to worry yourself about that for now, just worry about your schooling and not disgracing our family again, you hear me?"

"Yes father."

"Good, the Blacks will be joining us for dinner. I suggest you try and rectify your relationship with Regulus." Keyon didn't give Octavia a chance to say anything, he just left the room closing the door behind him.

Octavia stood there for a moment trying to catch her breath, she honestly thought he would punish her for her sorting and was just glad he bought that the hat was deciding between the two, when truth was that the hat wasn't even considering putting her in Slytherin.

Octavia was laying on her bed when her door was opened again but this time it was Sirius that had opened it and Regulus wasn't that far behind him.

Sirius took one look at Octavia and the floating pillow and he was shocked, he didn't understand how her magic still went a little hay wire.

"O?" he questioned but all she did was raise her hand with her wand in her fingers, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Regulus its good to see you again, I hope you weren't too lonely now that we are at Hogwarts?" Octavia gave him a smile as she climbed off her bed and made her way over to hug them, hugging Sirius a little longer than she did Regulus.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Not long until you can join us now," Octavia quickly looked at Sirius as she spoke and he slightly shrugged his shoulder at her.

"Come on, I think dinner is almost ready. We will wait outside while you get changed." Sirius spoke before him and Regulus left her alone in her room to get changed.

They were all sitting around the dining room table, Octavia was glad she had Sirius on one side and she wasn't at all surprised that Regulus was on the other.

What did surprise her was that both families still seemed to be interested in the marriage contract, Octavia was curious as to what was worth it for both families.

"Octavia dear, how are you finding Hogwarts?" Octavia looked over at Walburga who had addressed her and smiled.

"It is so much like I have heard, I have enjoyed it very much."

"What about friends dear?" from the corner of her eye, she noticed that Sirius' actions had frozen. It seemed like this was something neither of them had spoken about.

"I made friends with Katarina Greengrass on the train ride to Hogwarts, you can ask Alecto and Amycus, they were there. Katarina is Nikolas' cousin."

"I have always enjoyed the Greengrass family, they seem to have the most interesting stories…" Walburga spoke and it then started a conversation between the adults to begin talking about their own friends and for now it seemed as though the firing line had stopped in regards to her.

She was about to continue to eat her dinner when she felt someone squeeze her leg, but it was Regulus sitting on that side.

Her and Regulus had always gotten along to an extent, but it was what Sirius had always said in regards to his brother, he was the golden child, for both families. He had never once shown her any sort of affection or friendship more than a hug of greeting so this confused Octavia, but let it go since if she had been told by her father to rectify her relationship with him, had he as well?

"Why don't you three head into the other room? We need to have a word with Alecto and Amycus," Keyon spoke once dinner was finished and the three younger children nodded. "Dinky will serve you your dessert in the other room."

Sirius, Octavia and Regulus all stood up and left the dining room heading towards the living room. Regulus instantly walked over and picked out a book before sitting in the armchair and he began reading it while Sirius and Octavia walked to the opposite corner and took a seat on the floor.

"What do you think they are talking about?" Sirius questioned and Octavia was silent for a moment.

"I think somethings brewing, the reason why we were taught the stuff we were. Think about it, the spells we were taught before we started for all for in a duel, there is no other practicality to them. Father also mentioned something about how bravery as Gryffindors will aide them in their side in the future."

"That's really odd but it makes sense when you think about it, I heard my parents talking about something to do with Christmas day. Something about a party and someone important will be there."

"Ooo I hope we don't have to go and we can go elsewhere." Octavia grinned causing Sirius to laugh, this caused Regulus to look over at them with a raised eyebrow.

"What is so funny over there?" he questioned as he shut his book.

"Just Hogwarts, do you know what this party is in a few days?" Sirius questioned.

"No, you know I don't get to go to those things. They've always said we were too young, remember until this year that included you two." Regulus stood up and made his way over to where Sirius and Octavia were sitting, Octavia was now slightly worried about this party, she didn't want to go and have to be in a room full Slytherins and having Regulus sit with them now prevented them from talking about their friends.

"Yes but we were also sorted into the devil house, so why would we be invited to it? Especially when I heard that someone special is going to be there."

"Do you honestly believe it's the devil house?"

"Reg…"

"No I want honesty Sirius, you don't know what the house was like after Bella's letter came home and then a couple of hours later Octavia's parents turned up saying the same thing. There was screaming and yelling coming from father's office."

"You know we didn't mean for that to happen, we just want to happy."

"What about the family? Both mother and father were devastated over your sorting, they thought they went wrong with you." Regulus spoke and Octavia felt guilty, if Sirius' parents reacted like this, had hers? She never wanted to hurt her parents over her sorting, she just wants to be happy and she has been happy in Gryffindor for the past couple of months and it's obvious that Sirius has been as well.

"If mother and father don't care about my happiness I don't care about theirs," Sirius snapped before standing up and storming out of the room.

Octavia watched as Sirius stormed out of the room, she was worried about what happened with him once he got home. They haven't had the chance to speak about it yet, she hoped it could happen today because she was unsure of when she would get the chance to see him again.

"I didn't mean to make him angry, I just wanted him to know what it's like for our parents."

"I know Reg, it's just been hard on us being in Gryffindor. Alecto and Amycus haven't exactly spoken to us, even Bella has ignored us and Narcissa will only smile in our direction. The rest of the Slytherins that we've known for years won't acknowledge us."

"But you said at dinner…"

"Yes I know what I said at dinner Reg but I didn't see the point in making things worse by complaining about people who will always be in our lives." Octavia explained and the young boy finally nodded, there were moments where Octavia couldn't believe that Regulus wasn't eleven yet, there were moments when she believed he was older than he was by the he spoke and acted.

"Oh I guess that makes sense, I guess our future together will always have those people and you're trying to make things easier for yourself and us."

"Exactly, I don't see the point in making things hard for us before we have the chance to show that something is amiss."

"I should go and apologies to Sirius." Regulus gave Octavia a smile before standing and leaving out the same door Sirius did.

"Where are Regulus and Sirius?" Orion questioned when he entered the living room and found Octavia sitting in there by herself, she was unsure of how to answer. She didn't know if the boys wanted their parents to know what happened or not but she knew Regulus being the golden child, he would probably tell them at some stage.

"They went through that door, no idea where they went sorry Orion."

"It's okay, we are heading home, I'm sure we will see each other again before you return to Hogwarts." Octavia watched as Orion turned and left in search of Regulus and Sirius, she just hoped they hadn't killed each other.

No one said anything else to Octavia for the rest of the night and she took solace in her bedroom, hoping she will be left alone for the moment.

Octavia's bedroom slammed opened, startling her and she found her sister standing there.

"What are you doing in here Alecto?" Octavia questioned, unsure as to why now all of a sudden her sister was seeking her out.

It's been a week since the Blacks had dinner with them after returning from Hogwarts and it's been a week since Octavia had seen Sirius, she's basically been on house arrest and hasn't been allowed to leave. She has been able to continue to use her owl to keep in contact with her friends, although her parents assumed it was just Sirius she was in contact with.

Octavia has tried to talk to both Alecto and Amycus but neither would say anything, they would attempt to leave the room when she entered. It was three days after her attempts to talk to them that they began spending more time out of the house, they would leave first thing in the morning and return late at night.

"You're wanted downstairs…"

"Great so the only time you talk to me is because you are a messenger." Octavia muttered to herself but it was then she collapsed to fall feeling a jolt of pain through her body.

She turned her head and looked at Alecto standing there with her wand in her hand, she couldn't believe her sister had punished her like this.

"Don't be rude, you are wanted downstairs." Alecto ordered before turning around and leaving.

Octavia continued to kneel on the floor hoping the pain will diminish but it never did, she reluctantly stood up and called for Dinky.

"Misses Tavia, what can I do for you?"

"Can you please run me a bath and I will take it when I return."

"Of course Misses Tavia, are you alright?"

"Will be with time," Octavia gave Dinky a tight smile but it didn't reassure the elf, she was still worried about Octavia.

Octavia knew how much Dinky cared for her, there were moments that proved that Dinky cared for her more than her own parents. Dinky would betray Opehlia and Keyon but she would do everything she could to keep Octavia safe and happy, even if it meant sneaking out to get Sirius when something had gone wrong.

As soon as she began making her way downstairs, she knew she should have said something to Dinky about not getting Sirius, she knew he would worry too much and she didn't know how to explain that her sister had now turned on her as well.

"You wanted to see me?" Octavia spoke when she found her parents sitting in the living room together, she had no idea what to think about this.

"What took you so long?" Ophelia demanded but Keyon just placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Now that isn't the time, we wanted to talk to Octavia. In two days' time we will be attending a party with the rest of the families, normally we would have you attend with us but given your sorting this year and the special guest we have in attendance we think it will be better if you go elsewhere for the day."

"But in two days it will be Christmas."

"And we don't celebrate Christmas, you know this."

"I know father but for me to go elsewhere, all my friends celebrate Christmas with their families." Octavia regretted this as soon as she spotted her father's forehead crease.

"We've put aside our differences in regards to you being placed in Slytherin but your friends…"

"Are my friends, tell me one person that you know of that is acceptable that isn't in Slytherin father." Octavia spoke and they were both silent, obviously failing at finding someone. The children she grew up with were all in Slytherin.

"Very well, we won't ask who your friends are, we just hope they aren't mudbloods."

"Nope, Purebloods and Halfbloods."

"Very well, we should be pleased you are at least associating with Purebloods. We just don't want to find out who, we have no problem with you spending the day with them, but only for that day Octavia."

"Yes father, I will go find who I can spend the day with. Is Sirius in the same position I am?"

"We don't know Octavia, now go back up to your room." Octavia nodded before turning and leaving, with each step she became more and more eager for her bath.

When Octavia stepped through the fireplace she was shocked at what she saw, she had no idea what expect when it came to a Christmas party and now she was worried that she was under dressed.

In the end Lilith said she was more than welcome to spend the day with her family, just like she promised on the train.

"There you are, so glad you could make it. Merry Christmas O."

"Merry Christmas Lilith?" Octavia responded but it was obvious she was confused, Lilith laughed but hugged her anyway.

When Lilith pulled away she noticed the pained expression on Octavia's face. "What's wrong O?"

"Nothing, I just fell off my broom the other day, I can be very clumsy."

"You sure? I can get my dad to look at you, he's a Healer."

"I'm sure Lilith, I will be fine. My muscles are a little sore, a hot bath every night has been helping. Now what is Merry Christmas?"

"It's a greeting for the day, you will hear it a lot today."

"Speaking of this party, are you sure your parents don't mind me being here?"

"They said compared to the fifty or so that are coming what is one more person, we always have way too much food."

"I just wished we could have been with the rest of our friends for Christmas." Octavia frowned.

In the past she has always had Sirius with her for the day, it didn't matter if they didn't celebrate Christmas, they still had a big dinner that a lot of the families were invited too.

"Maybe next year I can convince my parents to invite the Potter's in case something like this happens again, it will be alright. Now come on, let me introduce you to my parents and get you some food." Octavia smiled at Lilith and let her pull her through the house.

Octavia was sitting in an empty compartment with her head pressed against the window, she was hoping it would help cool her burning face.

She knew it wouldn't be long until Sirius turned up but she didn't even want to think about his reaction to what happened this morning.

She heard the compartment door opened but she didn't budge, she couldn't face who had entered and show them her face, she just hoped if she leaned here long enough the mark would go away.

"O what's wrong?" Sirius spoke and Octavia didn't move, he walked closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder and slowly pulled her away from the window.

"Look at me Octavia," he demanded and she slowly faced him, his face scrunched up in anger as he gripped her arm and pulled her down the train.

"Where are we going Sirius?" Octavia questioned but he didn't reply, he just continued walking and checking the compartments until he found what he was looking for.

Sirius finally saw what he was after and opened the compartment door with too much effort scaring the occupants.

Octavia was face to face with her brother and sister, for most of Christmas break they had ignored her, every time she entered a room they were in, they got up and left leaving her alone and it hurt until two days before Christmas when Alecto punished her the same way her parents did, that just left her devastated.

"What are you two doing in here?"

"Who did that to her? And don't say no one because there is a bright red hand print on the side of her face." Sirius demanded and they just looked like they were bored.

"You fell didn't you Octavia?" Amycus questioned and Octavia lowered her gaze, Sirius knew this statement.

This wouldn't be the first time she had to say she fell, same with him.

"I know as well as you do that she didn't fall and how would that explain the _handprint_ on her face! Fix this now or explain to the headmaster as to why she has a handprint on her face!" Sirius yelled at them again and he finally got a reaction from Alecto.

She stood up but Amycus grabbed her hand, "Don't Am, we both know what will happen if the professors see her face, mother messed up this time and we can't let the family get in trouble. We aren't a disgrace like her." The way Alecto said 'like her' made Octavia feel sick to her stomach.

Alecto stood in front of Octavia and waved her wand and her face finally felt better, Alecto didn't even say anything before she turned and sat back down in her original spot across from Amycus.

Octavia gave them one last look before she let Sirius pull her out of the compartment.

When they were standing in the corridor he faced her. "What happened this morning, I saw you yesterday and you were fine."

"Someone told my parents I was friends with a Potter and Longbottom, it must have come out in the last couple of days. Mother was so furious that I was friends with blood traitors, I wasn't even able to get in two words before she slapped me this morning."

"But you got to spend Christmas with Lilith, how did they not know who she was?"

"When they told me about the party and how I had to make other plans they stated it was fine for me to make friends within Gryffindor as long as they never found out who they were. I think my parents assumed that at least one of them would be blood traitors but I think they were just hoping they would have been more neutral on everything. We both know that the Potters and Longbottoms are the biggest blood traitors."

Sirius nodded before placing his hand on her chin to tilt her head so he could have a better look at her cheek. "How is your face feeling?"

"It's better, I just don't know what happened in the last couple of days for either Amycus or Alecto tell my parents who my friends were. You would think that if they wanted me to be punished for it they would do it at the start of the break, not the end and remember you heard Alecto then, they both agreed mother messed up this morning."

"I know, come on lets head back and take your mind off Christmas break."

When they reached the compartment it seemed as though Lilith and Remus had found which compartment they were using.

"Am I allowed to hug you today without hurting you O?" Lilith questioned with a sad look on her face causing both Remus and Sirius to look at her.

"What do you mean Lilith?" Sirius questioned and Octavia instantly wished the ground would open up and eat her whole.

"Well on Christmas day she was a little sore because she said she fell of her broom." Lilith explained but Sirius just continued to look at Octavia while it seemed Remus bought the statement as he sat back on the bench and looked out the window searching for James and Peter.

"You fell?" he questioned and she nodded.

"I fell, I'm very clumsy aren't I?" Octavia spoke softly and Sirius stormed out if the compartment in a fit of rage.

"What did I say?" Lilith spoke and everyone could tell she was confused but Octavia was too busy looking at Remus, he hadn't known the truth for long but she had told him she regularly had to say she fell and that she was clumsy. The sentence she just spoke was a coded sentence between her and Sirius, he instantly knew what it meant just like she knew where he went.

"O…"

"Don't Remus, I'm fine. I promise, I was just a little sore on Christmas day." And the following five days, Octavia thought to herself, truth was she was still a little sore if she moved the wrong way.

No one pressed the question about Octavia and her being sore, they continued to talk about their Christmas breaking filling each other in on what they got up to, well except Octavia she stayed silent on her Christmas Break.

At some point James and Peter had found them and they joined in on the conversation, the train had even started moving before Sirius had returned.

Everyone noticed Sirius' foul mood but didn't question it, he just squeezed his way in between Octavia and the window staring out it. She knew it would be a while before she could find out where he went.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has continued to read, review and set alerts for my story. It means a lot to me.**

 **Dreams and Pixie Dust thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As for why Remus told Octavia about being a Werewolf, he hoped he could find out what she meant with her comment about her home life not being as perfect as it seemed. Remus was worried and hoped giving up his secret, she would give up her own in return and she did.**

 **Olivia0707 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. You didn't have to wait too long.**

 **Raven that flies at night thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I cannot say who Octavia will or won't be paired with come the end of the story, for now it seems as though she will be staying with Regulus due to their arranged marriage.**


	7. The Other Side

Chapter 6: The Other Side

"Are you sure he is up for it?" one man questioned the other.

The two men were currently standing in the middle of a rundown house, it was the only place that was safe for them to meet.

No one knew that these two men knew each other, no one remembered that the two of them were friends during their time at Hogwarts, no one knew that the two of them kept in contact after they both graduated but it has been years since they have seen each other.

"He said he was up for it, he understands what it means to be a part of our family. He was sorted into the right house, you know back in the day I never understood the hats songs about House unity but now. It feels so much better knowing we can steal anyone from anywhere."

"Yes well I heard that the Black Heir and the youngest Carrow were sorted into Gryffindor, do tell me that those three are friends?"

"Those two haven't questioned any of their friends, they just assume that they are blood traitors like their parents."

"I always knew I could trust you, from day one back at Hogwarts. Everyone else thought I was crazy having friends in all houses but surely it is understandable as to why but it has been beneficial for me to have all four houses in my circle."

"Yes the Ministry isn't even looking at anyone that they should actually suspect, but yet I continue to be overshadowed within the Ministry and they constantly look at the families like the Carrows and the Blacks, speaking of which how is Orion these days? I haven't seen him in such a long time."

"Ahh yes Orion, I saw him just the other day actually. It's always good to see old friends, he explained his absence to me. He stated that you just work to closely to the Auror department for his liking."

"Understandable, how is everyone else? I feel like I have been cut out of the circle because of my placing and my family's role."

"I know but it is the way it must be, everyone must believe you no longer value the same things I do. We need to keep up this act to protect your family."

"I understand and I will do everything to make sure my family is protected as well as make sure we do not ruin our task."

"How is your task going?"

"Harder than we anticipated, like you and everyone else we assumed that the Black Heir and the Carrow girl would be placed in Slytherin like their families instead they are making things difficult. They hold the attention of the rest of their house, they overshadow my son."

"I'm sure he will do just fine, he is your son after all. I remember you managing to recruit three of your fellow Gryffindors back in the day."

"Ah the good old days, who would have thought the ideas we had as teenagers would finally come to the light of day my Lord."

"I always believed that when the time was right we would be able to follow through with our plans. Now how is everyone else going with their task, are they proceeding along?"

"Yes I believe Hastings' son has got two people that might be willing come their graduation in June and Marin's daughter is still working on her friends but remember she is only a fourth year."

"The three of them haven't made contact yet?"

"No, I remind my boy that he is not to speak to Hastings or Marin while on Hogwarts grounds, they only talk during breaks. Hastings has been helping both of them in regards to what they should and shouldn't say to their friends. Surely you understand how hard this will become once the Ministry fully rules you as the enemy."

"I do and I apologise but I cannot sit around for seven years and wait until your son graduates, there are plenty of people in Slytherin that will follow me come their graduation. All I need is the right number of loyal followers to allow me to take over the Ministry, once that is done we will be fine. Remember the Ministry is the hard part."

"I do my Lord."

"Good, I have to make my leave, we will be in contact Pettigrew."

Once the other man was gone Pettigrew stood there alone for a moment, he pulled up the sleave of his cloak and looked at the mark on his left forearm. It had been there since he was sixteen when at the time a boy named Tom Riddle had given it to him, at the time whenever it burned he was to instantly go to Tom's side. But now whenever it burned, he had to ignore it. He had to wait until he was given a message to meet in secret, they had to keep their alliance a secret for their plan to work.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who keeps reading, reviewing and setting alerts for my story, it means a lot to me. Please continue to do so.**

 **Now I know that this post is nowhere near the normal length of my normal posts, for a very good reason. It's just an insight into what is happening on the other side, as the chapter is called, I do have a few posts like this lined up for the future as well as one or two that will cover the Order of the Phoenix.**

 **If you normally don't leave review please do so this one time as I do honestly what to know what my readers think of this change in chapter. If everyone hates it then I will no longer do these, I will take them out of my story as they don't change anything, just give insight into something that the Marauders will either, never know or be ages until they find out the truth.**

 **Raven that flies at night thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I would have gone crazy too if I was Octavia, hey for all you know she might do in the future.**

 **Olivia0707 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you loved the last chapter, the next chapter will have them back at Hogwarts.**

 **Dreams and Pixie Dust thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. From my knowledge it was never stated that Peter's blood status was, but who is right, Octavia or Lily? As for Alecto did to Octavia, it isn't the Cruciatus Curse, it is just a normal spell that causes pain for several days. It would be horrible if Alecto completely turned on Octavia liked that wouldn't it?**


	8. Testing Friendships

Chapter 7: Testing Friendships

They had been back at Hogwarts for a week and Sirius still hadn't told anyone where he went when he stormed out of the compartment once Octavia let it slip that she had been abused by her family not once but twice during Christmas Break.

"What are you reading?" Sirius questioned as he walked over and sat in front of her on the window bench.

Octavia closed her book and placed it in between her chest and knees and smiled at Sirius, "Depends, where did you go on the train?"

"That doesn't matter O, seriously what are you reading."

"The Tale of Three Brothers." Octavia pulled the book out and showed Sirius.

"Why?"

"Because I'm so damn curious about how James' cloak works, if he's right and it's been passed down through generations, how does it still work? Or don't you remember Amycus when he was eleven?"

"Oh god how could I forget? He overpaid for something that was meant to be a lifelong invisibility cloak but come 1st of September it stopped working."

"Exactly and he brought that in June, he didn't even have three months with it and what James has had fourth Months at Hogwarts with it. How does it work so well?"

"So you what you think it's from some fairy tale?"

"I have no idea Sirius, it's weird to me. This could be just that, a fairy tale, but in the story the brother who received the invisibility cloak received it from death himself, who's to say that didn't happen in real life?"

"Does that mean you believe the Deathly Hallows exist?" Sirius questioned and Octavia shrugged.

That was the one thing they were unsure about when it came to their parents, they seemed to be obsessed with the story regarding the Deathly Hallows. It was stated who wielded all three would be able to forgo death.

The story of the Deathly Hallows stated that there was the wand that would never lose in a duel, a stone could bring the dead back to life and lastly there was a cloak of invisibility.

"Who knows in our world anymore, our parents' have so many conversations behind closed doors because we are either deemed too young or because of where we were sorted, for all we know they have the Deathly Hallows." Octavia spoke breaking their silence and Sirius was a little shocked.

"Don't think like that O…"

Octavia just shrugged and looked back down at the book in her lap, but she was barely looking at it for a moment before Sirius pulled it away.

"Why didn't you tell me? Please tell me it was only twice." Sirius spoke quietly and Octavia refused to look up at him, she had been hoping he wouldn't ask about this.

"It was only twice, can I have my book back please?" Octavia still refused to look at him, she just leaned forward resting her chin on her knees.

"Why didn't you tell me? I saw you before we left for Hogwarts, there were moments when it was just the two of us and you could have easily told me."

"How about this Sirius? You tell me where you went on the train and then I will tell you why I didn't say what happened!" Octavia yelled at Sirius gathering the attention of everyone else in the common room, causing a deathly silence amongst them all.

"O please sit down."

"Bugger off Sirius." She snapped at him before snatching the book out of his hands and heading up to her dorm.

Except she only managed to go up a couple of steps before the stairs turned into a slide and she slid down to the bottom landing on top of Sirius.

"You're such a prat!" Octavia hit him across the arm with her book before pulling away and successfully going up the stairs again.

Sirius sat there at the bottom of the girls' staircase worried about his best friend, there was something different about this attack because she was refusing to talk about it all together. Something was different and that is what scared him, he was afraid he was slowly losing his best friend to the family he had been trying incredibly hard to separate themselves from.

Sirius knew that Octavia loved her family dearly but some of their values she didn't agree with at all, once she had realised she could be happy in Gryffindor away from her family and the other children they grew up with she was more easily able to pull away from her family but now after spending Christmas break at home, for the first time barely seeing Sirius, he was worried something else happened.

"Why aren't you and Sirius sitting together? You have four people sitting in between the two of you?" Lilith whispered to Octavia one morning during breakfast.

It had been like this for two days, ever since their argument in the common room, they weren't sitting together during meals or classes and they were barely speaking.

If someone asked what Octavia was feeling because of this, she would say she was hurting. Her and Sirius have never been like this in the past, it was always the two of them against the world but there was no way she could tell him the truth behind what happened before Christmas because there was a part of her that hoped it was a mistake on her sister's part.

Octavia knew that if Sirius knew the truth, he would make sure that she was always protected when it came to her family because the truth was, it wasn't just her parents abusing her, her siblings had now turned on her.

Sirius hated that he wasn't talking with Octavia but he knew her, knew her well enough to know she just needed space to realise that she couldn't keep secrets. Keeping secrets is what gets people hurt.

"He wants to sit with the boys, what's wrong with that? It gives us space from them, remember they are boys and they smell." Octavia grinned at Lilith before they both broke out in giggles.

"But seriously what's going on with you two? I haven't seen you two like this before, normally when Sirius is late to meals he practically runs to make sure he sits on your other side and the look on his face during classes when you sit on the aisle forcing him to sit next to someone else, you two are best friends O."

"But he has cooties, they all do…" Octavia mock whined trying to break the tension and force Lilith to see that nothing was going on between the two of them.

"You're complaining now, after spending god knows how much time with those boys that they have cooties?" Lilith questioned and Octavia smiled.

"Who has cooties?" James piped once hearing their conversation.

"You do, you're a boy. All boys have cooties."

"O you break my heart," James pouted at her and put a hand over his heart.

"You'll live James."

"Not if I have cooties, what's the cure?" he questioned, Octavia looked thoughtful for the moment.

"The fountain of youth," she said with a straight face but everyone burst out laughing, now knowing she was completely joking.

Octavia was currently sitting in the stands of the Quidditch Pitch, they've been back at Hogwarts for nearly three weeks and her and Sirius have barely spoken for two of those.

The rest of their friends have noticed the strange actions between the two of them but every time they question either one of them, they just make a joke about it as if they didn't think anything was amiss in their friendship.

"Are you alright?" Sirius questioned as he sat down beside her on the stands, for two weeks he's hating having to sit on the side and watch as she slowly broke down because of her secret.

"It was Alecto…" Octavia choked out and it was then Sirius realised she had been crying while she was sitting out here.

He put his arms around her and pulled her close, "what do you mean it was Alecto?"

"Before Christmas, it wasn't my parents it was Alecto."

"That's why you refused to tell me, you didn't want to believe your sister was capable of doing something like this."

"You said yourself, she's a nice Slytherin. Would a nice Slytherin do this to me? Why couldn't it be Amycus, it would be easier to believe Amycus did something like this but not Alecto." Octavia cried out before pressing her face against Sirius.

"I know O, but we've always known we were different to them, it's why we are in Gryffindor and they're in Slytherin." Sirius spoke as he softly ran a hand up and down her side, she didn't say anything in response. She just continued to cry against him.

"Remember O, it's you and me against the world. I didn't go anywhere on the train, I just went straight to the back and sat outside getting air. If I didn't cool down I would have done something stupid, I didn't do anything, I didn't go anywhere, I just sat outside at the end of the train."

"Why were you so angry?" she finally spoke but refused to pull away from him.

"It was just everything, your parents for still treating you like this, your brother and sister for not protecting like they used too, you for not telling me and myself for not realising you were in pain when I saw you before we returned."

"I don't think Alecto and Amycus want to help a Gryffindor, it doesn't matter what our parents said on Christmas Break. Alecto and Amycus believe we are traitors because of our house and the friends we have made."

"Your sister turned on you, the one who protected you the most, the one who helped you when you were injured. Do you really want to still believe that they see you as family?" Sirius questioned and Octavia was shocked at his statement.

"But they are family…"

"They don't treat you as family though, would Alecto hurt Amycus the same way she did with you?"

"No…" Octavia's voice was so low Sirius barely heard her.

"It'll be alright O, we have the rest of our friends in Gryffindor so we don't need the rest of our families." Sirius spoke and Octavia finally pulled away, she looked at him before wiping away her tears when realisation set in for her.

"What if our parents only want us for whatever is brewing in the sidelines?" Sirius' face scrunched up in thought, moments later he shook his head.

"No way, I don't believe it. It would be like they don't care about us, like they want us as soldiers…"

"Or they want us and our friends?" Octavia cut in and Sirius didn't know if he should believe what she was saying or not.

"It doesn't make sense O."

"No? You said yourself that our families treat us differently, why wouldn't they want brave soldiers?"

"O we don't even know what they are hoping for, we don't know what they talk about behind closed doors."

"Well maybe it's time we find out, surely the older Slytherins know what is going on. Why can't we sneak around with James' cloak?"

"You've lost it O," Sirius laughed his response but Octavia just glared at him.

"It's what happens when I don't have my best friend for two weeks," she pouted at him and he hung his head before putting his arms around her and pulling her close again.

"I know O but no more secrets between us, how much worse could it get now that I know your sister has turned on you as well?"

"No clue but you're right no more secrets, you kept a secret as well."

"I know O and I promise I won't keep secrets anymore, secrets ruin friendships." Sirius spoke and Octavia swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat.

She had one more secret in her but it wasn't her secret to tell, she knew Remus would hate her if she went and told the rest of their friends. She knew it was either up to them to figure it out, corner him like she did or for Remus to tell them on his own accord.

She knew James and Sirius were smart enough to work it out, they just had to put all the facts together and work it out. All of the information about Remus' condition was right in front of them and to do this day, she still thought she was an idiot for not seeing it but she knew now and she knew she couldn't tell them.

"You're coming with me," Sirius spoke before grabbing Octavia's arm and pulling her off the couch where she was sitting with Lilith.

Octavia didn't even get the chance to respond, she just grabbed Lilith's arm and pulled her with her, hoping Sirius wouldn't care about the extra person.

They were a sight, Sirius dragging two girls down the corridors of Hogwarts. If they were older than the other students would think it was weird but yet he and Lilith were both 12 while Octavia was still 11.

"Where are we going Sirius?" Lilith questioned, Sirius stopped and turned to face them in shock at hearing her voice, he shook his head before he continued to pull them along.

"I don't think he realised I grabbed your arm," Octavia spoke and Lilith laughed.

"I don't think he liked that I'm crashing Sirius and Octavia time."

"That is so not a thing."

"No? You spend two weeks not talking and then it's like he's attached to your hip, if I can't jump on that or the fact that you two are incredibly cute together what I am meant to annoy you both with?" both girls laughed when a low growl had come from Sirius.

Lilith wasn't the only one that had jumped on the whole Sirius and Octavia relationship thing, especially lately when it did seem like Sirius and Octavia were joined at the hip but it was only because Sirius didn't want to give Alecto and Amycus the chance to hurt Octavia again.

"It's not that funny you two, come on O. Why do you honestly believe it's funny?"

"Because it is Sirius, I don't know why you can't see it to not be funny. We both know that as long as we are still connected to our families no relationships will happen and plus we grew up together, you're like a brother." Octavia shrugged and Sirius stayed silent the rest of the way.

"Oh wow, congratulations Sirius you found a mirror. Now you can finally see what you look like with a mop of hair like that," Lilith teased.

Sirius, having enough of Lilith's teasing for one day threw his hands up in the air and walked through the mirror. Lilith's jaw dropped and Octavia faced her acting like Sirius hadn't just walked through the mirror.

"You need to stop with this whole me and Sirius having a relationship thing, I think it's starting to bother him."

"Fine, I promise. I won't saying about you two being a couple in front of Sirius anymore." Lilith grinned at Octavia and she shook her head in response.

Sometimes Lilith was too much like the others, she loved her jokes and the teasing that came with it but she wasn't as willing to get into trouble as much as the others.

"Why are you acting like Sirius hadn't just walked through a mirror?"

"Oh my gosh! Did Sirius just walk through a mirror? Like oh my god, I didn't see that! How could I miss such a thing?" Octavia overreacted with a fake voice.

"Okay now you sound like Loreal…"

"God I hate that Hufflepuff girl and I know hate is such a strong word. But as for Sirius, well I have something similar at home. It leads to a secret library," Octavia grabbed her hand and pulled Lilith in behind her as she walked through the mirror.

She continued to walk down the corridor in search of Sirius and where he went, they finally came through on the to a large open space and it seemed as though the corridor continued further down but they spotted James, Sirius and Peter sitting on one of the couches.

"Where's Remus?" Lilith questioned as the two girls made their way over to the other couch.

"He went home again, something about his mum being sick." James responded and Octavia stayed silent, she knew the truth.

Octavia knew that right now Remus would hiding out in the Hospital Wing until nightfall when someone would escort him down to the Whomping Willow.

"His mother is sick a lot."

"Not just him Pete, he is sick a lot. He spends a fair bit of time in the Hospital Wing and have you seen the bandages on him sometimes. It's when he thinks no one is watching that they are visible."

"What if his mother isn't sick, what if he is sick, and what if there is something wrong with him?"

"What could be wrong with him if he's only disappearing for a couple of days a month?"

Octavia sat there in silence, listening to their conversation. She didn't want to say anything, she knew if she turned around and told them that they were idiots then they would realise that she knew something but she couldn't join in in case she said the wrong thing.

"No way…" Sirius breathed out before jumping up and rushing out of the room, everyone else shared a look before jumping up and following him.

Octavia knew that Sirius had just made the connections, he just needed the proof before he voiced his theory.

"Sirius what are you looking for?" James questioned as they all continued to follow Sirius up and down the aisles of the library.

"This," Sirius pulled out a book and everyone read the title.

"What's Lycanthropy?" Peter questioned but everyone was too shocked to say anything in response to Peter while Octavia had no idea what to say.

"I don't know if I believe it Sirius," Lilith scoffed, her breaking the silence caused James to finally speak.

"No way, this is Remus we're talking about. We know him, there is no way he can be a werewolf." James spoke in disbelief while Octavia thought _good James, just keep thinking that_ and Peter let out a strange noise.

"No, I've been looking at the dates. The days when he is sick or his mother is sick and he goes home are surround a full moon. What else could it be?" Sirius questioned as he made his way through the group towards a table.

Sirius sat down at the table and began looking through the book for information he needed, Octavia couldn't take it anymore, she walked over and took the book from him.

"Stop Sirius."

"Why O? Before Christmas you were damn curious as to what was going on with him and now you haven't said anything…oh god you know!"

"It wasn't my place to tell you but this is Remus, you can't believe what everyone says about them."

"What are you two going on about?" James spoke and when they looked at the voice they saw Lilith and Peter standing beside him.

"We're talking about how O has known since before Christmas that Remus is a werewolf."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Wait it's actually true?"

"But this is Remus, he couldn't hurt anyone."

"Woah guys please calm down, it wasn't my secret to tell and you all haven't even decided what you are going to do about it. This is Remus, another member of our group. He is more willing to sneak around the castle and break rules than Lilith is, don't you dare tell me you are going to judge him on something he can't control. There has been no deaths since September, precautionary measures have been put in place so we are safe or did you all forget what Dumbledore said at the Sorting Ceremony?"

"A new tree has been placed on the grounds, the Whomping Willow, I suggest you all stay far away unless you desire death…or something like that." Lilith mimicked and Octavia nodded.

"So Dumbledore knows?" James questioned.

"I'm thinking all the professors know, he's missed assignment deadlines and they haven't said anything but if one of us misses a deadline we get detention."

"O how have you dealt with the information, how have you still sat with him at meals?" Peter questioned and they all looked at her.

"Easy, he's still the same Remus we've always known. He hasn't killed anyone."

"Yet O, the key word here being yet. Werewolves always kill people it's the way they are, they are scum. How have you kept this to yourself?" Sirius questioned Octavia and she narrowed her eyes at him before walking over to stand directly in front of him.

"No that right there is our parents talking, you haven't met a werewolf before, you haven't had the chance to make your own opinions. You've known Remus since September, can you really say he is the same person our parents reference when speaking of werewolves? You keep telling me that we are so different to our families but yet you will take their word on this, it's Remus for godsakes!" Octavia yelled and they were all silent for a moment, waiting to see if Madam Prince will yell at them for yelling but when she didn't appear they assumed either she didn't hear which was unlikely or she was yelling at someone else.

Sirius didn't say anything, he shut closed the book and placed his face in his hands. Octavia didn't even hesitate before she sat down beside him.

"It's Remus, the same person we've known all year. Nothing changes, why can't you see that?" she questioned softly and he shook his head.

"Eleven years of their opinions and values shoved down our throats, who would have thought it would be this hard."

"I know, I was the same, I told him the same thing but it's Remus, don't forget that." Sirius slowly nodded and she placed a hand on his arm before looking at the others.

"Hey don't look at me, I have no problem with this as long as no one gets hurt. I've heard dad's story about the poor victims that get brought into St Mungo's," Lilith put her hands up defensively.

"James, Pete?" Octavia questioned and she could see that Peter was slowly starting to freak out, she was worried he wasn't going to take this as easy as she had hoped.

"We get told that werewolves are horrible creatures that only want to kill but I look at Remus and he's not that, he's the complete opposite of that."

"If you all trust him then I do," Peter spoke while slightly shaking and Lilith put an arm around his shoulders.

"So we're all good with this? No one is going to start treating him definitely?" Octavia questioned and they all shook their heads.

"Well maybe we will be a little more careful with him around the full moons but no." Sirius finally spoke from behind Octavia, she turned around and gave him a small smile.

"Good because I think he really needs us, his condition is a lot harder on him than we think."

"What makes you think that O?" James spoke and she turned back around.

"The bandages, something tells me he hurts himself as the wolf. When I found out he was afraid I would hate him, and that look on his face when he was worried I would hate him is burned into my memory. He's terrified he's going to lose the only friends he has."

"Is he actually at home?" Octavia shook her head, "Where is he?"

"Hospital Wing…"

"Come on, you two are about to find out about a little secret of mine." James spoke before turning around and rushing off, Peter and Lilith rushed after but Sirius grabbed Octavia's arm to prevent her from leaving just yet.

"What is it?"

"Thank you for preventing me from being like our parents and judging a person I already know, I never realised it would be this hard to pull away from our families."

"Hey, it's you and me against the world. I will never let you hurt someone as kind as Remus, now come on I would love to see how we are going to fit five of us under James' cloak." Sirius laughed before getting and following Octavia as they tried to catch up with the others.

"Owe that was my foot."

"Don't jump on my foot."

"God damn James, why were you so convinced that all of us would fit under here?"

"Stop pulling my hair Sirius!"

It was then that Lilith started laughing causing them all to stop.

They were all currently squished underneath James' invisibility cloak, Peter and Lilith were shocked and amazed at the idea of him having one. At first Lilith was unsure about using it, she didn't even see the point in the five of them getting under it to get up to the Hospital wing, she tried to explain that they could just walk up there and if no one was in the corridor then they could throw it over them but she was out voted.

"That's it, I've had enough of this." Octavia pulled the cloak off her and stepped away from the other bodies generating way too much heat and took a breather. "Lilith was right, that's just plain stupid."

Even though Octavia couldn't physically see her friends she knew where they were standing, to this day she was still surprised at how well James' invisibility cloak worked.

"I told you so but no, you had to side with the boys." Lilith spoke as she suddenly appeared from out underneath the cloak.

"And yet you two are still outnumbered," Sirius spoke and Octavia narrowed her eyes in the direction to which she believed the boys to still be standing.

"Yes and tell me your great plan again Sirius, how are you going to get into the Hospital while we are all invisible? Don't you think Pomfry will find it strange that the door is opening on its own?" Octavia questioned but there was no response, she looked at Lilith and then back at where the boys should have been standing.

"You don't think they left do you?"

"It's James and Sirius, they probably did." Octavia stepped forward and reached out hoping that they were just messing with her and Lilith by staying silent but she grasped air.

"Those prats, come on. Let's catch them." Lilith spoke and the two of them headed down the corridor making their way towards the Hospital Wing, hoping to find a trace of the boys but didn't find anything they were just a few feet from the door.

"What's the bet they're standing just outside the door?" Octavia whispered and Lilith nodded in agreement. Octavia pulled out her wand and pointed it towards the door " _Homenum Revelio_."

Octavia couldn't help but laugh when Sirius appeared from underneath the invisibility cloak with a scowl on his face.

"That's not very nice O."

"Neither is you three leaving us behind."

"Touché."

"I'm still shocked with the amount of spells you two know," Lilith muttered beside Octavia but she just shrugged in response before an idea came to mind.

"Get back under the cloak with the boys, I have an idea." Octavia grinned at Lilith and she pulled a face before walking over to where Sirius was standing and it wasn't long until both of them disappeared.

She walked over and pulled opened the Hospital Wing doors and waited a couple of seconds hoping that they got the hint and entered ahead of her.

She looked around the Hospital Wing for signs of life but it didn't seem like Pomfry was around and she was most likely in her office, even all the beds were empty but the last one which had shades around it.

Octavia would bet that Remus was on the bed that was behind the shades, he was meant to be at home this weekend so if any students entered the Hospital Wing and saw him there then they would ask questions.

"How are you feeling?" She questioned softly when she walked around the screens and spotted Remus sitting on the bed with a book.

"Lousy, how did you get in here?"

"Pomfry wasn't around and I figured the screens were up for a reason, do you always feel like this around a full moon?"

"Usually and if you make a comment about how horrible I look I won't be happy," Remus pointed a finger at her and she just laughed.

"I see your personality is still intact."

"Yes well I am curious as to why you have four people hiding under an invisibility cloak behind you and as to how they found out?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"The moon is messing with you Remus, there is no one there. The rest of our friends don't even know I'm in here."

"O you are a very good liar don't get me wrong but there is no point lying when I know the obvious truth, as creepy as it sounds I can smell them and Sirius keeps whispering to James which I can also hear." Remus kept his face neutral as the invisibility cloak was dropped and the four remaining friends of his became visible.

Remus was worried about what they were doing here and he was worried as to if Octavia betrayed his trust by finally telling them.

"I didn't tell them, they worked it out…" she spoke softly and he nodded before looking at the rest of them.

"We don't care if that's what you're worried."

"Lilith's right, Octavia knocked some sense into us. Making us realise that you are still the same person we've known since September." James spoke, agreeing with Lilith while Peter nodded but it was Sirius Remus was worried about.

He had heard from Octavia how hard it would be to put aside the values and opinions her parents had drilled into her from a young age and it was obvious how it still affected her when it was just the two of them talking, he would noticed small things about her posture that would indicated she was uncomfortable or worried or something else.

Remus looked at Sirius, couldn't help but notice how he was standing further behind everyone else and almost looked like he was uncomfortable about standing in this room. He knew about both his and Octavia's childhood, could it be possible that Sirius was just uncomfortable being the Hospital Wing and not the fact that he was a werewolf.

But before anyone could say anything Pomfry came into view and frowned at the scene, "I do hope there is an explanation for this Remus."

"They're my friends, I share a dorm with the boys. They worked it out."

"I did tell Albus that someone would work it out, you always disappearing for a couple of days every full moon, it's not like all of the students are stupid. You should all head back to your common room it's getting late."

"Do you think that now my friends know I can stop spending days in here and just disappear for a day or so?" Remus questioned but Pomfry didn't say anything, she just turned around and faced everyone else.

"I'm going into my office when I come back out all of you should be gone." She spoke and left them all alone.

"I hope you will be alright." Octavia spoke as she leaned over and hugged Remus before facing everyone else, "Come on let's go back and let Remus get some rest," she nudged the boys towards the exit with Lilith moving on her own accord after hugging Remus.

Peter and James easily moved on their own and followed Lilith towards the doors but Sirius refused to move, he just continued to look at Remus making him feel uncomfortable.

"Come on Sirius, you heard Pomfry and Remus needs rest."

"No, I want to know why you didn't tell me. I thought we had just agreed on no more secrets, we've never kept secrets from each other. Even when Alecto made you promise not to tell anyone about her muggle born boyfriend in third year, you still told me. What did you tell him in exchange?" Sirius questioned still not looking away from Remus, it was beginning to make Remus feel uncomfortable.

"The abuse and in turn your abuse when you were younger…"

"How did you know she told me something in return?" Remus questioned and Sirius finally moved his gaze to where Octavia was standing.

"It's how our families work, they work with secrets, they only keep yours if they share one with you although Octavia does keep some secrets depending on who you are." Octavia looked at Sirius, she knew that tone and knew what he was doing, she walked over and hit him across the arm.

"Don't be such a prat Sirius, you're making Remus uncomfortable. I'm sure he understands how hard it will be for _both_ of us when it comes to his condition, our upbringing doesn't help with that. I explained that to him and he understands, don't be like this it isn't needed. Don't be like your family, don't be like the people we are trying so hard to pull away from." Octavia spoke softly and Sirius closed his eyes before hanging his head and resting his forehead against her shoulder.

"Thank you," Sirius mumbled against Octavia and she pulled away forcing him to look up at Remus who was watching the scene with curious eyes.

All of them knew that Sirius and Octavia were close, anyone could see that, anyone could also see the forming friendships between Sirius and James, and Octavia and Lilith. What no one had seen was moments like these between Sirius and Octavia, all they saw was the joking and teasing comments between the two of them.

"I'm sorry for being a prat, it's hard to put aside what I've had forced into my head all these years. You are still the same old Remus we've known since September, don't hesitate to call me on my shit."

"Thank you, it means a lot to hear you say that and just so you know I won't ever tell anyone about what Octavia told me. When she told me it was because she said her home life wasn't as perfect as it seems, I just thought maybe her parents ignored her or she was treated like Cinderella, I sure as hell didn't expect her to tell me she was abused by her parents."

"That means everything to both of us Remus, rest up and we will see you soon." Sirius spoke and they both gave Remus a smile before leaving the Hospital Wing.

Remus was confused as to why in the past when he had questioned Octavia as to why she never went to anyone about it, she states that it was their form of punishment but yet she knew it was abuse, Sirius knew about it and knew it was abuse but yet neither one of them had said anything to anyone about what happened when they were younger.

He thought that maybe before now they had no one to turn to but now they were at Hogwarts with professors they could trust but yet they still refused to tell anyone, he was the only one that knew and he thought that was maybe because she had let something slip that she hadn't meant too.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are enjoying the story.**

 **Raven that flies at night thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Your response was funny to receive.**

 **Olivia0707 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As you can tell they are now back at Hogwarts, hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Dreams and Pixie Dust thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It is never stated as such but more will be revealed about Pettigrew senior and his connection to Voldemort as the story goes on but do keep an eye out for Peter and strange things happening among them.**


	9. Introducing Peeves

Chapter 8: Introducing Peeves

It's been two weeks since James, Sirius, Peter and Lilith found out what was wrong with Remus, it had been two weeks since Remus found out they knew and it's been two weeks since Remus realised just how close Sirius and Octavia were.

Everyone knew they were close due to them growing up together but no one knew just how close they were, no one knew that Octavia was the only one that could notice every single one of his moods and Sirius was the only one who could pull her out of herself when something went wrong.

Remus was worried to begin with, wondering if Octavia was the one keeping them in line regards to him and his condition but things were still the same when she wasn't around.

Like when Octavia first found out he noticed the small things in Sirius to show that he really was struggling putting aside the values and opinions he was given as he grew up. Remus wasn't holding any of this against either Octavia and Sirius because the evidence was there that they were trying, they still sat beside him in class and meals and kept keeping him feel included with conversations even when he was staying silent.

Remus was still worried that the realisation of what it meant to be friends with a werewolf would come once they were older and learnt about the implications of it, he was worried that once they had learnt the truth they would begin shying away from him but for now he was glad he had friends who knew the truth.

There was still the war going on between Gryffindor and Slytherin and it had led to both houses being miserably behind Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw in the number of house points towards the House Cup.

It didn't matter how many detentions were given out by the professors, it seemed to only cause them to become more crafty and smart with the way they went about with their pranks. The ones who really cared about receiving detentions didn't get involved, it was soon learned that if they weren't active in the war they weren't a target, it was something that for once both Slytherin and Gryffindor agreed upon.

Classes were finished for the day and all of the professors were sitting in their staff room talking about the so called 'prank war'.

"I don't care what you have to say about it Minerva but I believe the arrival of Black and Carrow and having them placed in your house is what set all of this off to begin with. I've seen the two of them and Mr Carrow in detention the most." Flitwick spoke before taking a sip from his cup.

"I don't know Filius, I believe the war started in November. Surely if it was because of them then it would have begun in September and Potter has spent just as much time in detention as the two." McGonagall responded and they all seemed deep in thought.

"Does seem odd as to the number of detentions Black and Carrow seem to be racking up?"

"Horace is right, I believe I have even seen them exchange high fives afterwards."

"Pomona I do not even what to think about the possibility of two of my students engaging in both a detention and prank war." McGonagall murmured causing everyone else to laugh a little before they changed the topic of discussion.

"Tell me again why we are doing this?" Peter questioned where he was hiding on his bed.

"You aren't doing anything," Octavia snapped at Peter, he had been getting on her nerves the last couple of days.

Sirius gave her a look but she refused to apologise, Peter was all for Octavia's idea until he learned that they were making the potion in their dorm.

"Why can't we just order the potion from Zonko's?"

"Because Pete we have no idea as to if anyone checks our mail, and for two students who never receive mail don't you think it will be a little odd for us to receive a package and then two days later something happens." Sirius replied before Octavia could give another snappy remark.

Sirius knew the truth behind her anger though, she might not have been pranked from her brother and sister but yet just yesterday she was cornered by some of their friends and she walked away sporting Slytherin robes and silver hair. Octavia knew it came from her brother and sister, they knew how much she loved her hair, it was something both her and Alecto shared.

Lilith was the one to mention that it all oddly suited her blue eyes, only to which she received an growl from Octavia.

No one knew who cornered Octavia except Sirius, because to Octavia her siblings were off limits. She wasn't going to be the first one to attack, she wanted to wait until they did. Sirius hated that she was refusing to get pay back on them but yet she had come up with this plan, even found the potion and the spell to conjure balloons for this to work.

"I don't understand why I couldn't order it, I receive packages from home all the time." James piped in, both Sirius and Octavia were silent for a moment.

"Do your parents check where your money goes when it comes out of your vault during the year? A money order has to be made for the owl deliveries, you have to give them permission to have the Goblins remove money from your vault." Octavia questioned, Sirius shook his head at the look on James' face as he put his attention back on the potion he was brewing.

"Oh…I have no idea."

"How do you think they will react when they learn you are ordering products from Zonko's?"

"Not well, especially they learn it gets me in trouble."

"I'm telling you James we won't get in trouble for this, I've heard about the Slytherin common room. There is no portrait, just a wall that moves aside. We've found out where it is mainly because the seventh years didn't realise I was me without my red hair. All we need is for two of us to sneak down under your cloak and set up the balloons." Octavia reasoned and James looked a little unsure.

This was the one part of the prank most of them were unsure of, they weren't sure if they wanted to be the one to set up the balloons in case they were caught in the dungeons by a Slytherin.

"God you are all such chickens, I will do it by myself if are all that worried." Octavia snapped at no one in particular when they all looked uneasy at her last sentence.

All the boys looked at Sirius when Octavia put her attention back on the balloons in front of her, her charm work was better than the rest.

Sirius looked at Octavia and knew there was something more than the prank war going on with her, there was something that had happened recently. Lilith said something about a letter arriving during breakfast the other day when the boys slept through it but Octavia claimed it was just a letter stating she was meant to cease contact with Andromeda.

It was then he noticed it, the strange look on her face before everything that was possible to float in the room began floating in front of her.

"That is so cool!" Peter spoke loudly getting the attention of James and Remus and they all looked at Octavia.

Peter might have been thrilled at seeing something like that but James and Remus knew better, for one they were only first years and were only able to levitate one thing at a time and two for someone to be able to levitate multiple things at once, well that was very advanced magic. It was something they assumed Sirius and Octavia couldn't muster, regardless of what they had learnt prior to the start of their Hogwarts education.

"O!" Sirius yelled and Octavia snapped out of it, seeing everything floating for a spilt second before it all fell. She was just glad that her wand was on the other side of her lap and the boys couldn't see it not in her hand, just Sirius.

"How did you do that O?" Remus questioned, she just shrugged before holding out her wand and conjuring more balloons.

"How many balloons do you think we need Sirius?" She questioned ignoring the look she was receiving from James and Remus.

Both James and Remus were confused as to what just happened, they wanted to know how Octavia managed to do that but whatever it was, was something Sirius had seen before because he didn't seem to be to phased.

"I think that's enough O, why don't do you go and spend time with Lilith, I've got the potion." Sirius spoke and it didn't take much convincing for her to get up and leave, she didn't even glance at the other boys.

He knew Octavia wouldn't go and spend time with Lilith, she would go find some part of the castle where she can hide and be by herself while she fretted over what the boys were saying about her. Would they think she was freak or that her magic wasn't as strong as everyone else because she still had bursts of accidental magic?

"What the bloody hell was that?" James questioned as soon as Octavia was gone from the room, he just hoped she was far enough away that she didn't hear his outburst.

"What are you on about James? I didn't realise the fumes were that bad…" Sirius tried to play off what they saw, knowing it would only freak Octavia out more if they suspected something.

"Don't be like that with us Sirius, we saw what happened, how did she managed to get so many things floating at once?"

"James is right, I've never heard of a first year managing that." Remus pointed out and Sirius let out a deep breath before looking at the book in front of him and focusing on the potion.

"It's nothing alright, sometimes she can be a bit of an airhead and waves her wand around. She mutters spells and they happen, it usually happens when she stops focusing on what is going on around her. You lot must have been boring her," Sirius teased hoping they would take it as he said and not push it any further.

Sirius had been trying to do research on what could be going on with her but he had no idea where to begin with his research, he could try wandless magic but every time he searched for information all he got was a Wandless witch or wizard, which if she was one of those she wouldn't even have a wand so there was that ruled out.

"How often does that happen though?" Remus questioned and Sirius didn't respond, he was unsure how too. Technically it's been happening since he could remember but she's only had a wand for a couple of months and apart from what happened with James he hadn't witnessed anything that he could actually say was her.

"I've seen it once or twice since she got her wand, she doesn't remember doing it and all she ever does is levitate stuff."

"Is that what happened to me?" James questioned remembering what happened just before Halloween.

"James don't be an idiot, why would O do something like that. Remember she was worried sick about you? I'm still convinced it was a Slytherin getting revenge."

"Sirius is right, why would O do something to hurt you?" Remus agreed and Sirius was instantly thankful that they bought what he was saying.

"Okay so I think the potion is done, who wants to help me fill balloons?" Sirius questioned and they all moved closer to the cauldron and slowly helped him fill balloons to not drop any of the potion.

"What did the boys say after I left?" Octavia finally spoke and Sirius was silently relieved.

In the end it was just Sirius and Octavia heading down to the Slytherin common room to place the balloons, they were the only ones that weren't afraid of being caught outside their common room in the middle of the night.

So far neither of them spoke, Sirius tried to start a conversation with her but she refused to speak and it worried him. He had no idea what to say to make her feel better and he had no idea if she was actually listening to him to begin with.

"They were trying to find out how you managed that, I managed to convince them that you're just an airhead and you wave your wand around too much while muttering to yourself when you ignore the world around you."

"Great now the boys think I'm a ditz," she complained and Sirius laughed at her.

"It's not so bad, I thought you had it under control."

"I don't even know what control is Sirius, maybe I should try levitating stuff without my wand. Maybe if I can actually control this ability it will stop happening randomly."

"You don't even know what causes it, how will you be able to control it first?" Sirius questioned and Octavia fell silent again. "O I didn't mean it like that, I just…I'm just worried about you. We don't know what is going on with your magic, what if you keep practising it and it gets worse?"

"Won't know unless I try will I Sirius?" Octavia snapped at him and he didn't say anything in response.

"Just don't do it alone okay?" Sirius questioned and she slowly nodded.

"I promise," her saying that made Sirius feel that bit better about the situation, he didn't ask her to promise not to do it alone because he knew her so well, if she wanted to do it then she would whether or not she had company.

The two of them began setting up the balloons to sit over the entrance to the common room, hoping to get as many students as possible on their way out in the morning for breakfast.

They both just hoped that there were no students out tonight and that Slughorn didn't go visit them in the morning because the balloons were clearly visible from the outside.

"What do we have here?" they both jumped and turned around coming face to face with the notorious Peeves, he was a ghost that was well known for terrorize the inhabitants of the castle.

"We have nothing Peeves." They both muttered, sharing a look but Peeves just cackled at them.

"Oh I believe there are two Gryffindor students out of bed and my, my, aren't we in the wrong part of the castle?" Peeves floated above them, mocking them.

So far Octavia and Sirius had managed to steer clear of Peeves, he had heard from James what happened when he ran into Peeves after curfew.

"What will it take to get away from this silently?" Octavia smiled sweetly at him and he faltered before lowering to the ground.

"Oh this is a first…someone blackmailing Peeves. My, my, aren't you two first years smart above your peers."

"Will it work?" Sirius questioned and Peeves nodded.

"Filch absolutely hates dungbombs and stink pallets."

"Done." Octavia and Sirius declared, Peeves saluted them before disappearing.

"Come on, let's get back before we get caught or he changes his mind." Octavia spoke grabbing Sirius' hand and pulled him out of the dungeons.

The six friends were at breakfast earlier than usual, Lilith might not had wanted to be involved in the plan but once she heard what it was she knew she didn't want to miss the festivities of the Slytherin's arriving in the Great Hall.

"Oh my godric…" Lilith muttered and they all turned in their seats to look at the entrance to the Great Hall before they all burst out laughing.

"I can't believe it worked," Peter spoke and Octavia grinned at Sirius at the sight of who entered the Great Hall.

"It's even better knowing that it got Bella first," Sirius was unbelievably happy at the sight of Bellatrix.

The potion was a colour changing potion but with Valentine's Day being tomorrow and today being Friday the 13th they decided the colour of choice would be pink, a wonderful sight on a Slytherin. This particular potion doesn't change the colour of fabrics, no it soaks into the skin and changes the colour of their skin.

So Bellatrix who was known as the scary seventh year Slytherin to all the first years, but here she was storming through the Great Hall sporting pink skin.

"I can't wait to see Alecto and Amycus." Octavia was positively thrilled that this had worked, she wanted to see how her siblings would react to the potion.

Lilith laughed at the sight of Octavia bouncing up and down in her seat with excitement, Sirius placed a hand on her shoulder and forced her to sit still. If she kept it up it would give away that they did it, for all the professors knew it was just Bellatrix looking like that.

Slowly the rest of the Slytherin students started entering the Great Hall, causing an eruption of laughter coming from the students that were present.

Even the professors were struggling to keep their laughs in at the sight of the pink Slytherin students.

"Professor Slughorn!" a male voice yelled as the body made it's way towards where the professors were seated.

"Who's that?" Peter questioned, unsure as to who the male was but Sirius and Octavia shared a look, they knew he was.

"Lucius Malfoy, he's a seventh year with Bella and he's dating Narcissa." Octavia was the one to respond since Sirius was too busy watching the doors.

Octavia felt an elbow to ribs, forcing her to move her gaze from where Lucius was talking to Slughorn to the doors where she noticed Alecto and Amycus had just entered. She couldn't help it, she burst out laughing at the sight of her brother and sister standing there with pink skin.

Octavia instantly stopped laughing the moment she locked eyes with her sister, "YOU!" Alecto screeched before making her way to where the six Gryffindor first years were sitting.

"Good morning Alecto, don't you look lovely." Sirius greeted the fuming red head but she didn't turn her gaze from Octavia.

"Octavia…"

"Yes Alecto? I do wonder what happened to cause you all to look like that…"

"You don't wonder because you know what happened, tell me sis. Why today of all days do you and your friends decide to arrive early for breakfast?" Alecto questioned and a smirk appeared on Octavia's face.

"Well today is Friday the 13th, we've heard stories of what Peeves can get up to. We wanted to witness first hand of what could happen and it seems to be that he got you and the rest of the Slytherin students."

"Count your blessings dear sister, wouldn't want the pain from Christmas break to return would you?" Alecto threatened and the smirk dropped from Octavia's face.

"Back off Alecto, wouldn't want to end up with matching hair now would you?" Sirius threatened while pointing his wand at her, she huffed before turning around and leaving.

"What did she mean by the pain from Christmas break to return?" James and Sirius watched as realisation washed across Remus' face before he looked at Octavia.

"O?" he questioned but Octavia just pushed her plate away.

"I've lost my appetite, I will see you at class." Octavia spoke as she stood up and left the Great Hall.

"What did Alecto mean?" Lilith questioned this time and Sirius was still watching Octavia as she disappeared amongst the students entering the hall.

"Well you remember how she fell from her broom? Well turns out Alecto knocked her off her broom." Sirius stated without looking at Remus, it was plain as day that Remus had worked out what really happened.

"What's in the box?" James questioned as Octavia carefully lifted the lid with a smile on her face.

"Oh nothing…" Octavia grinned at the sight, the box was full of the dungbombs and stink pallets her and Sirius had ordered to pay off Peeves, she now wondered just how much they could get out of him by paying him with things like this.

"Is it finally here?" Sirius questioned as he sat down beside her at the Gryffindor table, she nodded at him. "Perfect."

It was a week ago that they pulled the prank on the Slytherin students, some of them now had orange skin from the reversal potion Slughorn created, it would have worked had Octavia not seen the comment about the reversal potion and decided to throw in the dragonfly wings knowing it will make things worse if they took the reversal potion.

The ones behind the potion knew that it would wear off after ten days, they only had three days left of seeing Slytherin students sporting pink skin and they were devastated to see that it was at an end but as for the ones that had orange skin, well they had no idea how long it would last.

"Grab something and let's go, I'm sure he'll hear word of it arriving." Octavia grabbed a muffin before grabbing the box and left the Great Hall with Sirius following behind her.

"Where exactly are you two going?" they both haltered their stops at the sound of James' voice, they turned around and found that he wasn't along, the rest of their friends were standing there awaiting a response.

"Back to the common room?" Octavia put a smile on her face as she spoke but Remus raised an eyebrow, he was the only one aside from Sirius that was now able to see through her lies.

"What's in the box O?"

"Absolutely nothing Remus, come on Sirius." Octavia turned and grabbed Sirius' hand to pull him along.

"Would you like me to share what I smell O?" she slowly turned and narrowed her eyes at Remus.

"You wouldn't," she threatened but he smirked in response.

"Would you like to share where you are going or would you like me to share what's in the box?" he bargained with her and it caused her to completely glare at him but he wasn't fazed by her.

James, Peter and Lilith stood there completely confused watching what transpired between Remus and Octavia. They were all still getting used to Remus being able to smell and hear things that normal people couldn't due to the wolf in him, sometimes it was useful while other times it was completely annoying on their part.

"Fine we've found a way to keep Peeves off our backs, we're going to go pay him right now. Happy Remus?"

"Delighted." Remus grinned while Octavia scowled before turning around and stomping off towards where Peeves agreed to meet them.

"My, Remus it seemed as though you've found pleasure in annoying O like I have," Sirius grinned and everyone else laughed. "Come on let's go catch up with her before she convinces Peeves to come after us."

"She wouldn't would she?" Peter questioned and Sirius just laughed in response before they all began climbing up the stairs.

They entered the empty classroom to find Octavia sitting on the table alone with the box still beside her, she glared at them as they entered but most of them just assumed the look was for Remus who just laughed before walking over and taking a seat next to her.

"You aren't actually mad at me." Octavia scoffed in response.

"What makes you think that Remus?"

"Because you love me too much," he grinned at her and she smiled for a moment before twisting and rest on her knees.

"Oh you are too right, I do love you Remus very much. I don't know what would happen if I lost you, I want you Remus." She spoke softly and held back her grin at the sight of Remus with pink cheeks, she leaned forward and softly kissed his cheek causing him to jump away from her while everyone else laughed at them.

"O don't tease the poor boy…" Sirius chastised her.

"Oh shush Sirius, you don't know anything considering you have no emotions."

"O's right, you're a boy and boys have no emotions." Lilith joined in before walking over and sitting next to Octavia, both girls grinned at the boys.

"But aren't you a boy as well?" Sirius dead panned.

"No Sirius, they're girls' bloody girls." James muttered and the girls laughed.

"Yes because boys have a penis and girls have a vagina, Sirius can you say vagina without laughing?" Octavia challenged him but it shut him up, knowing he was too immature to have this conversation seriously.

"I swear sometimes I forget you two are 11…" Remus muttered and everyone knew it was in regards to Sirius and Octavia.

"Hey! I'm 12!" Sirius declared, crossing his arms over his chest while Octavia and Lilith snickered at his tantrum.

By now they had all learnt that the upbringing Sirius and Octavia had was different to the rest of them, they didn't have a childhood as such when it comes to their upbringing. It was more focused on their education, whether it be magical or family history. It was in rare moments that they were allowed to escape on their brooms, it happened more often when guests were present at the house.

"I see you two have brought friends…" the voice drawled and they all looked up to see Peeves hanging from the exposed beams in the roof.

"Is that not allowed?"

"I don't know, I've very wearily of Loony Lupin…" Peeves trailed off as he floated towards where the box was sitting on the table.

Octavia looked at Remus, by the look on his face it wasn't the first time he had Peeves reference him as Loony Lupin before.

"I know he's a werewolf if that's what you are getting at…" Octavia narrowed her eyes at Peeves.

"Careful O…" Sirius tried to calm her down, he had noticed how protective she was over Remus when it came to his condition. He didn't know what would happen if someone said the wrong thing.

"Oh you do now? So all of you know about Loony's little moony problem?" Octavia didn't say anything in response to Peeves, she just turned and looked at Sirius.

By the look on his face he got the same thing she did from what Peeves just stated, while everyone else was incredibly curious.

"Now Peeves, do you have a problem with Sirius and I bringing friends?" Octavia questioned, ignoring the questions her friends had thrown at her and Sirius and faced Peeves again.

"If you want me to stay off all your backs it'll just cost more, I have a feeling two of you won't be able to explain to your parents where your money is going while a third doesn't have much compared to the rest and the last one is a rat who I don't trust…" Octavia was confused, she had assumed that James and Lilith were the two that couldn't explain to their parents but she wasn't sure as to who the rat was that Peeves was referencing.

"That's fine, but what about favours? Do payments work for favours?" Sirius questioned since Octavia was still silent trying to work out the rat issue.

"Depends on what the favour is and in regards to you lot, depends on who the subject is."

"We'll be in touch Peeves, here you go." Sirius handed the box over and Peeves instantly took off with the box going to wherever he likes to hide within the confines of the castle.

"O are you alright?" Remus questioned noticing how unusually silent she was being.

But Octavia just turned and smiled at him, "of course Moony." He frowned instantly noticing the nickname.

"Do you really have to call me Moony?"

"Why not? I believe it's quiet fitting for you…" Octavia spoke as she jumped off the table and walked towards where Lilith was standing. "Come, I need to talk to you about something." She looped her arm through the girl's arm and they both left the room.

"O is right, Moony is very fitting for you." James piped in once the two girls were gone.

"Wouldn't it be easier for someone to realise what is going on?"

"You only disappeared one day last moon, you were gone for the night and then following day for classes. I doubt someone will realise the connection." Sirius rattled off his response like Remus was talking crazy talk.

"It's not that bad Moony, no one will be able to make the connection now that you aren't spending days in the Hospital Wing. Come on I'm hungry, let's go to the kitchens." James spoke and Peter quickly joined in to follow him leaving Remus and Sirius alone.

"O was the one that started this nickname, she won't drop it will she?" Remus questioned and Sirius shook his head.

"You've know how for a couple of months now, surely you've noticed she's as stubborn as a mule."

"But yet she seems to go back and forth when it comes to her family, did her sister really do something to her over Christmas break?"

"Alecto did something, I have no idea what happened, I just know it was Alecto that did it and Octavia was sore for a couple of days and Alecto knows that."

"Why does she stay there knowing it happens?"

"Because she has nowhere else to go, if she turns up at my house my parents will tell hers where she is. I so badly want her out of there but there is no where she can go and I know both of our parents have connections in high places so I'm warily about who to tell."

"That's fair, I just wish it didn't happen to her. She is such a kind person, it makes me wonder what she would be like if her parents weren't like they were."

"I don't like thinking about things like that Moony, it makes me hate her parents even more. I just focus on the girl she is. Come on, let's go catch up with James and Pete." Sirius spoke as he headed towards the door.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes that is quite true that they all won't fit under there once they are older, I think maybe even five of them is a bit of a stretch but they're first years and they are tiny but it will only happen once I can assure you of that.**

 **Raven that flies at night thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you try to be funny but Sirius wouldn't be Sirius if he didn't get himself into trouble.**

 **Olivia0707 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes they did work it out, they wouldn't have gone on too long without working it out considering they do share a dorm with Remus.**

 **Dreams and Pixie Dust thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes they did work it out, as for the abuse Octavia receives, it does get mentioned here and there throughout the story but the main thing is because they don't know what could happen. They both know that Octavia's parents have connections in high places and they don't know how it could end if they did come forward about it.**


	10. Taming the Wolf

Chapter 9: Taming the Wolf

It was nearing Easter and it seemed as though all the students were eager for the break that accompanies Easter, none of the students ever went home for the break since they only had a week off of classes and they seemed it pointless to leave for that week, especially with exams just around the corner

The six Gryffindor friends had started spending their free time more in the secluded area they found behind a mirror instead of the Gryffindor common room or the boys' dorm. The boys' dorm wasn't quiet big enough for them all and the common room was too opened and housed far too many students to over hear their conversations.

"O…" Remus spoke, almost pleading with her and she placed her head back on the couch they were sitting on and closed her eyes.

"Why Moony? Why do you want to know so bad?"

"What is so fascinating with that nickname, why won't you drop it?" Remus questioned with a smirk on his and Octavia opened her eyes and looked at him, shocked that he so easily changed the topic.

"It suits you," she smiled at him. Remus didn't want to admit it but he was beginning to enjoy hearing the nickname from his friends.

"Whatever," Remus grumbled and Octavia laughed softly. "But seriously, why won't you tell us what happened with your sister over Christmas?"

"Why does it matter? Seriously, tell me why it matters, even Sirius isn't bugging me about what happened?" Octavia questioned, immediately regretted it when she watched him contort his face in pain when he shrugged.

The full moon was only a couple of days ago and he was still in a bit of pain, refusing to take any potions. He had managed to dislocate his shoulder.

"I don't understand why you don't take a pain potion, you are obviously in pain after the moon." Octavia questioned with a slight frown on her face and Remus shifted on the couch, not happy with the turn of conversation.

"I don't see the point, if I take the potions every month there will come a point where I will either be addicted to them or they will no longer work."

"But you're in pain this month, this nothing compared to your usual cuts. There has to be something to help you every month." Octavia stood up and went to leave but Remus spoke, stopping her.

"There isn't O."

"THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING MOONY!" She yelled, most of her anger disappearing when she spotted the look on his face. "There has to be something, a potion or something so the wolf doesn't feel like he has to attack himself, there has to be a way to calm down the wolf during the full moon."

"O if there was don't you think they would have said something by now?" Remus spoke and almost immediately regretted it when he noticed the familiar look on her face, it was then he realised that she realised something and he wasn't happy.

"Then it's not legal…" she spun on her heel before leaving the room and in turn leaving Remus alone.

He rested his elbows on his knees and he leaned forward gripping his hair, he has no idea what Octavia could come up with and that's what worried him, even more so if she got Sirius involved. He swore those two would end up doing something completely stupid at one point or another and end up in a lot of trouble if there wasn't someone around to keep them in trouble.

* * *

Sirius had been looking for Octavia all day, it was the weekend and he had no idea where she was hiding. He tried everywhere he could think of but no such luck yet.

It wasn't until he entered the library as a last resort that he found her hiding in one of the corners with a bunch of books covering the table she was sitting at.

Sirius hadn't seen her look this deep in thought for months, her hair was piled on the top of her head with a pencil holding it all together, where she got the pencil he had no idea. She was constantly flipping pages of the books in front of her.

"O?" Sirius questioned softly, hoping not to startle her. He had no idea what would happen with her and her magic if she was startled.

"There's got to be a way…" Octavia muttered to herself, Sirius raised an eyebrow before making his way over to join her at the table.

"What are you doing O?"

Octavia finally lifted her gaze, she smiled at him. "Hi…"

"Hi yourself, what are you doing?"

"Trying to find a way to help Moony, there has to be something. I hate seeing him in pain every month because of something the wolf did."

"Now you know how I feel every time I heard your parents did something again."

"Don't start on that, if you're going to sit here and bug me, help me at least." Octavia pushed a book towards him and he looked at the chapter that it was open to.

"Animagus?" he questioned and Octavia shrugged.

"Apparently the wolf is harmless to other animals, I can't imagine us succeeding in it while we are young but still the idea stands."

"I'm not putting a mandrake leaf under my tongue…for a month, bloody hell O…" Sirius muttered to himself while Octavia laughed softly causing him to look up at her.

"I'm not saying we do it, we might not even be able to do it. There's a potion we have to take and other stuff, apparently meditation is a big part of the process and I can't see either you or James sitting still for long."

"Like you could sit still for long." He rolled his eyes and she grinned in response knowing it was true.

"Fine if we don't become Animagi how do we help Moony?"

"I don't know O but we will find something, how about we leave this as a last resort. Who knows even if we find something else to help him, this could be interesting to try." Sirius responded and Octavia was silent before she looked up and noticed the smirk on his face, it was then that regardless of the mandrake leaf and the idea of sitting still he was incredibly interested in at least looking into the process more.

* * *

"Professor can I ask you something?" Octavia spoke and it earned a stern look from McGonagall.

Her, James and Sirius were currently in detention for charming a bunch of Slytherin's mice to move away from them whenever they tried to transfigure them into matchboxes for that days class.

"If it's if you can leave, then no you can't." McGonagall responded knowing that it won't be the first that one of the three of them asked something like that.

"No it was actually subject related, well I think so anyway." She cocked her head to the side to think about it, she was pretty sure Animagus transformations was classified as Transfiguration.

"What would you like to know Miss Carrow?"

"The process of being an Animagus, I know you are one from our sorting ceremony. How long did it take you to complete it?" It was at this point that James and Sirius finally looked up to watch the scene in front of them, Octavia and Sirius still hadn't gotten around to telling anyone else about what they were looking for in hopes of helping Remus.

"I don't think I should be telling any of you that."

"But Professor, we're eleven, well if we're being technical Sirius is twelve while James and I are still eleven, what can we do with that information?" Octavia responded with a smile on her face while McGonagall just watched the three of them.

It was true that they were incredibly bright, it might not show in their essays that they have to complete for homework, it was in their class work when they were learning new spells. The three of them were usually one of the first students to get it correct. She also knew that they now knew the truth surrounding Remus' disappearances each month and yet they have stood beside him no matter what, she was curious as to why they were asking it now.

"It took me a little over a year to manage the transformation."

This piked Sirius curiosity, he had believed it would take them years to complete the transformation but if McGonagall could do it in a little over a year, surely it wouldn't take them much longer than that.

"At what age did you manage it?" Sirius questioned and McGonagall grew silent.

"No, that is enough. Go back to completing your homework, you three are too curious for your own good." McGonagall ordered and all three of them focused back on their homework.

It was right now James wished they had worked out a way to communicate without getting caught, there had been classes where the three of them had been spilt because it was just easier to stop the three of them from talking.

It wasn't until they were finally allowed to leave that James was able to question Octavia about her questioning towards McGonagall.

"Alright what was with that? Surely you both know we learn about Animagus transformations in third year?" James questioned causing Sirius and Octavia to stop walking and look at him.

"We think it might be able to help Moony during the full moons, apparently werewolves during the moon don't hurt other wolves, animagi included."

Octavia explained it and James just stared at her, before staring at Sirius, he shook his head at them.

"You two are both insane, have either of you mentioned this to Remus?"

"He'd kill us for even thinking of it," Sirius barked out his laugh and Octavia joined in.

"Oh come on James, you aren't the least bit interested in looking into this or even helping Moony?"

"Of course I want to help him, he's my friend just as much as he is yours don't ever think I don't want to help him."

"Come on you aren't the least bit curious about even looking into this, the fact that we can turn into animals whenever we want? Just think about the things we can do when it comes to pranking the Slytherins or exploring the castle." Octavia spoke and she watched as the grin slowly appeared on his face, all she needed was to convince the other two and then they could start working on it.

"You should probably know that it involves putting a mandrake leaf under your tongue for a month," Sirius placed an arm around James shoulder and he glared at Octavia.

"We can't do that during the school year Remus will find out." James pointed and Sirius and Octavia shared a look.

"I can't do it at home, if I can't respond to my parents it won't end well…"

"Who are you more afraid, an angered wolf or your parents O?"

"My parents." "Her parents." Octavia and Sirius said at the same time and James looked at them, knowing there was something he wasn't being told.

"So we do it while we're at school, where the hell are we going to get a mandrake leaf?" James questioned and they were all silent while they continued to walk back to the common room.

"Don't we study mandrakes in second year Herbology?" Octavia pointed out and the boys looked at her like she was a genius before hugging her.

"You are brilliant O." Sirius exclaimed before kissing her head and running off.

"Where is he going?"

"It's Sirius, whoever knows what's going through his head."

"You're his best friend…"

"And yet I can't tell you what's going through his mind, we're all doomed." Octavia over played the theatrics causing James to laugh before they went off in search of Sirius.

* * *

"What is she doing?" Lilith whispered in Sirius' ear.

It was only a couple of days ago that Octavia and Sirius had managed to get James on board with their idea of becoming Animagi in hopes of helping Remus every full moon.

They were currently sitting in their hidden room, well technically all them minus Octavia were sitting on the couch talking up until a moment ago when Octavia began muttering to herself where she was sitting on the table with six parchments in front of her. None of them knew what she was up to.

"O are you alright over there?" Sirius questioned but Octavia didn't budge, it was like she hadn't heard him, she just continued to talk to herself. "Oh god, we've lost her. It's no use, we've officially lost Octavia." They all laughed at how Sirius was acting.

Remus being the first one to stop laughing stood up and walked over to where Octavia was hunched over the table, he placed a hand on her shoulder and it startled her.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you, are you alright?" Remus asked but he was too busy staring at the pieces of parchments, they all had an individual letter on them O, S, L, J, R and P.

"I think I've got it," she muttered and continued to read through the lone book that she had in front of her.

"What are you working on O?"

"So we can communicate, McGonagall and Flitwick continue to spilt James, Sirius and I up…"

"That's because all you three do is talk…"

"And now we can continue to communicate." Remus watched as Octavia pointed her wand at the parchments and said a few words, the parchments glowed and he then watched as she wrote a couple of words on one of parchments and the words appeared on the rest of them.

"Oh wow…O that's incredible." Remus was shocked at this, this was advanced Charms work and she managed to make it work.

"What is it?" Lilith questioned as the rest of them stood up and made their way over to the table.

"I've done it, I worked it out." Octavia grinned at them, she was incredibly proud of managing this.

She remembered hearing about how Alecto and her friends had linked parchments so they could continue to talk when they weren't in shared classes, Octavia has been trying to work it out for the last couple of weeks.

"Done what O? You've confused us all," Sirius placed his hands on her shoulder and slightly shook her.

"Oh right, I charmed the parchments so we can communicate. Watch."

Octavia grabbed her quill and wrote on the parchment marked O, the other five parchments revealed the message.

 _O – I've charmed them so they're linked, anything we write on our own will appear on the others so that way we can still communicate when we are forced to sit apart during classes. I'm unsure of the distance but we can test it out during the summer._

"This is advanced charm work O…" Lilith whispered out but Octavia just shrugged and handed out the parchments.

"Just don't lose them, if we lose one I have to redo them all again." Octavia rolled up her on and put it in her bag before standing up and leaving.

"O are you alright?" Sirius questioned noticing the odd look on Octavia's face but she didn't respond she just continued to walk out of the room. Sirius chased after her and grabbed her shoulders to stop her.

Octavia didn't say anything in response, the arm chair she was staring at burst into flames causing everyone to panic.

Octavia took the moment of them not focusing on her and slipped out of their room and into the hallway.

It wasn't until she was around the corner that she collapsed to the floor, leaning against the wall. She didn't mean to set the chair on fire, she knows it was only her that could have done it because of how shocked everyone else was, and she can't even explain how it happened all she knows was how angry she was.

It was why Octavia was focusing so hard on the parchments, she was trying to distract herself from the letter she received from her parents.

"Octavia!" she heard the faint voice that belonged to Sirius but didn't budge, she just continued to lean against the wall as she felt her eyes tear up.

"There you are, why did you take off like that?" Sirius questioned as he rushed over to where she was curled up against the wall.

"I didn't mean to do it, please don't be mad…" she choked out causing Sirius to frown, he sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulder pulling her close.

"I'm not mad, you took off so I was worried. What happened?"

"I don't know, I was just so mad and I wanted to leave before I snapped."

"Why are you angry? What was in that letter you received from home?" Sirius noticed the tension that went through her body this morning during breakfast when she read the letter that arrived from her parents.

"It doesn't matter, how are you going on convincing Pete to try the Animagus transformation with us?"

"He's convinced he won't be able to do it, he thinks that because he isn't as smart as us he won't be able to complete it, or worse he gets stuck as an animal."

"There's a spell to turn him back if he gets stuck, Lilith won't do it. She says she's all for keeping our secret if we do it but she won't risk it. She will do everything else she can to help Moony but she won't do this."

"I had a feeling she wouldn't, she's not as up for the detentions and trouble we get into…" Sirius spoke and felt Octavia nod against his chest. "Please tell me what was in that letter, I've never seen you this angry."

"No, it doesn't matter…" Octavia attempted to pull away but Sirius was stronger than her.

"Tell me Octavia, something is obviously going on at home. What are we returning to for the summer?"

"It's not you, it's me…"

"What's going on, please tell me I'm worried." Sirius was worried, he didn't want Octavia to return home regardless of what any letter said, he was worried about what would happen to her but now seeing her like this over some letter.

"Apparently Alecto and myself are spending the summer with Bella and some Dark Lord…mother said it's meant to be a good thing for all of our futures. I get to see a glimpse of what my future will be like, apparently I have no choice in the matter she said it's meant to replace any disgrace I've put on the family name."

"Who is this Dark Lord person?"

"I've got no idea but I don't want to spend an entire summer alone…" Octavia started but Sirius cut her off.

"You won't be alone, I won't let you be alone at all."

"No Sirius, they're keeping Bellamy. I'm not allowed to communicate with anyone not even you, it's why I tried so hard to get those parchments to work. I'm hoping that they work during the summer while I'm wherever I am."

"I promise O, we will try and make these work. You won't be alone this summer, I won't let it happen. We will make sure these parchments work so you can still communicate with us." Sirius wrapped both arms around the shaking girl to give her the comfort she needs.

This was how the rest of their friends found them, Octavia clearly distressed about something and Sirius annoyed.

"What's going on?" Remus questioned but they didn't move.

"Nothing, O was just panicked about the fire." Sirius spoke, not caring if they knew he was lying or not.

Their family lives and what happens during their breaks was something they couldn't talk about with their friends, they didn't understand, they all came from loving homes.

It didn't matter if Remus knew about the abuse, he couldn't understand why they continued going home and they all knew about the arranged marriages but couldn't understand everything else that goes on amongst their families and everyone else they associate with.

"Speaking of which, what happened there."

"Who knows, maybe Peeves is annoying us because we haven't sought him out in a while." Sirius shrugged in response while Octavia laughed against him.

"Really? Because O seemed highly pissed off about something before the chair burst into flames and this isn't the first time we've seen this. I remember the Howlers." Lilith pointed out and the boys agreed with her while Sirius and Octavia stayed silent on the floor.

Octavia finally pulled away from Sirius and stood up to face her friends, "you guys are crazy, how could I make a chair burst into flames. I don't even know that spell yet." She rolled her eyes at them and turned her head not catching Remus' raised eyebrow in realisation that she was lying.

"I'm heading to the kitchens if you are interested…" she spoke as she left, her friends shared a look as they rushed to keep up with her.

* * *

"It was you wasn't it?" Remus spoke as he sat down beside Octavia in the common room, she was hiding in one of the corner large oversized chairs.

Lilith was off bugging her brother while James, Peter and Sirius were off exploring the fifth floor. Octavia wasn't overly interested in exploring with them today and Remus wanted the chance to talk to her alone.

"What are you on about Moony?"

"The chair a couple of days ago, it was you wasn't it?"

"I told you it wasn't me, why won't you believe me."

"Because I've caught you in a few lies knowing the truth, I know when you are lying because of it. What happened with the chair?" Octavia finally looked up at Remus, surprised to see that he wasn't annoyed or freaked out by what she was doing.

"I didn't mean it…" she breathed out and Remus shook his head before hugging her.

"I know, it's fine no one was hurt."

"But I hurt James…"

"So that was you?" Remus questioned and she nodded. "Why are you still having bursts of accidental magic?"

"We don't know, everything we seem to find leads to Wandless but I'm not a Wandless, I have a wand."

"We will find something, or at least find a way to help you control your magic. You know James won't be mad, he was perfectly fine."

"But what if next time I really hurt someone, look at the fires I've been starting…"

"We won't let it happen, Sirius wouldn't either and plus you may have no trouble dragging all of us down with your idiotic ideas and land us in detention but you would never hurt anyone badly like that."

"I'm still worried about it though…"

"I know but we will keep an eye on you and try to control your magic, we have that room. We can hide out in there and you can practise without your wand."

"I thought you'd be afraid of me."

"Like you're meant to be afraid of me?" Remus stated and Octavia laughed softly before pulling away.

"Good point but no one has put precautions in place for me."

"Because you can't kill anyone O, it's not who you are. Now enough of this, what are you studying?" Remus looked at the book and was shocked to learn that it was covering mandrakes, he looked at her and she just smiled.

"What they're interesting."

"You hate Herbology…"

"And your point?"

"Why are you studying Mandrakes?"

"I just find it weird that that Mandrakes are covered under Herbology when they could be covered in Care of Magical Creatures."

"Because they're a plant O…"

"There you have it, I have my answer." She stood up and closed the book placing it on the table, knowing Remus knew she was lying. "I'm hungry, want to come raid the kitchens with me? We can get you some chocolate?"

"What are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing Moony," She grinned at him before heading towards the entrance, she just hoped he would drop this topic with time.

* * *

"Moony caught me studying mandrakes…" Octavia whispered as she sat down beside Sirius for dinner.

"And if he hears you right now…?" They both looked up to find Remus sitting the furthest away from them at the table.

"Then we're screwed…" She whispered back and Sirius shook his head.

"We're probably going to be screwed the moment he finds out what we're doing."

"It'll help him in the end though Sirius."

"I know O but he won't want us in danger…" Octavia nodded and rested her head against Sirius' shoulder not really having an appetite anymore.

"Please eat something O." Sirius spoke when he realised that she had stopped eating, he knew that when something was bothering her, it was usually the first thing to show, her lack of appetite.

He knew she was never the type of girl to starve herself, she loved her food too much, but it was more so when she was distressed about something that it really showed and right now he was worried about her.

Octavia shook her head against his shoulder, the frown on his face gathered the attention of their friends, but she quickly grabbed a piece of bread and nibbled on it before they could question why she wasn't eating.

Once dinner was finished they all headed back to their common room, except Octavia. She told them she needed to go to the library to find a book for their assignment for Potions, all them having an eversion to the library decided she was old enough to go on her own, except she was planning on getting more books on Animagus transformations to read in her dorm.

That then led to an argument between Sirius and Octavia, he was saying that she was literally the youngest of the group and had to be looked after, but Octavia rebuttable saying she had better grades then him.

The argument only ended because Remus and James pulled Sirius in the direction of their common room letting Octavia go on her, if she did come across any Slytherin they doubt anything bad would happen.

The worst thing that has happened between the younger Slytherin and Gryffindor students is their prank war, it was only the older students that threw more of the advance duelling spells at each other, with some resulting in injury.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Olivia0707 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **lizy2000 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you liked learning what they all thought about her.**

 **Raven that flies at night thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Haha yes I do think it would be fun to be a Marauder, the things they get up to. As for which era, it's so hard because as I said it would be fun to be a Marauder but I also love Fred and George, very, very hard.**


	11. Beginning of Summer

Chapter 10: Beginning of Summer

The group of friends were still no closer to figuring out a way to help Remus during the full moons aside from Animagus transformations. Lilith had tried convincing them that it was a stupid thing to try and they could end up in Azkaban if they get caught.

It has also been a couple of weeks since Remus caught her with the book on mandrakes and dropped the topic knowing she wouldn't budge, it didn't matter if he knew she was lying.

Octavia was currently heading back towards the Gryffindor common room, she had been in the library trying to find a book that had the potion they needed to complete the transformation but no such luck yet, she thought maybe she would need James' invisibility cloak to get into the Restricted Section.

"Oh looky here Al, we have found our baby sister wandering around the castle on her own."

"I know Am, she looks so grown up. We could be so proud of her…"

"Except we're not."

Octavia narrowed her eyes at her siblings, having no idea what was going on. If she had to spend the summer hiding out with Alecto and Bellatrix somewhere strange with a stranger, the last thing she wanted to do in her final weeks was anger her sister to make the summer more unbearable.

"What do you two want? I've stayed away from you both, I haven't done anything. I've kept my friends away from you, wish you could have said the same."

"We can't control our friends, surprised you can."

"That's right, I forgot loyalty doesn't exist amongst Slytherins, they only look out for themselves. The closest thing to loyalty in Slytherin is sibling bonds." Octavia hissed at them but it just seemed to have anger them slightly.

"I really didn't want to have to do this Octavia…" Amycus trailed off while raising his wand.

"Why she already has!" Octavia yelled and Amycus stared at Alecto in disbelief.

"When Al? I thought we both agreed we wouldn't get involved in this, she's our sister for fuck sakes." Amycus turned and faced Alecto, Octavia was shocked that Amycus was angry.

Octavia always assumed that if her siblings turned on, Amycus would have no problem using his wand on her like their parents but it was Alecto that turned first but hearing this. Octavia thought maybe they came to an agreement and Alecto broke it.

"Christmas break but Am you don't understand."

"I don't understand? She's family, I thought you understood what family was."

"She's hanging around blood traitors, he doesn't like blood traitors."

"She's eleven and been forced to make friends with them! You heard mum and dad during Christmas, I don't care what he thinks about her. Mum and dad still have hope along with Orion and Walburga, until we get shown proof that she is going to be on their side she's still family and we will not treat her the same as our parents."

"Am…"

"I don't want to hear it Al, she's our baby sister. You tell your friends to leave her alone before I get involved, I don't care if he wanted you so early." Amycus ordered before turning and leaving, not before giving Octavia one last look.

Octavia was shocked at what just took place in front of her, she had always believed her siblings turned on her the moment she was sorted into Gryffindor, but maybe it seems like it was just Alecto that turned her back on Octavia.

"You little bitch!" Alecto yelled and it startled Octavia. "Now you've gone and turned Amycus against me when you're the blood traitor, hanging around blood traitors, picking on the people you've known for years. I don't care what our parents say, I've seen the person you've turned into and we have no hope for you."

"I didn't do anything, if you hadn't of used your wand on me at Christmas this wouldn't have happened. How do you think this would have gone down instead? From what I just witnessed Amycus was just planning on throwing words at me, not spells, him pointing his wand at me would have been a bluff." Octavia stood up straight as Alecto stalked towards her, she couldn't back down. She was a Gryffindor.

"When the hell did you grow a spine?"

"Being in that house away from you has done wonders sis." Alecto let out a low growl before aiming her wand at Octavia.

"I don't care what Am says, you're a blood traitor and they get treated as such. This was why I was recruited before Amycus."

It was then that Octavia felt the surge of pain through her body, so much like it was at Christmas time. She had no choice but to fall to the ground and wait till her sister had finished with her.

When Alecto was done, she turned on her heel and left. Octavia raised her wand and spoke the words for the cutting spell, seconds later Alecto's hair feel to the ground. She had yet to realise what happened and it wouldn't take long, Octavia just had to get out of here first.

When Octavia made it to the common room she couldn't see her friends in sight, she headed up the boys' staircase wanting nothing more than Sirius' comfort but hated the idea of telling him what happened with her siblings.

She entered the dorm to just see the boys, they were all on their separate beds doing different things.

"O?" James questioned but Octavia just ignored him as she continued making her way towards Sirius before crawling into his bed and burying her face against his chest.

Sirius instantly recognising what she was doing, didn't say anything, he just put his arms around her trying to ignore the way her body tensed when he did so letting her cry silently against him.

"What's going on?" Remus questioned but Sirius just shook his head and picked up the book that was in front of him.

It wasn't until it seemed as though Octavia was asleep against Sirius that he finally said something getting their attention.

"She was crying…" they all snapped their gaze up and looked at him like he just said he was a unicorn.

"But I've never seen O cry, it's like she's immune to it…" James rattled off and Sirius shook his head.

"She does but it's rare, the most you'll ever see is her eyes welling up. She'll cry in front of me because it's me but otherwise it's done in private. It's partly with how we were raised and partly who she is, remember she can be incredibly shy, letting someone see that part of her is something she doesn't want, ever."

"What do you think happened to cause a reaction like that?" Remus questioned and Sirius was silent.

There was a part of him that knew she was in pain before she fell asleep, his movements against her were enough to cause soft whimpers to come from her but she refused to move. He didn't want to think of someone doing this to her while at Hogwarts, but he could only come up with Alecto and Amycus.

"I'm thinking she had a run in with Alecto and Amycus to get a reaction like this out of her, it probably wasn't good either." Sirius carefully stroked her hair and quickly stopped when noticing the pained look on her face.

"Why can't they be graduating this year, it would make things easier for her."

"Yes but James we have no idea what things are going to be like next year with Regulus here, we have no idea what our parents have planned or what they could get him to do."

"How bad could it get?"

"Who knows, he will do anything to make them happy." Sirius shifted on the bed and it caused Octavia to stir slightly.

"Stop moving, it hurts…" she mumbled and Sirius froze, his gaze instantly went to Remus' and he noticed the familiar angry look on the wolf's face.

"You knew!" Remus accused.

"From the moment she climbed into my bed." Sirius nodded

"Why didn't you…" Remus started but James cut him off.

"What are you two on about?"

"Nothing," they both said at the same time, James looked between them but when they went back to their own thing he shook his head and lowered his gaze as well.

Octavia ended up spending the night in Sirius' bed, much to confusion of the boys still not having any idea as to what happened although Sirius and Remus had an idea as to what since she was in pain while Lilith was just worried that she never came to bed.

Octavia entered the Great Hall for breakfast the following morning with her arm looped through Sirius' and Remus was standing on the other side, they were acting like a protective shield in case her siblings tried something.

But she hesitated at the doors and instantly looked over at the Slytherin table, searching for Alecto. She let out a sigh of relief noticing that she wasn't sitting there, it was just Amycus and after last night she wasn't as worried about Amycus as she was Alecto.

It was obvious that Alecto didn't care about her, only who this male was they kept referring too. Octavia just hoped it wasn't this Dark Lord person she was being forced to spend her summer with, because if it was she was incredibly worried for what could happen with him, Alecto and Bellatrix.

"It'll be alright, surely they won't do anything during breakfast?" Sirius whispered in her ear and she nodded and allowed him to direct her to the table.

Octavia took a seat at the Gryffindor table so she was facing the doors, she wanted to be able to see the minute Alecto arrived because she had a feeling that Alecto knew it was her that cut her hair off and would come straight to her to blame her.

"What did you do last night?" Sirius stuttered out and the rest of them instantly lifted their gaze, unsure as to what Sirius was on about but Octavia knew.

Sirius and Octavia were looking at where Alecto had entered, there was a decent amount of her hair missing thanks to Octavia's spell the previous night.

"I may have cut her hair off after what she did…" she whispered back, noting the smirk that appeared on his face.

"I've wanted to do it for years." Sirius spoke and it caused the rest of them to laugh as they now noticed what the two of them were looking at.

"Haven't you said that is she as obsessed with her hair as you are O?" Lilith questioned and Octavia nodded in response. "Won't she kill you?" again another nod in response.

"YOU!" Alecto screeched when she noticed Octavia sitting amongst her friends at the Gryffindor table.

"Remember she can't hurt you here," Sirius whispered in her ear while gripping her hand under the table

"I must say your hair looks lovely Alecto," Octavia smiled at her fuming sister.

"You did this to me last night!"

"And why would I do that Alecto, give me a good reason as to why I would do that to you. I know how much you love your hair." Octavia continued to smile at her sister.

Alecto just narrowed her eyes knowing there was nothing she could say, she knew why Octavia cut her hair, it was payback for the curse she sent her way but she couldn't admit that here in front of all these people.

"Just wait till the summer," Alecto threatened before turning on her heel and heading towards the Slytherin table.

Octavia took a deep breath before relaxing in her seat, she hated how there were other students staring at her, she hated that her sister had made a sceptical of the them but she had to learn to stand up to her sister at some point, she couldn't keep being the shy girl. She had to grow up at some point right?

"What did she mean by wait till the summer O?" Peter questioned and Sirius squeezed the hand he was still holding under the table.

"Well if I happen to arrive on the train to begin our second year with much shorter hair…you will know why." Octavia responded and some of them laughed while Sirius didn't at all, he just lowered his gaze and looked at his plate while Remus carefully watched the girl.

Remus knew the truth about her family situation, hearing now that her sister must have done something to her the previous night made it all that much worse and he was worried.

He carefully watched Sirius and Octavia, they weren't saying anything but there was something different about the two of them, the way he was giving her the comfort she needed and he was the one she always went too regardless of the close friendship she now had with Lilith.

* * *

The five Gryffindors were currently sitting out on the grass of the Quidditch Pitch, the final match had ended giving Slytherin the Quidditch cup and everyone was devastated at the idea.

Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had been knocked out of the running for the Quidditch Cup, leaving it to between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, it was all up to who won the match and of course Slytherin did due to some dirty playing.

"I can't believe Slytherin won." James spoke sounding dejected, everyone had been rooting for Ravenclaw to win, no one other than Slytherin wanted Slytherin to win.

"I bet Amycus will be real happy with himself…" Octavia spoke, she was partly torn of the outcome. In one way she was happy for her brother, her brother was the Captain of the winning team but yet the winning team was the house that pretty much the whole school despised.

"Not many Captains win their first year of leadership, I hate admitting this but he did well bringing the team to win like they did."

"But they played dirty Sirius."

"I know this James, I'm just saying he did well. I've known him my whole life and this is something he's always wanted. Or are you forgetting that both O and myself have left family to be in this house, that we have family in another house and as much as the house they are in is pretty much writing their future as a Dark wizard that it's hard for us to completely cut them out of our lives!" Sirius snapped at James shocking them all.

"Sirius?" Octavia questioned but he just shook his head before standing up and storming off.

"What did I do?" James questioned completely confused.

Octavia leaned forward and pressed her face into her hands, even though Sirius hadn't voiced it she knew it had to be hard on him as well. The two families grew up incredibly close, Alecto and Amycus were like his older siblings as well and he had partly lost them with the sorting the same as Octavia.

She knew that aside everything he says about Regulus being the golden child, he still loved Regulus and didn't know what it was going to be like come his sorting.

After Christmas things had been fixed between the two of them, sort of anyway, and they had been exchanging letters on the side. Sirius hadn't told anyone but Octavia, he just stated it was a cousin who graduated a couple of years back and they were keeping in touch.

"Regardless of everything Sirius says about his family and my in turn, he loves his brother. My brother and sister treated him like family, my parents treated him like family. We were all like one big happy family because our fathers run the company together, him being sorted in Gryffindor has been hard for him as well. All Sirius wanted to do was be happy for Amycus for bringing his team to victory under his leadership but you had to remind him that the team played dirty. Why do you think there is a reason we never once did anything to Alecto or Amycus? Yes I may have cut her off but that is beside the point, no prank was ever directed at them." Octavia spoke shocking them all, letting them know Sirius a bit better because this was something they never suspected.

Through all the badmouthing of Slytherin and his family, they never once suspected he missed them or hated being away from them. They never realised that despite the close relationship between Sirius and Octavia, they never suspected that there was a relationship between Sirius and Amycus and Alecto.

"I didn't realise…" James spoke softly and hung his head.

"It's fine, both Sirius and I aren't ones for letting people in. It's hard, it's hard for us to let people in on our personal problems. For years it's just been the two of us, I go to him and he comes to me, it's the way it is."

"Which means come next year and his brother gets sorted into Slytherin it will be hard on both of you?" Peter spoke up and Octavia nodded giving him a small smile.

"Yes exactly, but he could just as easily follow us, follow our families or go somewhere completely different."

"But this is Sirius we're talking about, he will brush it off and act like nothing is wrong." Remus pointed out.

"Hey you lot, you seem to be missing two people." They all looked up and noticed the older boy walking there way preventing Octavia from responding.

"You must be Frank," Octavia spoke giving him a smile.

She recognised the familiar face that belonged to Lilith, she found it strange that she hadn't been introduced to the boy yet but let it go. They had all been too busy and even though Lilith and Frank were related, they weren't all that close and it didn't seem necessary to introduce them all.

Even at the Christmas party Frank wasn't in attendance, he had gone off to one of his friend's parties. Lilith claimed it was Alice Macmillan, someone who Frank was infatuated with and was trying to win over but was yet unsuccessful in that process.

"I am and of course your names are something of gossip amongst the common room and two of you are certainly gossip amongst all the houses. Now I could be wrong but you must be Sirius," Frank pointed a finger at Octavia causing the girl to laugh. "Right sorry, I just thought Sirius was such a girly name. Octavia?"

"Nice try but Sirius isn't here to hear you poke fun at his name."

"Damn, alright so that leaves, Remus, Peter and James?" The three boys introduced themselves and Frank gave them all a slight head nod.

"What are you doing out here? Thought you be drowning your sorrows with the rest of the house." Octavia questioned and he shrugged while taking a seat on the ground with the four of them.

"I'm actually looking for my sister, have any of you seen her?" Frank questioned and the boys shook their heads and muttered a varying response for the word no.

"I think she's hanging with McKinnon and some of the other second years." Octavia replied while looking at James, wondering how he would react since both him and Sirius were well known for being overly theatric.

"What are we not good enough anymore?" James crossed his arms and pouted, causing Peter and Remus to laugh.

"Oh shove off James, you're always complaining about Lilith and I because we are bloody girls." Octavia laughed and it was in this point that Frank laughed as well realising that James was joking about his comment.

"Alright well I think I will leave you all to it, I have to speak to Lilith about something. I'm sure I will see you all around at some point."

They all bid their goodbyes and waited till Frank was gone before they started talking again.

"Will Sirius come back?"

"Yeah and he won't be mad, don't worry about that James just give him some time to cool off." Octavia smiled at James, while he was glad to get some reassurance about it all.

"Come on let's head up and join the rest of the house with the party."

"What I don't get Moony is why we having a party, we didn't play today nor did we win so why are we having a party anyway?"

"Because they can, you cannot tell me you haven't heard the rumours about Fabian and Gideon Prewitt?" Remus responded and Octavia thought back, the names sounded familiar but it took her a while to place the names.

"Yeah, I remember them. Apparently everyone thinks the two of them are twins but their birthdays are close enough that they're in the same year and they thrive on throwing parties and goofing off, something I imagine James and Sirius to become our seventh year." Octavia laughed at the end while James frowned, not being happy with the comment.

"With the way you three are going, you'll be lucky to make it to seventh year." Remus teased causing a reaction from both Octavia and James. "Don't be such babies, come on and hopefully we can find Sirius on the way." Remus laughed while leading a sulking Octavia and James back to the common room.

When they made it back to the common room Octavia spotted Sirius sitting with some of the second years, noting that both Lilith and Frank were amongst them.

Octavia walked over, not paying much attention to the conversation they were having, and noticed the sour look on Sirius' face. She sat down on his lap noting it was the only free spot and she managed to startle him.

"Are you alright?" she question softly and he only nodded in response, but the look on his face wasn't directed at her, it was behind her. She twisted around and noticed Lilith sitting there with a massive grin on her face.

"You are right Lilith, they are incredibly cute." Octavia turned her gaze and came face to face with Marlene McKinnon, she was a second year and on the team with Frank, she played Chaser.

"Ah, that's why he has a sour look on his why, you're being mean again Lilith." Octavia pointed a finger at her and she shrugged.

"I don't know why you let it get to you, there is nothing we can do but just ignore them. She does it because you react."

"Aw O don't tell him that, if he knows why I'm doing it I will have no fun next year."

"Anyway! McKinnon what do you think Gryffindors chances will be for next year under new leadership?" Octavia questioned hoping to change the subject and allow Sirius to calm down a bit before he stormed off again.

Soloman was the Captain of the Gryffindor team, who played Chaser leaving a spot open while Bishop was also the teams Seeker, which means that with him graduating there was a spot open and Octavia was excited because it meant she could try out for the position in the New Year.

"Soloman isn't graduating this year, she is next year. It's just because her and Bishop are dating, have been for years that everyone thinks she's in her seventh year. Our chances of winning also depend on who takes on the role as Seeker, why you curious to try out next year Carrow?"

"Why not, could be fun?" Octavia shrugged causing Sirius to laugh.

"What's so funny Black?" McKinnon questioned and Lilith watched the two of them with curiosity.

"What's so funny is that she was acting like it wasn't a big deal when I know for a fact she absolutely thrilled with the idea of being able to try out, where as I have to wait another year until the other Beater graduates."

"Aw poor Black." McKinnon cooed and Sirius didn't really like that, he glared at the girl before shifting Octavia on his lap so he didn't have to look at her. "He's being childish now."

"Oh that's normal, the poor baby has had a hard day." Octavia patted his leg and it wasn't until Sirius stood up pushing Octavia back into his seat and he walked off.

"He will be alright won't he, I joined in just because you and Lilith were teasing him…"

"It's fine McKinnon, I meant what I said when he's had a hard day. But back to Quidditch?" Octavia smiled at McKinnon and they all launched into a conversation.

When Octavia was finally able to pull away from the conversation she looked around the common room and couldn't spot Sirius anywhere, she spotted there rest of her boys sitting in the corner laughing about something. She just hoped that he was hiding in their dorm room.

"Sirius are you alright?" Octavia questioned softly when she entered the dorm and noticed Sirius lying down staring at the ceiling.

He slowly sat up and looked her with a slight frown on his face, "there has to be a way to get you out of this trip the summer."

"That's what you're worried about, not what James, Lilith or McKinnon said today?" she questioned and walked over to join him on the bed.

"If you're questioning that then you really don't know me O."

"Oh come on, don't be like that. You stormed off after something James said, he was worried he said the wrong thing."

"Well sort of but I've been trying to get to come up with a way to get you out of the trip, everything else seem pointless right now."

"You can't still be worried about that, what's the worst that could happen?"

"We don't know who this Dark Lord person is, we don't know what could happen and worst of it all you're spending the summer with Alecto and Bella. Bella is certifiably crazy and could do who knows what while Alecto, well we know she's hurt you in the past."

"I will be fine Sirius, you worry too much," Octavia leaned over and hugged him, she didn't want him to worry, she didn't even want to worry about how bad her summer could be.

* * *

"It'll be alright, we'll be back in September." Sirius whispered as he grabbed Octavia's hand.

They were currently heading towards Hogsmeade to catch the train back to London before all going their separate ways for the summer, Octavia was taking one last look at the Castle when Sirius grabbed her hand.

"I know, it's just been a crazy year and it's only our first year, who knows what is going to happen next year."

"Next year will be the year you get placed on the team as their new Seeker."

"Can't wait," she grinned at him and he laughed but instantly stopped when a familiar figure stepped into their path.

"Can we talk?"

"Why Amycus? So you can leave and let Alecto hurt me again?" Octavia spoke softly and he frowned before looking around to see who was taking notice of them.

"If I knew she was going to do that, I would have dragged her back to the common room with me. Am I right in assuming that Sirius knows about your trip this summer?"

"Yes, I told him. What do you know of it?"

"No more than you do but please promise me something."

"Why should I? Give me one good reason, you've barely spoken to me all year. Even after I was sorted and you dragged me away, you yelled at me for not doing anything to make sure I was placed in Slytherin."

"I was shocked and hurt that you hadn't followed us into Slytherin, I apologise for what I said but please promise me something O."

"Depends what it is Am."

"Don't be the girl you've grown to be during the year, go back to how you were. Keep your mouth shut, just nod at everything they say. I want you to come home in one piece."

"Amycus?" Octavia questioned softly, unsure of what it was her brother was exactly saying.

"I can't protect you during the summer, I have no idea what Alecto has planned as your payback and the Dark Lord won't take kindly to blood traitors. Please be safe this summer?" Octavia nodded and Amycus walked off.

"Okay now can I worry?"

"Don't tell the others…" Octavia whispered and Sirius nodded, now knowing that this was going to be a very long summer.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Olivia0707** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes Remus is smart and unfortunately I can't have Peter weasel out because it is canon and I'm trying to stick as canon as possible, I will admit now there will be mistakes but I'm trying.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	12. A Summer of Letters

Chapter 11: A Summer of Letters

 _S – It's only been a week and I already want out of my house, how are all your summers?_

 _J – Ehh, mum and dad weren't happy about the number of detentions but they were happy with my grades._

 _L – I told you all it would be better staying out of detention, but did you listen to me…no._

 _S – Oh shush you, no one cares what a girl has to say on this._

 _L – I bet O would have something to say on this topic._

 _J – How do you think Moony is doing during the full moon at home?_

 _L – I'm worried, I know Pomfry knows her stuff and he can patch him up but what about his parents?_

 _S – I'm sure he will be fine, his parents were taking care of him for years before we started at Hogwarts._

 _J – Wait you know when he was bitten?_

 _S – O knew, she said he was five when it happened._

 _L – Poor Moony, my heart breaks for him. We're still soo young as it is and he's already got this problem to face._

* * *

 _R – I'm fine and alive if you are all still so worried._

 _S – MOONY!_

 _R – How's O doing at home?_

 _S – I haven't seen her yet…_

 _R – But you've spoken to her right?_

 _S – Have you?_

 _R – You two were always going on about how close you're families are, why haven't you spoken to her._

 _R – Sirius?_

* * *

 _L – Anyone there?_

 _P – I'm here._

 _L – Pete, you've been awfully quiet so far this summer._

 _P – Parents are excited I'm home, have you heard from anyone else?_

 _L – Everyone except O, have you?_

 _P – No, I haven't been able to pull out my parchment until now._

 _J – Pete! How's your summer been?_

 _L – Go away James._

 _J – Oh shush Lilith, I was talking to Pete._

 _P – My summer's been fine, just over bearing parents._

 _S – At least they love you._

 _L – What's that meant to mean Sirius? Where's O?_

 _J – Sirius?_

 _S – What!?_

 _L – Where's Octavia?_

 _S – I don't know okay, we had dinner with her family last night, her and her sister were missing. I heard from Moony though, he's fine and coping at home._

 _J – I'm glad, I just wished we could hear from O._

 _S – I'm sure she is fine, maybe she is somewhere too far away from us. Aren't we all somewhere in England? Maybe she's in Ireland or Scotland, or even over the ocean._

 _R – Sirius has a point, maybe she's just too far away for hers to work._

 _P – Imagine her trying to write to us but getting nothing in response. Can't we owl her?_

 _S – Don't you think if we could contact her by owl she would have sent one by now?_

 _P – Sorry, I was just suggesting._

 _S – Its fine Pete…_

 _L – Do you at least know if she's alright?_

 _S – I believe if something truly happened to her, my parents would have heard by now._

 _J – Well until then we just wait, I guess._

* * *

 _J – Anyone awake?_

 _L – I believe Moony would be but won't be able to respond. What are you doing awake?_

 _J – Became habit during full moons, I worry about Moony._

 _L – O is the same, she began waking me up when she heard strange noises and in the process the two of us had a habit of staying up as late as we can._

 _J – Sirius was the same._

 _L – It's shocking at similar those two are…_

 _J – Not really they grew up together remember, it wouldn't be that different to say you and your brother._

 _L – I didn't see him for two years while he was at Hogwarts and I wasn't._

 _J – Good point, but they aren't that similar. O can be incredibly shy but Sirius wouldn't care who was around._

 _L – I think that may be more due to O's family life compared to Sirius'._

 _J – What do you mean?_

 _L – Well Sirius is the heir to his family, while O isn't, she's just the means to an end really. My grandmother comes from one of their families, most marriage contracts between them state two children._

 _J – But there's three in O's family._

 _L – Depends on the wording, depending on the wording Alecto and Amycus would be the same baby._

 _J – Makes sense, they didn't want O but had to have her to make sure their contract didn't become void. I feel really bad for O._

 _L – She has Sirius though, he is oddly protective over her._

 _J – What if all your jokes about the two of them are somewhat real but they can't do anything about it?_

 _L – Who knows, O mentioned how her marriage is still on but Sirius hasn't said anything about his own._

 _S – Sirius doesn't want his own marriage…Will you both drop the whole 'Octavia and I' topic._

 _J – Oh, look who's awake._

 _S – This stupid thing wouldn't stop glowing, I figured at least two of you were awake because in all honestly who would keep writing to themselves?_

 _L – Didn't Pete do that the other night?_

 _J – The poor kid had a nightmare…_

 _S – Doesn't he always?_

 _L – I suppose, anyway I'm going to get some sleep otherwise my parents will be suspicious about why I was awake all night._

 _S – I'll tell you if I hear anything from O, I'm heading to Scotland with the family tomorrow._

 _J – How come?_

 _S – We usually spend some of the summer in our summer home, normally O's family join us but this year they aren't because Alecto and O aren't around and Amycus has gone off with his friends._

 _J – Isn't he friends with Lestrange?_

 _S – Oh it gets better too, Bella is marrying the eldest Lestrange._

 _J – No way!_

 _S – Yes way._

 _J – Didn't O say something about him?_

 _S – O has something to say about everyone we spend our breaks with, I swear last summer she wouldn't speak out against them but now after one year at Hogwarts she can say every bad word under the sun._

 _J – Oh crap…_

 _S – James?_

* * *

 _S – Anyone?_

 _J – Thought you were in Scotland?_

 _L – I agree with James._

 _S – I am in Scotland, I was just hoping it wouldn't work and it would explain why O wasn't responding to us._

 _R – Still nothing on O?_

 _J – Doesn't seem like it._

 _S – I was just hoping that I was just that bit closer to where she is that she would respond._

 _L – Maybe she just doesn't have time to respond or check her parchment._

 _J – But the thing glows when there are messages, right now both hers and Pete's should be glowing because they aren't responding._

 _R – I honestly don't know how the professors haven't noticed the glowing during classes, maybe we should fix that when we're back at Hogwarts._

 _S – Who knows Moony? As for O she wouldn't be stupid enough to have it out in the open, it will be in her trunk where no one can see it._

 _L – Are you sure?_

 _J – Don't be an idiot, don't question how well Sirius knows O._

 _L – Jeez no need to be so snappy James, I was just checking I wasn't questioning Sirius and O's friendship, just questioning that._

 _S – Good now apologies and hug it out._

 _R – Now who is being the idiot, those two can't hug. None of us can…_

 _S – Sarcasm…_

 _J – Yeah Moony._

 _R – Right if everyone is going to turn on me, I'm out._

 _S – Oh Moony I'm sorry._

 _J – I am as well._

 _L – Look at what you've both done!_

 _J – Bloody girls, always scaring the boys off…_

 _L – You're such a prat James._

* * *

 _S – Scotland is so boring, I'm all alone._

 _J – Don't you have your brother with you?_

 _S – Yes but remember he is the golden child. I have no idea what is going to happen come September and he joins us…_

 _J – But wouldn't he be in Slytherin?_

 _S – Most likely, although I am kind of hoping that he will go against the family. He's very fond of O, he has to pick between the two of them._

 _J – So your family is calling off their marriage?_

 _S – I haven't heard anything, there is something off with their marriage contract._

 _L –What do you mean?_

 _J – Who invited you?_

 _L – I swear you are all nicer when O is around, I miss her._

 _J – I was just kidding, I think we all miss her._

 _S – You know we haven't heard from Pete almost as much as her._

 _L – We haven't heard O at all._

 _J – That's the point Lilith, we've only heard from Pete once and that doesn't count the night he was talking to himself because of his nightmare._

 _R – Maybe we'll see him when we meet up in Diagon Alley, are we still on for that._

 _S – I won't be there._

 _J – Why not?_

 _L – Sirius?_

 _R – Is it just me or does he have a habit of disappearing when we try to ask him questions about his summer, why he won't do some things and O?_

 _J – I feel like he knows something but isn't sharing._

 _L – Wouldn't be the first time though, remember when the chair burst into flames?_

 _J – O looked panicked at the flames._

 _L – I remember her face, the way Sirius was protecting her was odd._

 _J – Has Moony disappeared on us as well…._

 _L – I swear they as just as bad as each other._

 _J – Diagon Alley?_

 _L – Yeah I'm still on, our letters should arrive soon._

* * *

 _J – I'M GETTING A NEW BROOM!_

 _J – DID YOU HEAR ME! I'M GETTING A NEW BROOM!_

 _L – Jeez James calm down, it's just a broom. You're as bad as Frank._

 _J – But that's because Frank is on the Quidditch team and I hope to join him this year._

 _S – Oh you play Seeker do you? O won't be happy to hear she has competition._

 _J – What, I thought one of the Chasers was a seventh year?_

 _L – Nope just spent all their time with the Seventh years. Soloman was dating Bishop._

 _J – Not fair…wait O wants to be Seeker?_

 _S – Yeah, she's pretty fast on her broom…_

 _L – What about you Sirius?_

 _S – Beater, it made it interesting when O and I wanted to play Quidditch but usually we just flew around and threw the Quaffle back and forth between us._

 _J – Do you think Remus will play Quidditch with us?_

 _R – Not on the house team, but I don't mind the sport. Imagine having to explain to the rest of the team why there will be times I won't be able to attend training or on the rare occasion miss a game?_

 _L – He makes a good point, I could see O being a good Seeker though, she has the small build for it._

 _J – I don't even remember seeing her on the broom during our flying lessons._

 _S – That would be because we were bored…_

 _R – That and James was too busy helping Evans._

 _J – Oh come on the poor girl was terrified and she would have hurt herself, neither Blake nor Snivellus could help since they were just as bad._

 _S – Are you thinking what I'm thinking?_

 _L – Depends what are you thinking?_

 _S – James has a crush on Evans._

 _J – Come on, she calls me an arrogant toerag._

 _S – She calls me an arrogant toerag._

 _L – She hates all of us because of how we treat Snape._

 _S – Why can't you call him Snivellus like the rest of us?_

 _R – Not all of us call him Snivellus._

 _L – It's just you two and O that do it._

 _J – How did we get so off track…_

 _S – What's off track?_

 _L – You with your mind, all the time._

 _S – Is that meant to be an insult?_

 _R – It is, she claims that you can't stick with one conversation for long._

 _S – That's cruel Lilith…_

 _L – You'll live, are you sure you can't join us at Diagon Alley tomorrow?_

 _S – I'll try but doubtful, I'll most likely just see you all on the 1_ _st_ _._

 _R – Heard from O yet?_

 _J – I'm getting sick of him doing that…_

 _L – Do you think something has happened to her?_

 _R – He said he would tell us if something did._

 _J – What about Pete?_

 _P – I'm here, sorry, sorry._

 _R – Where have you been?_

 _P – Busy, busy…_

 _J – Care to explain?_

 _P – Just visiting family before we go back to Hogwarts, my family is very close._

 _L – Well as long as your safe, James have you heard anything about this Voldemort person that the Daily Prophet keeps mentioning._

 _J – Vaguely, my parents tend to have those conversations once I'm meant to be asleep._

 _L – Apparently he and his followers are out terrorizing muggles, some people who are actively standing up against him are going missing._

 _S – You're lying._

 _L – Why would I lie?_

 _J – Sirius?_

 _R – Okay, this is getting to be insane. What is going on with him?_

 _J – We'll corner him on the train and find out, I'm just hoping it's got nothing to do with O._

 _L – I'm sure she is fine, I honestly don't believe Sirius would keep it from us if something happened to her._

* * *

 _S – I'm back from Scotland, still haven't heard anything from O._

 _J – I thought you were back ages ago?_

 _S – Parents decided to extend the trip, but they wanted us to be in attendance for the party at the Carrow's tomorrow._

 _J – Does that mean you'll finally see O?_

 _S – I asked and they didn't answer, so no idea._

 _J – Hopefully she will be there, I'm worried about her._

 _R – I think we all are James, O's smart, she will be alright._

 _L – I hope so…_

 _S – It's not long until we go back, she will be back soon and we will hear from her._

 _L – You sure?_

 _S – Her parents won't prevent her for attending Hogwarts, they threw a party because she got in._

 _J – Then what's this party for?_

 _S – Because they can, all the families like to throw parties and show off who has the most money._

 _L – Sounds like fun…_

 _S – You're just jealous._

 _J – I don't think anyone is jealous of you Sirius, you do nothing but complain about the things your family makes you do._

 _S – One day…_

 _J – One day what?_

 _L – Sirius?_

 _R – I think he's gone again._

 _L – Maybe one day he'll stop disappearing mid conversation._

* * *

 _J – Okay seriously this is becoming insane, we leave for Hogwarts in two days and we still haven't heard from O._

 _L – It's her birthday tomorrow as well…_

 _R – It is too._

 _J – Seriously, who disappears for this long?_

 _S – Who said my name?_

 _J – I said 'seriously' not 'Sirius'._

 _L – Which he would know if he read the sentence properly, he's probably missed making that joke all summer._

 _R – Sirius surely you've heard if O is back by now._

 _S – No but my parents mentioned something about going there for dinner to celebrate her birthday, so I'm assuming she will be back by then._

 _L – Please tell us if she's in one piece?_

 _S – I told you at the beginning of the summer I would tell you if something was wrong with her, I haven't heard anything so she must be fine._

 _J – Then why do you keep disappearing?_

 _S – Because my parents call for me, by the time I come back the messages are gone and I have no idea what you were all talking about, all I know is just that you were talking about something._

 _J – You could always say something next time._

 _S – Fine, my parents are calling for me._

 _L – Are you being serious or an idiot?_

 _J – Who knows with him?_

 _R – All we know is that O should be back soon and then she will contact us._

* * *

 _O – Sirius!_

 _J – O, there you are where have you been!_

 _R – We've been so worried about you._

 _S – What's wrong?_

 _O – I need you here now!_

 _S – I'm coming._

 _J – What's going on?_

 _R – Guys?_

 _J – What do you think is going on?_

 _R – No idea, but I'm worried. She didn't even acknowledge us._

 _J – You don't think her family brainwashed her?_

 _R – Not possible, wouldn't they have done Sirius as well?_

 _J – He's the heir…_

 _R – Who knows with that family…_

* * *

 _L – Happy Birthday O_

 _J – Happy Birthday O_

 _R – Happy Birthday O_

 _O- Thank you for the birthday wishes, I'm so incredibly sorry for last night. I just really needed to talk Sirius about something and it was the only way to urgently contact him otherwise I wouldn't have said anything and I wasn't able to leave the house._

 _J – Where have you been all summer?_

 _O – On a holiday, how have you all been?_

 _R – Worried, about you. Why couldn't you tell us before you left?_

 _O – It was a rush thing, I left my parchment in my trunk and it didn't come with me._

 _L – Did Sirius know where you went?_

 _O – No he didn't, my parents didn't tell anyone where we went._

 _J – We?_

 _O – Alecto and I went somewhere for the summer, meant to be female bonding time._

 _R – What happened?_

 _O – Nothing bad, how have your summers been?_

 _J – Not bad, we'll catch up properly on the train tomorrow._

 _O – Sounds good to me, I've missed you guys._

 _L – I've missed you too._

 _R – Agreed._

 _J – Even though you are a girl._

 _L – Wait why isn't Sirius saying anything, I thought he would jump at the chance to talk to you._

 _O – He's sitting here beside me, his parchment is at home._

 _R – Oh…enjoy the rest of your birthday. We'll see you both tomorrow._

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Olivia0707** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As for what happens in the summer, this is as detailed as it gets. Early on not much happens during their summers, the big things get explained throughout the year at Hogwarts. It won't be until they are older and the war really picks up that I will begin to start writing about their summer.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you picked up that Amycus cares about her, we just have to see what happens because we know for a fact that Amycus ends up being a Death Eater.**

 **Dreams and Pixie Dust** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you loved the prank on the Slyhterins and Peeves, as for O asking McGonagall about her transformation. There was always a part of me that wondered if the Marauders went to her and asked general type question in the process of doing their own transformations, and you're right, Remus won't be happy. As for why Sirius and Amycus are so worried, it will be explained.**


	13. Second Year - A New School Year

_Second Year_

Chapter 12: A New School Year

"You know they were really worried about you all summer?" Sirius spoke once Octavia's parchment went blank.

Tomorrow they go back to Hogwarts and Octavia had finally gotten in touch with her friends after a long summer apart.

"I know, but I was terrified of what would happen if I brought it out. I lied when I said I didn't bring it, I did but when I realised who I was spending my summer with I panicked and couldn't bring it out."

"I know, I hated lying to them about having no idea where you were."

"Well technically you didn't."

"I know but still I knew sort of why you weren't answering. How's your arm?" Sirius carefully lifted Octavia's arm to get a better look at it, it seemed as though it had finally stopped bleeding.

"It doesn't hurt nearly as much, I just hope it's stopped bleeding permanently. I thought it had and then when I got home last night and saw that it was bleeding again I panicked, that's when I wrote asking for you."

"I know, I'm just glad I was in my room and saw the glowing." Sirius put an arm around her and softly rubbed her shoulder. "It'll be alright, tomorrow we go back to Hogwarts. If needed, hopefully Pomfry doesn't ask questions, she will be able to help you and that's it."

"But won't she tell Dumbledore?" Octavia's eyes went wide as she looked at Sirius, he frowned noticing the fear that was evident in them.

"Most likely but it wasn't your parents, that's the only thing they're worried about."

"No instead it's the guy who is terrorizing our community," Octavia muttered. "What am I going to tell our friends about my summer?"

"Just that you and Alecto went to the woods for female bonding, tell them the truth keeping Voldemort out of it. Bella was there, Narcissa came and went, they believe you, it's the females from both of our families so they won't question it."

"It would just be so much easier if they don't question my summer," Sirius noticed how Octavia's voice broke and he hated it, he hated that there was nothing he could do to erase her worries about what their new school year is going to be like after the summer she's had and it worried him.

"I know and if I had of known how bad it would have been, I would have made something up. Lied and said you were with my family but left your parchment at home…"

"I know and I thank you for doing that, for lying to our friends but it's too late now. Hopefully they won't question much, just take my yeah I spent the whole time in the woods and got back when you saw my first note…"

"We'll just have to wait and see, Moony knows about the abuse so maybe he will be alright with this."

"Yes because me telling my werewolf friend that I spent the summer with Voldemort will be real thrilled…" Octavia laughed bitterly and Sirius went silence knowing Remus wouldn't be happy with the truth about her summer. "What are we going to do about my arm though, we can't heal it with magic."

"Just hope it doesn't start bleeding again, as long as the bleeding has stopped, we should be fine." Octavia pulled away from him and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes because the whole 'I can barely move my arm thing' isn't a dead giveaway that something is amiss." She snapped at him and his gaze softened watching as her eyes welled up.

"Who knows how you are going to be feeling tomorrow, are you going to tell me why he did that to you?" Octavia shook her head while trying to push the tears back, she didn't want them to escape, she didn't want proof that she was scared of what Voldemort had done, she was meant to be a Gryffindor, she didn't want to be scared like this.

"It'll be alright, we're going to Hogwarts tomorrow. You will be safe there, I will be there to protect you as well as the rest of our friends." Octavia didn't say anything, she just brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them.

* * *

Sirius and Octavia were currently sitting on the train waiting for the rest of their friends, Sirius had no idea where Regulus had gone and Octavia was too distracted with her own concerns to worry about him.

"You need to stop, they will know something is up." Sirius placed a hand on her knees to stop them from bouncing up and down.

"I can't help it, I can still barely move my arm and our friends will start turning up any minute." Octavia looked at him and it was only because he knew her so well that he saw the panic in her eyes, otherwise she looked perfectly calm.

"It'll will be alright, your arm isn't bleeding anymore. We can just say we were playing Quidditch yesterday and you fell?"

"So we'll lie like I've been forced to grow up and do?" she snapped at him and he took a deep breath.

"O I'm just trying to help, don't take it out on me. Don't take your shitty summer out on me."

"Not just shitty, try terrifying." She spoke bitterly and he gave her hand a squeeze as the door opened.

Sirius hated that she was startled at the sound, she still refused to talk about her summer. He had no idea what she went through during her summer because she wouldn't let up, no matter how much he questioned her.

"Moony how are you?" Sirius spoke hoping Octavia will calm down knowing it was Remus first.

Remus looked between the two of them and noticed how tense Octavia seemed despite the calm look on her face, he knew there was something that had gone on during the summer that was being kept from them all and he had a feeling it was about Octavia's location.

"I'm fine…how are you?" he questioned carefully as he sat down across from them.

"Good, good," Octavia muttered quickly and Remus raised an eyebrow before looking at Sirius, he knew that something was wrong.

"I'm good, I should probably go check on Regulus to make sure he made it on the train. I will get the blame if he doesn't arrive at Hogwarts." Sirius spoke before standing up to leave causing Octavia to give him a look.

"What's going on?" Remus questioned but Octavia smiled before standing up and walking over to give him a hug.

"Nothing Moony, you've gone crazy with your summer alone."

"Oh really and what does that say about you?" Remus teased, grateful to see a true smile on her face.

"Yes that is true I guess, how was your summer otherwise? With the moons?"

"Fine but O what is wrong with your arm?" Remus questioned and couldn't help but notice how her body tensed.

"Don't know what you are on about."

"What I have I told you about lying O, the full moon was only a couple of days ago. There might not be any blood but I can smell the fresh wound, what happened?"

"Was playing Quidditch yesterday and I fell off the broom, I'm going to the bathroom." Octavia spoke and quickly got up to leave rushing past James and Lilith on her way.

When Sirius went back to the compartment he noticed the rest of his friends had turned up but Octavia was missing, he quickly returned the hug Lilith had given him before sitting down next to Remus.

"Where's O?" Sirius questioned quietly, not sure if the others knew what was going on.

"She said something about the bathroom, but that was before the train started moving. Did you find your brother?"

"I did he was on the train but then I ran into Frank, McKinnon and the rest of the Quidditch team."

"If you were harassing Frank about why there is only one new position, I already got spoken to about that," James grumbled while Lilith laughed.

"Please explain?" Sirius questioned.

"James found Frank and I on the platform not long after our parents left us, he then began bugging him about why the team only needed a new Seeker, he thought it was unfair how they didn't put all positions up for grabs every year. Frank turned around and laughed saying it was pointless to mess with three perfectly good Chasers."

"You idiot James but no I didn't bother Frank about that, we were just talking about Quidditch in general."

"Fair enough, what's going on with O?" Lilith questioned and Sirius was unsure of how to answer.

"I don't think she's feeling well, I was planning on getting her to see Pomfry the minute we arrive at Hogwarts." Sirius explained and they all took it, Sirius refused to look at Remus unsure as to what he would have figured out.

Sirius knew Remus would have been able to figure out something was off, he had always been able to read them all better than each other, minus Sirius and Octavia on each other but he was learning very quickly. Sirius also knew there was full moon a couple of days ago, Remus would have been able to smell the open cut regardless if there was blood or not.

"She'll come back, where else would she go?" Sirius spoke but he knew the answer, if she really wanted to avoid her friends she will go in search of McKinnon and Frank.

It wasn't until the 10 minute warning that Octavia finally showed her face in the compartment where her friends were sitting.

"There you are, where have you been?" Lilith spoke before she rushed over to hug her, the closed door was the only thing keeping them steady.

"I was speaking with the Quidditch team, we just lost track of time, I promise. Now you can all fill me in on your summers, let me guess. James spent all summer bugging his parents for a new broom because he assumed that Solomon graduated this past June, Remus spent the whole time reading, Peter spent the whole time reassuring his parents that he is fine and wants to return and you spent all summer bugging your brother." Octavia smirked at her friends and Sirius barked out a laugh.

"Oh come on, it's not that shocking. We all got to know each other pretty well, just like I'm assuming you all know Octavia would have been bored stupid out in the woods by with nobody but Alecto, Bella and Narcissa." Sirius spoke and it was then they all began throwing questions at her.

"Woah calm down, it honestly wasn't that bad. I was pretty much left alone and I was an idiot who left my parchment at home so I couldn't contact you all. There really isn't anything to my summer, are you excited for the sorting? It will be different being on the other side."

Octavia was glad that her friends brought what she said about her summer, although she knew at some point she would have to deal with Remus and what he thought about what really happened.

The six of them left the train when it pulled into Hogsmeade station, they followed the mass of students since they were unsure of where they were going since they took a different path to arrive at Hogwarts the previous year.

"O?" Sirius questioned when he noticed her staring at thin air in front of the carriage they were meant to take.

"You can't see it?" she questioned, when she looked at her friends she noticed the strange looks on their faces.

"There's nothing there O, Frank said the carriages just pull themselves." Lilith spoke and it all clicked in Octavia's head, she realised what she was looking at and she quickly took some steps backwards to get away from the animal pulling the carriages.

"No…" Octavia whispered, Sirius instantly walked over and grabbed her arm to pull her towards the carriage.

"Come on O, we have to take the carriages."

"They're thestrals," she replied the unspoken question.

"But don't you have to see the dead to see them?" Lilith spoke once they were all seated in the carriage, ignoring how squished they were.

"I saw my uncle die when I was young." Octavia spoke before looking out the window, she didn't even turn around when Sirius gave her hand a squeeze.

Sirius knew it was a lie, he knew she wasn't in the room when her uncle died because as far as he knew she had never been in the same room as someone who had died. Which meant that she saw someone die over her summer and now he was truly worried about what happened to her.

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled and Sirius scoffed.

"Typical."

Regulus had been sorted in Slytherin just like the rest of the Black family had been, just like Sirius should have been.

Sirius hadn't voiced it but there was a part of him hoping that Regulus didn't get sorted into Slytherin, he hoped that he had been sorted anywhere. Sirius knew that Regulus wasn't Gryffindor material but he was very much suited for Ravenclaw, he knew Regulus would have done well there away from the influence of their family and their family's friends.

Octavia looked at Sirius, he might not show it but she had a feeling he was disappointed about Regulus being sorted into Slytherin, even she had to admit she was disappointed. It didn't matter if the two of them were promised to marry come his graduation, she felt protective over him, she wanted to get him out from under their family's ruling but with him in Slytherin it wouldn't happen.

"So what do thestrals look like?" Remus questioned once the feast had appeared in front of them.

"They looked so creepy, it was like a horse skeleton. They were huge and had these huge wings, they were all black and their eyes were white."

"Sounds creepy."

"I can't believe they pull the carriages, what if someone gets hurt." Peter spoke, his voice squeaking in fear.

"Come on, would Dumbledore really let something on the grounds and risk the students?" James laughed but they all shared a look, knowing he had let Remus on the grounds knowing full well he knew that Remus was a werewolf and could easily harm the students.

"What are you all laughing about?" Evans questioned and they stopped laughing to look at her and Blake sitting side by side a little further down the table.

"Just that Octavia saw some thestrals pulling the carriages towards Hogwarts."

"I don't believe you, aren't they like a death omen or something, aren't they only seen by people who are next to die." Evans responded and Octavia laughed, Evans liked to pride herself on knowing everything she could but yet she didn't know this little fact, although Octavia didn't blame her due to the nature of thestrals.

"No, that is where you are wrong. The only people who can see thestrals are the ones who have seen death, most of the time it is a family member that is killed. I saw my uncle die when I was younger." Octavia explained and Blake glared at her.

"No need to be such a bitch Carrow, Lily is a muggle born, she can't be expected to know everything about the world she got thrown into last year."

"I know that and I wasn't being a bitch, I was explaining so she wouldn't be caught out again. You're the one being a bitch Blake." Octavia snapped before turning in her seat and facing her friends, ignoring the whispering that was taking place between Evans and Blake.

* * *

The first week of classes had passed by easily enough, it was the same as last year except this time the teachers were explaining what was expected of them for the year before throwing them into learning new stuff.

The big shock to the now second years was that they had a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, but when they spoke to the older students in the common room they had stated they've had a different one for each of those years, 'apparently the job was cursed'…was what they all said.

Both Remus and Sirius also hadn't been able to get Octavia alone to question her about what they wanted too and if they had she would dodge the question or just ignore them until they spoke of something else.

Sirius was rudely awoken by someone shaking him, he was quite comfortable in his bed and enjoying his dream, he didn't want to have to get up since it was the weekend and he could sleep in. As per habit of the last week and a half and last year, he grabbed his pillow and hit whoever was trying to wake him up.

Succeeding in hitting them he put his pillow back under his head in an attempt to go back to sleep but it didn't happen.

"Sirius, please don't hit me again." the soft voice that belong to Octavia got his attention, she had rarely attempted to wake him up, always found it funnier to watch the other boys do it.

Sirius sat up in his bed and looked at her, curious as to why she was up so early in the morning.

"What are you doing up so early O?"

"Well I was going to go for a fly because I've been without my broom all summer and try outs are soon but I noticed my arm…" she trailed off and Sirius' gaze lowered and noticed that something was wrapped around when the cut should be.

"Alright let me quickly get dressed and we'll go."

Octavia's eyes widen in fear and she shook her head, "no, please."

"No I don't know how much more I can do, I watched Dinky try and stop the bleeding but she couldn't aside from what you are doing now I don't know what else to do. So I'm taking you to Pomfry, if you want to go to Quidditch try outs you need to get that healed and properly."

Octavia reluctantly nodded and climbed onto Sirius' bed once he got out to go and get ready in the bathroom, she was worried about what Pomfry would say when she noticed the cut. She knew it couldn't be healed by magic because Dinky had been unsuccessful, they had a feeling it had been done with dark magic and she was worried about what Pomfry would say about the dark magic.

"Come on," Sirius spoke tilting his head when he was ready.

Octavia climbed off the bed and followed him out of the dorm, Sirius noticed that she was holding her arm at a weird angle.

"How bad is the pain?"

"Back to what it was like when you first found out, it's like every time it starts bleeding the pain come backs. It wasn't this bad yesterday, what if it's a curse?" Octavia's eyes widened and Sirius was silent, thinking about it. It made sense in theory but he had no idea.

"I don't know O, it could be but we won't know unless some has a look at it. I can't help you anymore and I'm worried, if it is a curse that's going to keep causing you pain then I want it to be healed so you aren't in pain anymore."

"She's going to tell Dumbledore…"

"I know but that way we'll find out what is going on with it." Octavia nodded. "Are you finally going to tell me why he decided to do that in the first place? I thought you were doing what your brother suggested and staying silent."

Octavia stopped walking and when Sirius look back at her he could see the fear in her eyes and he hated it, he hated what her summer had done to her.

"I can't…"

"Please O." Octavia just shook her head before she started walking again, completely dropping the subject with Sirius.

"What can I do for you two so early in the morning?" Pomfry spoke when she noticed the two second years standing in front of her. She knew who they were due to them being talk around the castle and their constant visitations with Remus but they hadn't actually been ones to come and see her as yet.

"My arms bleeding and it doesn't seem to want to stop."

"What did you do to it?"

"We were playing Quidditch during the summer and I fell cutting myself on a broken branch, my parents would have been furious had they found out what happened and it stopped bleeding so we thought it was fine." Octavia responded with the same lie they had been whenever anyone questioned her arm and what was wrong with it.

"Very well, come take a seat on one of the beds and I will have a look at it, you should have come and see me sooner and it might not have gotten this bad."

"I thought it was fine since it stopped bleeding, it just started again this morning." Octavia explained as she unwrapped her arm to show Pomfry.

They were all silent for a couple of minutes as Pomfry did her job, she ended pulling away and giving them both a stern look.

"Would you to try telling me again what happened Miss Carrow?"

"I told you…"

"I know what you told me but I believe it's a lie, if it was true I would be able to heal this easily but magic is not working. So again I ask what really happened?" she questioned and Octavia stayed silent, when Pomfry looked at Sirius he raised his hands defensively.

"I honestly don't know, she refused to tell me. I thought that if it had stopped bleeding she would be fine otherwise I would have forced her to come see you sooner."

"Did your parents do this to you?" Pomfry questioned softly and Octavia shook her head. "Very well, if you won't tell me what happened or who did this I will have to get Dumbledore down here." Pomfry laid down the threat but Octavia didn't budge, she just continued to sit there silently.

Pomfry left the two of them alone as she headed into her office to get in touch with Dumbledore.

"Just tell them O."

"Tell them what? How I spent my summer? How do you think my parents would react to that? I'm meant to go home to them again for Christmas, where else am I meant to go. He only did this to me because I wouldn't do what he asked of me, I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it to you all." Octavia's eyes welled up as she spoke and it was then Sirius realised, she took the curse to save her friends.

"What did he ask? What did he want you to do with us?" Octavia was silent, realising the mistake she made. Sirius walked over and grabbed her hands, "please tell me, I can't help you if you don't tell me."

Octavia took a deep breath before softly nodding, "Convince you to not turn your back on your family, for Remus to let the wolf do what it wants and convince James and Lilith to turn on their family…"

"What about Pete?"

"He didn't say anything Pete, must believe that Pete will follow us regardless."

Sirius didn't have the chance to respond since they heard the Hospital Wing doors open and close, they assumed it was Dumbledore entering to find out what was going on.

"Ah Miss Carrow, I've been told you have an interesting cut on your arm that can't be healed by magic?"

"Well considering what she does for Remus every month I can't exactly question the ability she has to do her job now can I?" Octavia responded and she received a warning from Sirius but she ignored him and continued to look at Dumbledore.

"That is very true, also I believe Mr Lupin having friends who still care about him regardless of his condition has erased some of his worries and the following mornings are a bit easier for him. May I have a look at your arm?"

Octavia nodded and raised her arm the best she could so Dumbledore could take a look, no one said anything and the longer it was silent the more uneasy she became sitting under his gaze.

There was a part of her wondering if her parents' view of them was true, if he was truly an idiot.

"Did your parents do this to you Octavia?" Dumbledore questioned and she looked at Sirius quickly.

"No, I can assure you my parents didn't do this to me." Octavia spoke calmly and Dumbledore nodded before turning around and getting Pomfry's attention.

The second years watched as the two of them walked back to her office, Sirius waited until the door was closed before he spoke.

"Maybe we should just tell them."

"And then what? Dumbledore confronts my parents, yes that will make for an amazing Christmas Sirius."

Sirius gripped his hair before looking at her and nodding. "Fine we won't tell them…"

"Thank you." Octavia whispered as Dumbledore and Pomfry returned.

"Are you sure you won't tell me what happened to your arm Miss Carrow?" Dumbledore tried questioning again but when there was no response, he faced Pomfry. "Very well, do as I suggested. If she won't tell us there is nothing we can do but heal her."

"Of course Albus," Pomfry nodded and Dumbledore left the Hospital Wing.

Pomfry gave Octavia a sad look before she turned around and collected some things before placing them on the small table beside the bed.

"How do you feel about muggle healing techniques?" Pomfry questioned and an uneasy feeling appeared in Octavia's stomach.

"Why what are you planning on doing?" she questioned and Sirius noticed the panic seeping through into her voice, he walked over and grabbed her hand to let her know she wasn't alone.

"Whoever did what they did to your arm is similar to a curse, it will heal over time but it can't be healed by magic. The reason your arm started bleeding again was because during the night you must have damaged the slowly repairing skin causing essentially another wound. For something like this the skin needs to be held together, essentially I will be sewing your skin together." Pomfry spoke and even she could see the fear in her wide eyes at the idea.

"It won't hurt, I can give you some potions to numb the pain while I do it and over the course of the next couple weeks. It will heal once the skin is sewn together, it will leave a scar but this process will prevent further bleeding. I must stress how bad the wound could get if you don't go through will this _only_ option."

"What about Quidditch, try outs are soon."

"What position?"

"Seeker."

"Very well, it should be fine but I would like to assess your arm the morning of try outs to make sure. It needs to be healing well for you to attend, I'm assuming it's your non wand arm since it's been over a week since you returned to Hogwarts. Do I have permission to proceed?"

Octavia was unsure, she didn't like the idea of having her skin sewn together. It sounded barbaric and it was no wonder that the muggles struggled to cure such simple diseases.

Octavia looked at Sirius, she wanted his opinion. They both grew up in very similar households in regards to their values and opinions, she wanted to know what he thought of this idea.

"If it's the only way for your arm to heal then I say do it, if you can't go to Quidditch try outs talk to Soloman and see what she says. Pomfry said it won't hurt." Octavia nodded before turning back to Pomfry.

"Do it," Octavia spoke before taking the potion Pomfry handed over.

* * *

"Where have you been all day?" Lilith pounced on Octavia as soon as she entered the common room, after Pomfry had finished sowing the skin together on Octavia's forearm she had to spend the next few hours in the Hospital Wing for her to keep an eye on and monitor Octavia's pain since it was a first for Pomfry in regards to healing.

"Wasn't feeling well so I spent the day in the Hospital Wing resting where it was quiet." Octavia hugged the girl, to let her know that she was fine. For now her arm was feeling fine thanks to the potions but it was a little bit itchy otherwise.

"You've been feeling unwell an awful lot lately, is everything alright?"

"Yeah just fine, you worry too much. Where are the boys?" Octavia questioned hoping to push aside Lilith's concern, she didn't want to tell her friends what happened during her summer and it was bad enough that Sirius had found out why Voldemort did what he did.

If Octavia was being honest, she was unsure as to why Voldemort did what he did instead of killing her. She had heard and seen him kill people that had gone against him, or was there something he had in the works for her?

"No idea, I thought you knew where Sirius was?" Octavia shook her head.

Once Pomfry was finished with Octavia she requested that Sirius left to let Octavia get some rest, it took a few moments for him to actually leave and she hasn't seen him since.

"Nope, he was with me earlier but then Pomfry kicked him out for making too much noise, I figured he would have come back here to harass the rest of you."

"Maybe we should check their dorm," Lilith suggested and the two of them headed up to the boys' dorm in hopes that they were up there.

The two girls were only standing in the boys' empty dorm for a couple of moments before the door burst opened and Octavia instantly had two bodies wrap themselves around her legs.

She looked down and noticed the familiar heads of James and Sirius, it didn't take them long before they begun muttering over 'we're so glad you are fine.' Which made Octavia question what Sirius told the boys about his disappearance this morning and if it will cause conflict with what she told Lilith.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**


	14. Quidditch & Secrets

Chapter 13: Quidditch & Secrets

"Stop rubbing it," Sirius hissed at Octavia.

They were currently sitting in Transfiguration and over the last week Octavia had picked up this habit of rubbing at her arm where the sewn skin was, so far she had been successful in hiding them from everyone. Remus had tried to question more about the wound he knew to be on her arm but she just brushed him off every time.

"But it's itchy, seriously, you try being in my spot and then claim how it's so easy to stop rubbing it." She hissed back and he shook his head.

"What are you two arguing about this time?" Lilith questioned, she was sitting on the other side of Octavia and was able to hear her hiss at Sirius.

This wasn't the first time they had all noticed Octavia and Sirius exchanged quiet words, they had all began to suspect something was being kept from them but there was nothing they could do. They all noticed the fear that went through Octavia's eyes at the mention of her summer and they just dropped it, not wanting to see her like that.

"Nothing," was all Octavia said, it was something they both said when they were asking about the hushed conversations that took place.

They all fell silent for a couple of moments before Octavia finally had enough of the itch that was on her arm, she stood up and made way to the front of the classroom where McGonagall was sitting behind her desk.

"Yes Miss Carrow?"

"May I please go see Madam Pomfry?" she questioned and McGonagall looked up and noticed the slight movements of Octavia rubbing her forearm. Octavia noticed the same look on her face that Pomfry had given her, "does everyone know?" she grumbled and McGonagall nodded.

"Yes you may go to the Hospital Wing, take your things with you since class is almost finished."

"Thank you," Octavia went back to her desk and grabbed her things, Sirius placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, just had enough." She gave him a smile before leaving and heading up to the Hospital Wing.

"Miss Carrow what can I do for you?" Pomfry spoke when she noticed Octavia standing in the doorway to her office.

"My arm has been itchy, I thought it would pass but it hasn't."

"I swear you need to learn to come see at the first sign of something, take a seat." Pomfry shook her head and Octavia gave her a sheepish look.

Octavia sat there while Pomfry unwrapped her arm and had a look at the wound, she was worried Pomfry was going to say that it wasn't working, that her arm wasn't healing or that it was getting worse.

Try outs were this weekend, she wanted to be able to participate in them and have a chance at becoming the Seeker. She knew it was rare for second years to be placed on the team unless they were talented, they tended to pick third and fourth years since they had more training and were still able to stay on the team for a number of years before graduating.

"It's healing very nicely, it being itchy is just a normal side-affect. I believe come next week it will be healed just fine, although I'm afraid I can't do anything about the scar." Octavia beamed at Pomfry as she said this, all of her worries were gone.

"So that means I can participate in try outs this week?"

"Yes of course, I do still wish to check on your arm first thing in the morning, I may be able to place some spells on as extra protection, as I said when I did this I'm unsure as to how it would heal because I've never done it before, I'm unsure as to what would happen if a Bludger collided with your arm. So please come see me in the morning otherwise I will tell McGonagall you've gone against my wishes."

"I promise," Octavia continued to beam at her.

She was in high spirits as Pomfry rewrapped her arm and sent her on her way towards the Great Hall for lunch, it was then she noticed her arm was no longer itchy and was glad Pomfry was able to fix that.

She slid into the spare seat next to Lilith and helped herself to the fruit sitting in the middle.

"How come you went to the Hospital Wing again?" Lilith questioned, the hand that was holding the apple hesitated in front of her mouth before she took a bite.

"Why are you so nosy?" Octavia questioned.

"Because I care about you, but if you're going to be like that I'll go elsewhere." Lilith snapped before standing up and moving down the table to sit with her brother and his friends.

"Octavia!" Sirius scolded noticing what happened and she shrunk her in seat. "There's no need to be like that, just tell them."

"Sod off Sirius," she snapped at him before standing up and storming off, her mood had completely dropped.

"What's going on with her?" James questioned, the rest of the boys had gone silent watching the interaction between Octavia and Lilith and then Octavia and Sirius.

"James is right, you two have been whispering about something ever since we returned." Remus added and Sirius looked at them before at the door.

"It's not my place to tell you," he responded before staring at his plate.

"But…" James started but Sirius' head snapped up and cut him off.

"No, it's not my place. It's the same it was with Remus, we were all mad at her for keeping his secret but we understood why she did it. I'm doing the same thing with her."

"How bad is it?" Remus questioned and Sirius shook his head before standing up and going after Octavia, he had hoped she would be hiding in their hidden room since they now had a free period before History of Magic.

Sirius found her sitting on the couch in the room with her knees pulled up to her chest, she was staring at a floating book in front of her but the look on her face was off.

"O?" he questioned carefully as he walked towards her.

"Sirius." she stated and the book continued to float in front of her.

"You're doing it, when did you manage to do it?" he sat down next to her.

"During the summer, whenever I was hiding in my room I would practise it with the idea of having something to do."

"But what about Voldemort, or Alecto and Bella, didn't they ever notice something?"

"Nope, separate rooms and he wasn't around as much as I thought he would be."

"You need to tell the others about your arm, they're worried that something is wrong with you since you've claimed to feel unwell a fair bit so far this year." The book finally dropped and Octavia turned around to face Sirius.

"I can't tell them because then I have to tell them everything."

"You haven't even told me everything, I doubt they will ask that many question."

"Really just like you haven't asked once about our dead uncle."

"Right…" Sirius scratched the back on his neck knowing she was right with her sarcastic comment. "Okay so maybe they will ask questions but is them knowing what I know really that bad?"

Octavia shook her, "nope not telling them, they won't understand why my parents so easily handed me over to him not even caring what could happen."

"O…"

"No Sirius, you understand because your family is the same and you've been there to witness everything my family has done. What do you think James and Lilith will say when they hear about this? It doesn't matter if Lilith understands about the arranged marriages, both her and James won't understand about this, you know they won't."

"Fine but what about your arm?"

"What about it? Pomfry said it's healing fine, she said it should be fine by next week."

"But won't it scar?"

"And, I'll just say it happened during the summer."

"Do you really think lying to our friends is the best thing to do?"

"Do you really think telling our friends the truth about my family is the best thing to do?" Octavia challenged Sirius, he reluctantly agreed not knowing how their friends would react to the truth since there was even moments with Remus that he didn't understand.

* * *

It was finally the day of the Gryffindor Quidditch try outs and Octavia woke up feeling excited for the day, she had been looking forward to this day for weeks. Pomfry said her arm was healing nicely and she should be perfectly fine for today.

Octavia quickly got dressed before leaving the dorm and heading towards the Hospital Wing so Pomfry could check over her arm again and determine whether or not try outs would cause more damage.

"So will I be able to attend try outs this afternoon?" Octavia questioned as Pomfry rewrapped her arm, nothing had been said so it unnerved her.

"Yes you will be perfectly fine, I believe that come the middle of next week they will be ready to be cut out."

"Thank you so much for healing me."

"You still won't tell me what happened?" Octavia shook her head in response. "Very well, you may leave, come and see me on Wednesday."

Octavia made her way back to the Gryffindor common room, not entirely surprised by the lack of students in it and made her way up to the boys' dorm, also not surprised when she found that Remus was the only one awake.

"What are you doing up so early?" Remus questioned as Octavia walked over and joined him in his bed.

"I'm excited for try outs and I had to see Pomfry this morning."

"Do all your Hospital Wing visits have anything to do with the wound you refuse to tell me about?"

"She had to sew my skin together if that makes any sense to you?" Octavia spoke softly and he nodded.

"They're called stitches O, the wound was that bad she couldn't heal it with magic? Even some of my cuts aren't that bad."

"I don't want to talk about it, all that matters is that it's healing just fine and I'm able to participate in try outs today."

Remus sat there and watched as Octavia climbed out of the bed before she made her way over to where Sirius' bed was and stood there looking at him as if she was contemplating something.

"What are you doing O?"

"Thinking about the best way to wake him up."

"He hates being woken up O…"

"I know this."

Remus shook his head at her, the look on her face stated she knew exactly what she was doing and there was no way to change her mind. Remus closed his book and watched the scene unfold in front of him, there was no way he would miss it.

It was like it all happened in slow motion, Octavia jumped up on Sirius' bed before jumping up and down on it effectively waking him up. Sirius was furious as he chased her around the room effectively waking James and Peter up.

"Octavia you are dead!" Sirius growled out and it was then Remus finally lost it, he joined in on Octavia's laughter.

"You are dead too, giving her this idea." Sirius turned glaring at Remus.

"I did no such thing, it was all on her." Remus grinned and Sirius turned to face Octavia again but she was just smiling at him.

"You're dead," he growled before launching at her at and the two of them began running around the room again.

"What's going on in here?" Lilith questioned as she entered the room, noticing the laughter belonging to Remus and Sirius chasing Octavia around the room.

"Sirius is attempting to kill O because she woke him up," Remus managed to explain once he stopped laughing.

"He won't kill her," Lilith laughed as she climbed in beside Remus and the two of them watched the scene while James and Peter made their attempts to get ready for the day.

"Oh I know that, why do you believe that?" Remus questioned and Lilith smiled.

"Because I honestly believe that those two will end up together."

"Look at that, you become a teenager and now all you can think about is boys and relationships." Remus teased and a scowl was placed on Lilith's face.

"That's not fair, you don't think those two would work well together?"

"I never said that but do you think those two will ever consider it?" Remus spoke and it gave something else for Lilith to consider and she shook her head as they both looked at where Sirius had cornered Octavia.

"Say it…" Sirius growled and Octavia grinned.

"Nope."

"Say it or else…" he warned but the grin didn't waver.

"What will you do to me Sirius?"

Sirius noticing that the grin hadn't left her face the whole time, faltered with his threat.

"What's got you so happy O?"

"Quidditch try outs and I'm allowed to go." Octavia explained and a scowl appeared on Sirius' face at the thought, he was disappointed that they weren't holding try outs for a Beater.

"You're mean," he growled before walking away and entering the bathroom slamming the door.

Octavia skipped over and climbed on top of Sirius' bed and looked at the rest of the boys, "What?"

"Nothing, I'm just never getting on your bad side. Breakfast?" Peter spoke up and Octavia nodded before skipping over to Lilith and grabbing her arm to drag her from the room.

Lilith and Octavia had put behind them what happened a couple of days earlier, Octavia put it down to a bad day and Lilith let it slide because Octavia had seemed to be in a better mood since then.

"Sirius seemed like he was really mad," Lilith warned while they were on the way to the Great Hall but Octavia beamed.

"I know…"

"What are you planning?" Lilith questioned wearily, she was friends with the group and had no problems with the things they did but she didn't want to be dragged down with their pranks.

"Oh nothing, Sirius has just been a little too quiet if I must say."

"But that's a good thing, you've all stayed out of detention."

"I did it more so I could make sure I didn't have detention today."

"Oh that makes more sense, I swear you, Sirius and James are just as obsessed with Quidditch as Frank is." Lilith shook her head as the girls entered the Great Hall and took a seat at the Gryffindor table.

"Oh come on, we aren't that bad when it comes to Quidditch."

"No so you three don't get into arguments during dinner over who the best team is?" Lilith spoke with a raised eyebrow and Octavia attempted to look innocent as if she didn't take part in the conversation. "Don't try and look at me like that, it won't work on me and you should know better."

"Sorry but what is so wrong about being obsessed with Quidditch? What if I want a career out of it?"

"You don't want that, you want to work with magical creatures and you know it." Octavia scoffed and they both laughed.

"Like my parents would accept either as a possible career, I'll probably end up like my mother and raising the children Regulus and I are forced to have."

"What you and Sirius won't be having children?" Octavia choked on her juice and Lilith broke out in a set of giggles as the boys approached the two girls.

Sirius took one look at the two of them and raised an eyebrow at them, "do I even want to know?" he questioned and Octavia hastily shook her head while Lilith grinned.

"Yes you do." Lilith responded, Sirius wearily sat down.

"Go on…"

"No Sirius don't…"

Octavia and Sirius spoke at the same time, Lilith took Sirius' go on as a green light to go ahead with her story.

"Well I was just saying about how you and Octavia might have children one day." Lilith smiled, James and Remus looked like they were trying to not laugh while Peter was unsure about the whole thing.

Sirius' jaw opened and closed multiple times, he was unable to say anything. In the end he closed his mouth and just glared at Lilith.

"I did try to warn you Sirius."

"Seriously when are you all going to drop this once and for all?" Sirius questioned but Lilith shrugged in response, not really sure if she would drop the topic.

"Just let it go Sirius…" Octavia placed a hand on his shoulder but he just ignored her and continued to stay silent during breakfast with a scowl on his face.

"Come flying with me?" Octavia questioned.

Breakfast had finished and Remus and Lilith had mentioned something about homework but Octavia didn't want to do homework and ruin the mood she was in. Peter followed claiming he needed help with Charms leaving Octavia alone with James and Sirius.

"I'm down," James spoke with a massive smile on his face, he was pleased that now as second years they were able to bring their brooms to Hogwarts and use them when they pleased.

"Anything to get away from Lilith…" Sirius grumbled and Octavia laughed causing him to shoot her a glare.

"Oh come Sirius, it's not that bad. It could be a lot worse."

"How so?"

"She could be on the whole me and Regulus thing."

"Speaking of Regulus have either of you even spoken to him?" James questioned and both Sirius and Octavia shook their heads.

"Come on, I'm excited to get on my broom." Octavia grinned at them, Sirius stopped and looked at her for a moment, knowing her parents wouldn't be happy with her having a broom at Hogwarts.

"How did you manage to get your broom past your parents again?"

"I asked Dinky to shrink it and I placed it in my pocket before we left and then asked one of the older students to unshrink once we were here. Race ya." Octavia grinned at them before running down the hill towards the Quidditch Pitch.

"You both suck," Octavia stuck her tongue out at them when they finally entered the Quidditch Pitch. A summer away had made Sirius forget just how quick she was, he thought in that moment that just maybe she had a real shot of being placed on the team.

"Gosh you're fast!" James spoke in between his breaths.

"It's why I'm going to be a great Seeker," Octavia grinned before jumping on her broom and taking off into the air.

Both James and Sirius stayed on the ground and watched her.

"I forgot how fast she was on a broom…" Sirius spoke as they both watched her zoom around the pitch.

"I never realised she would be that good on a broom, she always made it seem like her parents hated the fact that she was on a broom and wanted to play Quidditch."

"They do."

"What about Alecto, she's on the team as well." It was true, Alecto was the Seeker for the Slytherin team.

"It's a secret, Amycus keeps it for her, their parents think he has two brooms because he likes to change his mind as to which one he likes to ride. O's broom is Amycus' old one, he gave it to her when he got a new one for being made Captain."

"Are you two coming or not?" Octavia yelled and they both shared a look before jumping on their broom and flying up to catch up with her.

The three of them continued to fly around the pitch, creating a game of sorts to keep them occupied until it was time for lunch. Octavia had really missed being on her broom during her summer, she wasn't allowed to take it with her and even then she doesn't think she would be able to fly regardless.

Lunch was over and the boys plus Octavia were sitting in the boys' dorm, they were all watching her as she danced around the room.

"What's got you so excited?" Remus questioned.

"I'm so excited!" Octavia exclaimed while she continued to danced around the boys' dorm, Remus laughed at her antics while Sirius and James just continued to scowl at her.

"I don't understand why you are so excited, it's just try outs." James responded half-heartedly.

"Exactly, it's Quidditch try outs! How can you not be excited about try outs? Oh that's right they only need a Seeker," she stuck her tongue out at them and their scowls changed into glares but her excitement didn't change at all.

"We'll see how excited you are when you don't make the team O." Sirius smirked at her and she instantly stopped dead in the middle of the dorm.

"You take that back!" Octavia pulled out her wand and aimed it at Sirius but his smirk just changed into a grin.

"Why would I do something like that O?"

"Because you are meant to be happy for me."

"Why am I meant to do something like that?" Sirius stood up and challenged her.

Last year the two of them were a similar height but over the summer Sirius had grown and now he towered over Octavia. Octavia took a step back and pointed her wand at him, she spoke the incantation for the Cheering Charm.

A huge smile appeared on Sirius' face before he burst into a fit of laughter.

"Whoops, I guess I put too much effort into it." Octavia looked at Remus for help, she didn't mean to overdo the charm.

"It's fine, you go to try outs and I will fix it."

"Thanks Moony, you're the best." Octavia hugged him before rushing downstairs and heading for the Quidditch Pitch.

Quidditch try outs were over and Octavia had trudged her way to the Gryffindor common room after showering in the team room in the Quidditch Pitch, in total 8 people turned up to try out for the position of Seeker. A couple of them couldn't even fly a broom properly to raise the odds of her getting the position but she was still unsure of she would go since there were older people who did just as well as she did, she worried her age would be a determining factor in the placement.

She instantly walked over and curled up in one of the large oversize armchairs, she was exhausted and doesn't know how she will make the remaining few steps to her dorm room to get changed before dinner.

She was quite content in her place when she felt someone disturb her by joining her in the chair.

"O…" Octavia heard Sirius whine and she slowly opened her eyes to see Sirius leaned against her.

"What Sirius?" she snapped, not happy that he disturb her peace and quiet.

"You're a bully you know that?"

"I'm a bully, you pick on poor first year Slytherins." Sirius laughed in response and Octavia smiled.

"Come on we both pick on Slytherins O, especially Snivellus."

"Alright fine, why am I a bully this particular time?" Octavia questioned knowing that Sirius had come over for a particular reason.

"That Cheering Charm wasn't particularly nice." Sirius complained and Octavia laughed before shifting so they were both comfortable on the chair.

"It was quite funny, you even thought so yourself."

"How did you manage it, or even put that much effort into it?" Sirius questioned and Octavia didn't respond, she didn't know how to.

"I don't know, I'm better at Charms come on we all know that." Octavia finally responded and Sirius nodded, taking the answer as it was.

"How were try outs?"

"Good, really good. There was so many people there watching, I don't understand why you all didn't come watch, I would have felt better having you there."

"How do you think you went?" Sirius knew Octavia, he knew she was an amazing flyer and knowing her she would think she did badly and wouldn't be placed on the team in a pink fit.

"Well see when Soloman posts the team listing."

"I'm sure you did fine O, you are an amazing flyer and Soloman would have to be blind to not see it." Sirius tried to reassure her but she didn't say anything in response, just rested her head against his shoulder.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **To the Guest who reviewed, thank you it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoyed it.**


	15. The Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 14: Order Of The Phoenix.

"What am I doing here Albus?" a man spoke with a gruff voice before taking a seat in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"Alastor what do you know about the Carrow family?"

"Which one to be exact?"

"Keyon and Ophelia Carrow along with their three children."

"The three children are still students here aren't they?"

"Yes the youngest is in her second year while the twins are in their sixth."

"So they'll be out in the world causing chaos in two years."

"Now, now Alastor, we don't know if they will be causing chaos. We do not know if they will be a part of this war."

"They're Slytherins, they're all as bad as each other. You said yourself that you always thought there was something different about Tom and now look at him."

"I didn't bring you here to talk about Tom as such, I was asking about the Carrow family."

"What did you want to know Albus?"

"Well the youngest entered the Hospital Wing earlier in the year with a very familiar cut running along her forearm…"

"If you're talking about Penny," Alastor's gruff voice spoke with a warning tone.

"I am in deed, except this wasn't meant to kill, it was meant to be torture." Dumbledore spoke carefully, not wanting to anger the already annoyed Auror. It only feels like yesterday that Alastor told him of what happened to Penny and he knows Alastor still blames himself for what Tom did to her.

"So you believe it was Tom?" Alastor questioned and Dumbledore stayed silent to begin with.

"I do but it's hard to tell because she won't tell us what happened, when I asked if it was her parents it was clear as day that she wasn't lying when she said it wasn't. I've only ever seen that same mark on one other arm and that was Penny's and we all know that was Tom."

"So what you think a twelve year old girl is in league with Tom?"

"No Alastor, I believe her family is, there is something different about the girl and I believe Tom wants her. She must have done something to anger him but she must be special to not have been killed by him."

"What is different about her though? What could be so different that he wants her?"

"What does Tom always want?"

"Power but what power could he get from this young girl."

"What have you heard about in regards to Dreamers?"

"You can't honestly believe that she is one, there hasn't been one on records for years."

"Olivander told me she brought a wand that contained two types of woods."

"If this is true Albus, if this girl is a Dreamer and Tom knows it, he won't stop until he has her."

"So again I ask, what do you know of the Carrow family?"

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more. I know this chapter is a lot shorter than my usual ones so I will posting another chapter tomorrow.  
**

 **Olivia0707** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As much as it could be have been interesting to see how the story went with her always opening wound, I decided not too so of course it would heal eventually.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoyed it and thought it was cute, they are still young and I like putting in those cute scenes that are somewhat meaningless at that age.**


	16. The Bet Continues

Chapter 15: The Bet Continues

"What do you think is taking so long?" Octavia questioned Frank who was sitting next to her on the couch.

Originally it was just Octavia and her friends sitting around the fireplace but Frank had come and made himself comfortable stating something about Soloman posting the final team listing soon and he wanted a good spot for the show.

But that was also an hour ago.

"I don't know Octavia, all I know is Soloman said she was posting it today."

"Do you think I'm in for a good shot?" Octavia questioned and Frank scratched his head, this action worried her.

"No idea, I'm not the Captain. You spend a lot of time in detention with James and Sirius, Soloman knows that."

Octavia fell silent after that, her worries about her troublesome first year were eating at her. The only reason she had stayed out of trouble so far this year was because she was making sure she stayed out of trouble and didn't get banned from try outs and they were only a week ago.

"Hey, don't stress. You did really well during try outs, especially for a second year." Frank patted her leg and she looked over at her friends.

None of them knew what to say, none of them were at her try outs, they didn't realise that anyone could attend but they were also worried about making Octavia feel more nervous by showing up as well. It was a lose/lose situation.

"There she is," James spoke and Octavia turned around just to see Soloman post the team listing on the notice board.

Octavia watched as Soloman posted the listing before continuing out of the common room, Octavia looked back at her friends and worry set in.

"I can't do it." She shook her head as she spoke, Sirius smirked at her before walking over to the notice board and reading the listing.

"I'm sorry O."

"I don't believe you Sirius," Octavia snapped at him, before standing up and making her way over to the board to read the team listing.

 _GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH TEAM_

 _Keeper: Tyler Kingsinton_

 _Beaters: Frank Longbottom, Brett Franklin_

 _Chasers: Marlene McKinnon, Grace Soloman, Isabella Lowe_

 _Seeker: Octavia Carrow_

Octavia turned around and glared at Sirius, "You're dead." She growled out, Sirius grinned at her before jumping off the chair he was on and running off when she ran towards him causing everyone else around them to laugh.

"What'd you do Carrow, pay Soloman?" Octavia stopped chasing Sirius and looked at where Blake was standing on the side.

"What did you just say?" She questioned and Blake didn't budge.

"You heard me, did you pay Soloman? I remember you from our flying lessons last year, you barely flew."

"Bugger off Blake, no one likes a bitch." Octavia turned her head at the sound of the voice and found McKinnon making her way over to where the two of them were standing. "Congratulations Carrow, you did really well during try outs. Soloman made the right choice."

Blake glared at them both before storming off and the two of them laughed at her antics.

"Thanks, I honestly don't know what her problem with me is."

"Maybe it's because you turned her hair hot pink."

"There is no proof it was me, even McGonagall said so." Octavia grinned and McKinnon shook her head.

"Yes well I've seen and heard of the things you and the rest of your group of friends have gotten up too Carrow."

"Again there is no proof and please call me Octavia." She continued to the grin at the girl and she laughed.

"Marlene, I think we are going to have a lot of fun on the team together." Marlene threw an arm around Octavia's shoulder and the two girls shared a knowing smile.

* * *

"Wait, hold up a minute Lilith." Octavia pulled on Lilith's arm to stop the girl from walking with the boys.

They were currently heading down towards the Greenhouses for Herbology, they had heard from the Hufflepuff students that they had started working on Mandrakes the day before and the Gryffindors assumed that they would be starting as well.

This also meant that it was now time for them to steal some Mandrakes leaves for them to begin their Animagus process, but they had to keep Remus occupied and Octavia was hoping this was where Lilith would come in handy.

"What's going on?"

"Well you know how we think we are starting our work with Mandrakes today?"

"Yeah what about it…no you lot are crazy to steal the leaves under Sprouts nose."

"Sirius and I are happy to take the blame if we get caught, we're already in enough trouble at home what's one more." Octavia shrugged hoping Lilith would buy the lie, truth was Octavia didn't know where she stood with her family at the moment neither Alecto nor Amycus had spoken to her since the beginning of term and she hadn't heard from home.

"What about Moony?"

"That is where you come in…we know you want no part in this process at all but you want to help Moony. Help us help him, distract him during class, try keep his attention off us so we can steal the leaves."

"He's going to smell the bloody things you know that right."

"We've read into it, the smell only comes out towards the end of the month. We're hoping that if we get through most of the month without him noticing then we'll be fine, by the time he notices we've already done it."

"I will say it again O, you lot are crazy. I can't believe James is willing to do this."

"He's a better Gryffindor than you," Octavia poked her tongue out before running off towards the boys' as Lilith yelled after her.

Sprout had finally let them go ahead and start repotting the Mandrakes after explaining the process the things that could go wrong, stressing the importance to make sure that everyone's earmuffs stayed on because the screams of a Mandrake could knock them unconscious for several hours since these ones were only young but if they were fully grown Mandrakes, their screams could kill them.

No one was able to speak because they could barely hear each other over the screams off the other Mandrakes around the room and everyone else trying to yell over the top. Octavia and Sirius deemed it was better if they were silent, if they yelled there was a chance that Remus heard them.

Octavia quickly managed to get the five leaves they needed plus a couple of extras just in case something went wrong with the originals, they didn't know what would happen if they got caught sneaking into here or even Slughorns storage cupboard.

She grinned at the boys having successfully finished step one of the process, they still weren't even sure if they could use the leaves on the young Mandrakes since everything they read never stated otherwise, it just stated Mandrake leaf.

They continued on with their class, laughing at the looks that the Slytherin students' faces at the crying Mandrakes, it really was like they were all dealing with babies.

What happened next was all so fast, one minute Peter was walking around the table, the next he was tripping and reached out for Octavia. In the process he knocked off her earmuffs while Sirius was holding one of their tables Mandrakes out of the pot.

Octavia instantly collapsed to the ground because of the screams, Peter, James and Sirius stared at her before rushing over to her on the ground.

Sprout had made her way over to the ground before conjuring a stretcher that carried Octavia outside away from the screaming Mandrakes while the rest of the group followed her.

Once they were outside Sprout motioned for them to remove their earmuffs.

"Now please someone tell me what happened? I honestly don't believe Carrow would have done something as stupid as to remove her own earmuffs." Sprout questioned the boys but they were all looking at where Octavia was lying unconscious.

"I didn't mean it, I tripped and reached out to grab her to stop myself from falling, I must have knocked her earmuffs off in the process. Is she going to be alright? I honestly didn't mean it." Peter stuttered out his apology while James and Sirius patted him on the back.

"She will be fine with time, you are lucky that the Mandrakes are only young and their screams wouldn't have killed her. We just need to get her up to the Hospital Wing, Black would you gather up her things and follow me." Sirius nodded before going back into the Greenhouse and collecting Octavia's things making sure that the leaves were well hidden.

"Has she had her stitches removed yet?" Sprout questioned and Sirius was a little shocked, he didn't think any of the professors knew about them.

"Do all the professors know about them?" he questioned carefully and Sprout nodded.

"Dumbledore wanted us to keep an eye out on her to try and work out what happened, it was in her best interest." It made sense to Sirius, but the longer it went on the more he agreed with Octavia, it was better to not have the professors know the truth.

"She hasn't had them removed yet, she was meant to go and visit Pomfry this afternoon once classes were finished."

"Very well, come now Pomfry will look at her." Sirius nodded and followed Sprout the rest of the way up to the Hospital Wing.

"Oh dear what has she gotten herself into now?"

"Now Poppy don't be like that, there was an accident during Herbology. Her earmuffs got knocked off while we were working with Mandrakes."

"Very well, place her on the bed and I will take a look at her. Head back to class Black, you can visit her once classes are finished." Pomfry ordered and Sirius reluctantly left.

* * *

 _Octavia vaguely recognised where she was standing, it was Platform 9 and 3/4. It was obvious that the students were heading back to Hogwarts for a new school year._

 _Octavia knew by the familiarity of the dream that this was one of her weird 'dreams' that seemed so real._

 _"Willa!" Octavia spun around at the sound of the name and came face to face with an older version of herself as she watched the scene come across in front of her. She knew it had to be her by the shade of red her hair was and the bright blue eyes, she didn't know anyone else with the same combination._

 _"Yes mum?" the teenager questioned._

 _Octavia took a look at the teenager, she looked so much like her. She had the red hair and heart shaped face that she had but her eyes, her eyes weren't bright blue, no they were the blue grey colour that was associated with the Black family._

 _Octavia was shocked, her marriage with Regulus must really go through._

 _"Will you behave this year?"_

 _"Yes mum…" Willa groaned._

 _"Really? So I won't receive any letters home or anything from Molly about what you, Fred and George have gotten up to? Or are you forgetting that Moony will be your teacher this year." A sly grin appeared on Willa's face._

 _Who were Fred and George and who was Molly, she didn't know a Molly._

 _"Oh I have a feeling that Moony will be too busy making sure Clary stays out of trouble, I have a feeling that's the only reason he took the position at Hogwarts so he can keep an eye on his only daughter."_

 _Remus a teacher and having a daughter? That was news to her, but then again Remus hadn't voice his opinion on what he wanted to do come his own graduation._

 _"I swear you are too much like your father."_

 _"Speaking of my father…" Willa trailed off and the grin dropped causing a sad expression to appear on her face and it spiked Octavia's curiosity_

 _"Just ignore everything they say okay? Never forget that your father loves you very much, regardless of what they say, your father loves you, he always did."_

 _"Okay mum, I love you."_

 _"I love you too Willa."_

 _Octavia stood there and watched as the older her hugged the teenager before she ran off to join her friends, there was three of them. Two males who were clearly twins and a girl._

* * *

Octavia sat up in her bed and placed her head in her hands, she was beginning to hate these dreams. They also felt so real, like she was living them.

Everyone she saw looked so familiar to her, was this meant to be her future? If so, did that mean she had the ability to do magic without her wand and see into the future. It worried Octavia.

"Oh good, you're awake." Octavia looked up at the sound of Pomfry's voice. "Are you alright dear?"

"I'm fine, just a little disorientated. What happened?"

"It's to be expected, do you remember being in Herbology?" Octavia nodded. "That's good, your earmuffs fell off and you fell unconscious due to the Mandrakes screams. You will be perfectly fine and I have also removed the stitches from your arm as well while you were unconscious."

Octavia looked at her arm and moved her sleeve out of the way so she could look at her arm, the stitches were gone like she said and in place was a scar running up the length of her forearm.

"Am I fine to go? I believe I'm spent more than enough time in here this term and it's still only September."

"Of course, remember if you notice anything off with your arm please come and see me because without knowing what happened I can't guarantee you will be perfectly fine." Octavia was silent, Pomfry saying this brought back her worries of what Voldemort did to her.

Octavia made her way towards Gryffindor Tower, Pomfry told her classes had finished for the day and she hoped her friends were in the common room waiting for her. If they weren't then she will have to check their hidden room a couple of floors down.

Octavia noticed her bag sitting on her bed but no sight of Lilith, even the boys weren't in their room either.

She made her way down the floors towards their hidden room making sure no one was around when she walked through the mirror, they didn't want anyone else to find out about their room because then it would ruin the fun they had.

Except that room was empty as well, she collapsed onto the couch with a heavy sigh.

There had to be an easier way to find people in the huge castle known as Hogwarts, she would find a way.

At some point Octavia had fallen asleep in the room waiting for her friends and she was woken up by someone hugging her, muttering I'm sorry over and over again.

"Jeez Pete, let the girl breath." Octavia recognised Sirius' voice and she sat up rubbing her eyes noticing her friends standing around her on the couch.

"I was looking for you all early, where were you?"

"The kitchens, these are for you." James handed over the container and when Octavia opened the lid she was excited.

"You lot are the best." She grinned at them, extremely pleased with her chocolate chip cookies.

"Where did you get that scar? I don't remember you having that last year." Lilith spoke and when Octavia looked at her arm, her sleeve had come up exposing the scar.

"Oh that, it happened during the break and the person who healed it wasn't as good as what Pomfry can be. That's all nothing to it. Would you like one of these?" Octavia held up the container and Lilith smiled before taking one, Octavia just hoped this would be the last time her friends question this.

"What did Pomfry say?" Sirius questioned as he sat down beside Octavia on the couch and the rest of their friends made themselves comfortable.

"She said I will be fine and it's nothing to worry about, so Pete please don't stress over what happened. It was an accident and I'm not mad." She gave Peter a smile.

"I really am sorry, I can't believe I'm such an idiot, I can't even tell you what I tripped over."

"Pete it's fine, don't stress over it. I'm perfectly fine and it could have happened to any of us." Octavia reassured Peter again and he slowly nodded.

* * *

Octavia entered the common room after a gruelling Quidditch Practise, walked over to where her friends were doing Astronomy homework before their class tonight and instantly curled up in Sirius' side.

She was kicking herself for letting the boys convince her that wondering the castle at midnight to plan the best prank on Filch would be a good idea, they didn't end up coming up with anything, they just found another possible location for a secret passage way or hidden room but it seemed as though this one needed a password to get passed.

"Aw did the poor baby have a hard day," Sirius cooed but Octavia didn't do anything in response, she just burrowed herself deeper against Sirius.

"Why did you refer to her as the baby?" Peter questioned causing the rest of them to laugh.

"Now I could be wrong Pete but I believe it's because O is the youngest, she is literally the baby of the group. I may be the oldest but Sirius isn't that far off of me." Lilith explained and Octavia nodded against Sirius.

"He's always been like that, he treats me like a baby. Reg was the same at some point."

"That's because the kid doesn't know how to share."

"No Sirius, he just doesn't like to share with you."

"No he doesn't like the fact that he had to share you with me."

The rest of their friends watched the semi-argument take place between Sirius and a half asleep Octavia with confusion, by now they were all well used to the idea of the two of them being promised to other people, even Octavia being promised to Sirius' little brother. But they hadn't heard this before.

"What do you mean Regulus didn't like sharing O with you Sirius?" Lilith questioned carefully and they all watched as Sirius' body slightly tensed while it seemed as though Octavia had finally fallen asleep.

Sirius shifted his body and wrapped an arm around Octavia and she made herself comfortable against him in her sleep.

"Surely you've realised our families are rich, so it wasn't like we had to share toys with our siblings. I think because of that none of us really grasped the concept of sharing."

"I thought O just didn't like share her chocolate chip cookies."

"Oh god remember when her and Moony got into it one night at dinner over the last one?" James laughed out his response, causing them all to laugh.

"Yes anyway enough about O and Moony not wanting to share chocolate with each other. Regulus has always had claim over O because of their future marriage, when we were at parties and the Rosiers were in attendance we were required to spend time with our own partner. O was always the one that broke that rule."

"Wait are you saying O broke her parents' ruling?" Remus questioned and Sirius laughed, knowing how it sounded.

"Yes but Regulus always followed her so she never really got in trouble, anyway she would find some way to make her way back to me and because Regulus was younger he would just follow her, I had a harder time shaking Makenna. As we got older the jealously came through on Regulus and I could tell he was possessive of her, he didn't like that he had to share her. I think from early on there was already some part of him that cared deeply for her, well as deeply as a child could anyway."

They were all stunned as they took in what Sirius just said, he basically admitted he had seen how his brother had feelings for his best friend. They had all joked about something happening between him and Octavia but now they wondered if there was a part of him that rejected the idea because of what his brother might feel towards her.

They were beginning to think that maybe Sirius didn't hate his family as much as he let on, maybe he had a soft spot for his brother. Could that soft spot be extended as far as not going after his girl, regardless of the marriage contract in place between them?

When Octavia woke up she noticed the common room was practically empty, she felt an arm around her waist. She carefully pulled away and noticed Sirius sound asleep on the couch with her, softly snoring, she shook her head before checking the time realising it was dinner and everyone was most likely in the Great Hall having dinner.

She decided she wasn't all that hungry, she just made herself comfortable against Sirius again before falling back asleep.

* * *

"Tell me again why we are friends with those two?" Lilith complained to Octavia.

They were currently in the middle of Potions, which they shared with the Slytherins, the two of them were watching James and Sirius who were paired together sneakily throw things into Snape and Avery's cauldron in hopes of destroying their work.

"Well I don't know about you but Sirius keeps me sane during the breaks, if I want him there, I need to keep him here." Octavia fake mocked and Lilith giggled. "If I had my way, it would just be me and you…maybe Moony." Octavia grinned and Lilith continued to giggled, gaining the attention of Remus and Peter on the other side of the table.

"What are you two on about?" Remus questioned carefully, the last time he asked this question he got in return a full blown account on the cute guys in Hogwarts. It made him be more careful the next time he asked a question like that.

But little did he know, he was give that a response for a reason, it wasn't even what the girls were talking about. Octavia had hoped it would prevent him from asking questions in the future.

Octavia and Lilith shared a look before grinning like maniacs, "Well…."

"Nope," Remus cut them off holding up his hands. "I don't want to hear it."

Both girls started giggling again.

"Potter! Black!" Slughorn bellowed once he realised what the two of them were doing, in fact as he spoke there was a slug flying through the air which happened to hit Snape in the face causing everyone to burst out laughing, Gryffindor and Slytherin students alike. "Detention, both of you." Slughorn demanded and everyone went back to their own work.

Octavia watched as Sirius and James shared a look, shrugged and went back to throwing things at Snape and Avery again.

She looked over at Remus just in time to see him pull out the very familiar parchment.

"Doesn't that count as doing something stupid in front of a teacher?" Octavia questioned, knowing he was adding a detention to Sirius' number.

Both Sirius and Octavia had decided they wanted their detention challenge to continue on for as long as they could, Sirius had won the one they started last year. James had still yet not caught on to what they were doing, Octavia only gave it weeks before he realised what was happening between Sirius and her.

Little did they know, Remus had already begun adding James to the list. He knew this would be the year James caught on and he would be annoyed to realise he couldn't join in because he didn't know his number of detentions, Remus thought this would make everything easier.

"In theory yes but both James and Sirius were doing that for ages before Slughorn caught them and let's be honest, Slughorn doesn't really pay attention to us anyway. Look at him, he's too busy reading the Daily Prophet in hopes of finding some new connection." Remus explained.

Octavia nodded in agreement before looking back over at James and Sirius, they were laughing again. There was a part of her that felt a little a jealous, she was missing out on the fun. There was also a part of her that was worried she was slowly but surely losing Sirius, she didn't want to lose her best friend.

"You alright O?" Remus questioned softly once he noticed the strange look on her face, most of the time he only ever saw her calm and collected. It was only in the rare moments that they would get a glimpse into seeing her relaxed and letting her emotions come through.

Octavia nodded before giving him a small smile, "of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because Sirius got detention and you didn't?" Remus responded with a smirk on his face.

Octavia just stuck her tongue out in response before going back to her potion with Lilith.

"What's the deal with O being annoyed at Sirius getting detention and not her?" Lilith questioned, noting the interaction between the two of them and it confused her.

"Oh those two have a bet as to who can get more detentions." Remus spoke with a smirk and Lilith's jaw dropped before she looked at Octavia.

"Why would you even…" Lilith shook her head in disbelief, she didn't believe the two of them would do something like that.

"Because he bet me that he could get more detentions," Octavia shrugged before looking in the cauldron. "Right so it's green, what's next?"

Lilith laughed softly, she had learnt by now that Sirius and Octavia were always game for stupid bets like this. She picked up her book and read out the next step as both girls continued on with their potion.

"I heard you were sulking during Potions," Sirius spoke with a grin on his face as he stepped in line with Octavia.

Potions was finished and they were heading up for History of Magic, Octavia and Lilith had gone ahead letting the boys catch up. It seems as though Remus had filled Sirius in on what happened.

"Moony is lying," was her response and he barked out a laugh.

"You're just annoyed I'm winning O,"

"Don't know what you are on about, you and I both know that Moony doesn't give up the scores." Octavia responded with a smile on her face.

On numerous occasions they had both tried to get out of Remus what their detention number was, but he wouldn't let it up, said they had to wait till Christmas to see who had the lead.

The week following that both Sirius and Octavia spent every night in detention causing Remus to just shake his head at their actions.

Remus would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about the reaction of Octavia's parents when she went home for Christmas.

"Lilith found out about our bet, she was dumbfound over it, didn't understand why we were willingly landing ourselves in detentions."

"We've got to do something to keep it interesting," Sirius spoke with a smirk causing Octavia to laugh as they entered History of Magic.

That night Lilith entered the Gryffindor common to only find Remus in sight, she walked over and took a seat beside him.

"Where's everyone else?"

Remus looked up and gave her a smile, "Pete said something about being hungry and headed down to the kitchens while James and Sirius are serving their detention while Soloman declared a last minute Quidditch Practise since Hufflepuff cancelled theirs."

Lilith nodded and they were both quiet for a moment, she looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "How long has this bet gone on between the two of them?"

"A year I think, they asked me to keep score last year before Halloween and they wanted to continue this year. I'm keep track for James as well because it won't be long before he finally catches on and wants in." Remus smirked causing a laugh from Lilith and it made him smile in response to her laugh.

"It does sound like James, he would be disappointed if he didn't know you had been keeping score for him as well."

"Hence why I've done it, you have all done so much for me by being so accepting. I feel like I owe you all so much."

"We're your friends Moony, you don't owe us anything. We would be bad friends if we didn't accept you, furry problem aside." Lilith smiled as she gave his hand a squeeze.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It would suck if Tom knows about Octavia being a Dreamer but only time will tell.**


	17. Quidditch

Chapter 16: Quidditch

"What is she doing?" Remus questioned Sirius with a strange look on his face as the two of them watched Octavia.

Octavia was currently dancing, skipping, whatever you wish to call it around their hidden room while she was singing to herself. To begin with they all found it funny, but now, when she hadn't stopped in an hour it was beginning to get annoying.

"Sirius…" Octavia managed to growl out before she continued on with her singing.

It was then it clicked in James' head, "you did it, didn't you?" he questioned and they all noticed the smirk on Sirius' face before he burst out laughing.

"I couldn't help it, I saw the potion in one of the books we had out for our Potions essay. I made it late one night and then slipped it into her pumpkin juice, along with a time delay charm on it knowing she would literally kill me if it began during classes."

"But doesn't she have Quidditch practise tonight?" Peter questioned and the boys shared a look of confusion.

"Yes!" Octavia screeched from the other side of the room.

"Crap…" Sirius muttered while placing his head in his hands trying to remember the reversal.

* * *

"O…." Sirius pleaded with Octavia.

Octavia glared at him before walking off and Sirius hung his head.

"Bad luck mate," James spoke as he patted Sirius on the back, both of them watching Octavia's retreating form.

Octavia ended up missing Quidditch practise the other night because they were unable to reverse the potion Sirius gave her, it then ended up in Soloman giving her the lecture to end all lectures that ended with a threat, miss anymore practise sessions and you're off the team.

Ever since then Octavia has been blaming Sirius for the warning and hasn't spoken to him since the potion was reversed.

"She's never gone this long without talking to me though."

"She'll get over it, she can't honestly stay this mad for that long. Tonight is the Halloween Feast and then on Saturday is the first Quidditch match, Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw." James spoke and Sirius shook his head.

"You don't know her all that well then, she is incredibly stubborn and the fact that I was so close to almost being the reason she lost her spot on the team." Sirius explained before walking off, in the opposite direction that Octavia went.

* * *

Octavia took a seat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, putting as many people as she could in between her and Sirius. She ignored the look he was giving her down the table and started a conversation with Lilith.

"You can't stay mad at him forever…" Remus spoke breaking up the girls' conversation.

"Why not Moony, I was almost kicked off the team because of some stunt he pulled," Octavia hissed at him.

"He didn't do it on purpose, come on you've done something similar to Sirius and he honestly forgot that you had Quidditch practise, we all did. Pete was the one that reminded us."

"Don't start Moony," Octavia growled at him before turning back around.

"He's right you know…" Lilith piped in.

Octavia narrowed her eyes before standing up and making her way down the table to sit with Marlene and her friends.

The rest of the group turned and looked at Sirius, they all noticed the spilt second look on his face, pure hurt. It wasn't there for long, but long enough that they saw it and it was enough for none of them to say anything since none of them knew what could make him feel better except for Octavia talking to him again.

* * *

"I'm going to be sick…" Octavia muttered as she paced in her dorm, Lilith was sitting on her bed trying not to get dizzy watching the girl.

It was the morning of the first Quidditch Match of the year, Gryffindor was playing Ravenclaw this afternoon and Octavia's nerves about playing had finally set in as her and Lilith were about to head down for breakfast.

Octavia still hasn't forgiven Sirius for the potion he put in her pumpkin juice the other day, she was still on thin ice with Soloman. Octavia was worried she would lose her position if she didn't play well today.

"You'll be fine once we get you some breakfast." Lilith spoke giving her a comforting smile.

"No way, I will definitely throw up, oh god what if I throw up in front of the entire school."

"What I don't get is how this shy girl is able to play Quidditch, how the hell are you going to be able to play in front of the entire school?" Lilith responded, she had hoped to cause a reaction out of Octavia but she just shook her head and continued pace.

Both girls jumped at the sound of the door being slammed opened, they both turned around and found Marlene standing there with her hands in her hips.

"Come on it's time for breakfast, don't make me drag you down there O." Marlene threatened.

Octavia looked at Marlene, before looking at Lilith but Lilith only responded with a look which was to say, 'don't look at me, I agree with her.'

Octavia hung her head and let out a groan before stomping out of the room.

When she was out of sight Lilith turned and faced the other girl, "how'd you know?"

"I was heading down for breakfast and Black was perched in one of the armchairs watching the girls' staircase, it was like he knew she wouldn't come down. He said threatening to drag her down will work. Why aren't those two talking?" Marlene questioned and watched as the sad look crossed Lilith's face for a moment.

If it wasn't for Marlene spending countless hours on the Quidditch Pitch with Frank the previous year, or Octavia so far this year, or even the secret she kept about herself having a pureblood mother from the wrong side of the tracks, she wouldn't have even noticed the look.

But she's grown to pick the spilt second emotions crossing someone's face before they disappeared, something that took years of etiquette training to master.

"Sirius pulled something and O wasn't happy with it."

"She's not her bubbly self though…"

"Oh we all know but she's too stubborn to accept his apology, come on let's go to breakfast and make sure she doesn't make a run for it."

Both girls were glad to see that Octavia was sitting with the rest of the Quidditch team, laughing about some joke Frank was going on about, it wasn't until they sat down and listened to the story it was how Soloman got fed up with Fabian and Gideon and kicked them off the team for their behaviour.

According to the rest of the team, Fabian and Gideon weren't as bad as Soloman claimed them to be, they were just well known for pulling pranks, throwing wild parties and spending countless hours in detention. But rumour has it that after only being the Auror program for less than six months they were both currently ranked first and second in their class.

Hearing the stories from the past few years was helping ease Octavia's nerves, Lilith was right. She was insane to think she could play Quidditch in front of the whole school, she was the shy girl and everyone knew it.

How the hell could she play Quidditch in front of the entire school when she couldn't even be her usual self in the Gryffindor common room at the beginning of the school year because of the new first years that didn't know her? The older students were confused but still ignored the second years, claiming them to be young and immature.

"Come on then," Sirius spoke while gripping Octavia's arm and pulling her out of the Great Hall.

"Let me go you prat!" She hissed at him while attempting to scratch his arm in hopes of him letting go.

"Even Regulus scratches harder than you."

"Like he would condone himself to muggle tactics," Octavia scoffed in response.

Sirius turned his head and gave her a small smile, but continued to walk until they were standing in the middle of an unoccupied corridor.

"You're thinking too much, today will go just fine."

"But…"

"But nothing O," Sirius cupped her face and softly smiled at her. "You made it through try outs, in front of complete strangers, people you've barely spoken too. None of us were there watching you and you made it through it, you bet the older students trying out for the position. I know you O, so well and I know that once you're up there you will be too busy focused on finding the Snitch instead of the stands and who may or may not be sitting in there watching you. Quidditch is the one place where I've never known you to be the shy girl, when you are on a broom, it changes you, it puts so much more confidence in you that I wish you could be like that all the time instead of the shy girl your parents made you out to be."

Octavia stood there, stunned, at what Sirius at just said to her. She always knew he knew her better than anyone else, but this, this was beyond anything she expected him to say.

She eventually launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear but she refused to move away.

Sirius was unsure of how long this would last, he knew his best friend and was unsure as to if this was her forgiving him or not but either way, he was just glad she was letting him help calm her down regardless of her anger.

"Come on, let's get you back in the Great Hall. I'm sure Soloman has pregame practise scheduled," Sirius spoke as he pulled Octavia away from him and he only received a nod in recognition.

* * *

Octavia wrapped her fingers around the glittery gold Snitch and everything froze, Gryffindor had won, she had won her first match by catching the Snitch, but yet it all seemed unreal.

She landed on the ground, still holding the Snitch in one hand. She heard the noise and cheers all around her but she was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she caught the Snitch.

"Come on let's get you inside."

Octavia noticed someone was directing her away, she looked up and saw Marlene was pulling her towards the team room.

"We won?" Octavia spoke, her voice quieter than she wanted it to be and she caught the nod of Marlene's head.

"We won?" Octavia questioned again when they were safely standing in the Gryffindor team room and it was obvious she was excited about this by the sound of her voice, it must more like her usual self.

"Yes we won, all thanks to you and your Seeker skills." Both girls turned around at the sound of Soloman's voice, noting how pleased their Captain looked at their first win of the year.

"I just can't believe we won," it had finally sunk for Octavia that they had won, she began bouncing on the spot causing Marlene to laugh at her antics.

"There's the Octavia we are used too." Marlene patted her on her back before entering the girls' change room to shower before heading up for the party in the common room.

"You did really well today Carrow, you should be proud of the way you played. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew you last year and saw you as the shy girl, I wouldn't believe it after the way you played today."

The smile on Octavia's face became massive with the praise from Soloman, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to live up the expectations that was needed of being the Seeker. The weight of the outcome of the game weighed heavily on their shoulders and she was worried she wouldn't be able to handle the pressures.

Octavia stood around getting her praises from the rest of the team for catching the Snitch and scoring them the win.

She was still filled with excitement when she finally left the Gryffindor team room after being freshly showered, but it all left the moment she saw Sirius sitting on the ground waiting for her.

"Are you still mad at me?" Sirius questioned wearily, unsure of how she would respond because he instantly noticed the change in her mood when she spotted him.

Octavia shook her head, truth was her anger was gone days ago, she was too stubborn to say something.

"I almost got kicked off the team Sirius."

"But you didn't O and your playing ability today might prevent Soloman from doing so," he spoke as he stood up and walked over to her, before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"Thank you for this morning though, it meant a lot and really helped." Octavia mumbled against his chest.

Nothing else was said, they both stood like that for a couple of moments before pulling apart and heading back up to the common room.

Sirius didn't say anything in response because he didn't need her to say thank you, he will always help her regardless of her letting him or not. He also hoped he didn't have to say your welcome, anytime or anything else because he hoped she always knew that he was there for her regardless.

They both entered the Gryffindor common room to find the party already in full swing, laughing about something and it caught the attention of their friends.

"Glad to see you two are finally talking again."

"Oh come on Pete, we all knew they would start talking again at some point." Lilith pointed out before grabbing Octavia's hand and dragging her away claiming they needed to talk.

* * *

"Peeves!" Octavia hissed while her and James were wandering around the fourth floor corridor where they heard Peeves was wreaking havoc.

"I see there are students out of their beds," Peeves teased as he appeared through the wall.

Octavia shared a look with James before smirking at Peeves, "we would like a favour…"

"Oooo this sounds like it could be fun, tell me, tell me." Peeves cheered with joy causing the two second years to laugh at his reaction before they filled him in on the plan.

"Are you sure Peeves agreed to do this, breakfast is almost over." Sirius hissed in Octavia's ear.

The six Gryffindors were looking a little disappointed, nothing had happened yet and they were beginning to wonder if Peeves decided not to help them. They had handed over everything they had that he would need as well as payment for him helping them.

"He said he would, he seemed so excited about it before we even told him what the plan was. Even when we…." Before Octavia could even finish speaking a loud commotion outside the Great Hall caused her to stop.

The whole Great Hall fell into silence as the doors were slammed opened, they were all stunned, speechless before they all started laughing at the sight.

Filch was running in towards the Professors covered in what looked like paint, but it was constantly changing colours, while Peeves was not far behind him with what looked like the final two balloons in his hands.

Filch began yelling at the Professors but he wasn't even speaking in English, it was coming out in another language.

Octavia looked at Sirius and grinned, Peeves had done it but it had taken longer to get Filch to the Great Hall then they thought.

"What's in the final two balloons?" Lilith questioned wearily. She was still opposed to knowing the full plans when it came to her friends pranks, she didn't want to be involved and didn't want to know how they did anything.

Octavia didn't respond, she just looked over at Peeves and waited until he found her. When he did she nodded and that gave him the green light to throw the final two balloons, both at different points in the Great Hall.

Before the smoke had even clear there was screaming coming from all over, Octavia couldn't help but burst out in laughter before someone grabbed her arm and pulled. She quickly grabbed Lilith's who was sitting on her other side.

"What is happening in there and why did you pull me out?" Lilith questioned noticing that they had all left the Great Hall and they looked as clean as ever.

"Because we don't want to be in there when the smoke clears, remember the charm I put on you this morning?"

"Yeah…" Lilith's eyes went wide when she realised, they had put charms on each other to prevent whatever happened in there. "Oh god what did you put in those balloons."

"You'll see in class, come on we have to hurry. We don't have long before first period and we have to make it seem we made it all the way to the tower, showered and back down for Transfiguration with maybe only being a couple of minutes late so McGonagall will believe our story." Sirius spoke as he tugged on Octavia's arm a little harder.

"Seriously, Sirius if you don't stop pulling on my arm you are going to dislocate my shoulder one day." She hissed at him and watched as he shrugged but continued to drag her up the stairs. "I can walk on my own you know."

Sirius just laughed before whispering something to James.

This nerved Octavia, she pulled her wand out and pointed at him and moments later he had let go of her arm because he was laughing due to the tickling charm she aimed at him. Octavia looked at Lilith before the two of them continued rushing up the stairs towards their common room.

"Come back here O!" Sirius yelled after her but she didn't stop, it didn't take long for him to follow her towards the Gryffindor common room.

Octavia had managed to continue to avoid Sirius until they were about to enter the classroom where Transfiguration was being held for the second years, he had managed to catch up with her and wrapped his fingers around her wrist to stop her from entering the room.

"O…" She noticed the warning tone in his voice but just looked up at him sweetly.

"Yes Sirius, my dear, dear best friend of so long." She batted her eyelashes at him, hoping to soften him up. She always knew he could never stay mad at her regardless of what had happened.

Sirius hung his head and let out a sigh, blowing the hair out of his eyes before letting go of her wrist and walking over to sling an arm around her shoulder. "Come on then…"

"Where are the rest of the boys?"

"Not far behind us," Sirius spoke as he led the two of them into the classroom.

"Ah Miss Carrow and Mr Black, I wasn't holding you up was I?" McGonagall spoke as the two of them entered the room.

"Of course not, you may continue." Sirius spoke with a smirk on his face while some of the Hufflepuffs snickered at his statement.

"May I ask why you two are late, along with the rest of your friends?"

"We went and showered after what happened in the Great Hall during breakfast, I don't know about the rest of the students but being raised in my household we weren't allowed to stay dirty for too long otherwise we got in trouble. I guess it's a built in response now." Sirius spoke calmly as the two of them walked over and took their seats.

McGonagall watched the two of them, she had heard Dumbledore's concerns for the Carrow girl in regards to the cut on her arm and now some of the professors were worried about the two children's safety in their own home.

There was nothing to indicate otherwise, it was almost like they were taught how to project the right emotions. She had a feeling that the two of them and their friends, who were now slowly arriving one by one clean as a whistle while the rest of the students were still covered in the paint Peeves threw at them, were involved in what occurred during breakfast but there was no proof aside from the six of them being the only clean students amongst the two houses sitting in front of her.

McGonagall watched the group for the rest of the classes, weary of what could happen or what they were planning. Black was laughing out loud at something Potter continued to say to him while Carrow had a small smile of her face while Longbottom and Lupin were shaking their heads at the antics of their friends but it was Pettigrew that gave her the most curiosity, he watched them, only laughed when they were watching him otherwise he stayed silent.

* * *

"O?" Sirius questioned wearily, he was unsure of her mood at the moment.

Octavia and Sirius were currently standing at the top of the Astronomy Tower, it was the highest tower in Hogwarts, which is why it has it's name since it is the same tower where Astronomy is taught.

Octavia was standing at the edge, looking over the grounds of Hogwarts while Sirius stood behind her. She has been quiet and withdrawn ever since breakfast where Sirius saw her reading a letter that had been delivered by owl, he assumed it was a letter from home.

The last time he had seen her like this was when she received the letter about her plans for the summer and he was worried there was going to be a repeat. He knew there was no way he could handle seeing another moment of her being as terrified as she was in the moment he saw her sitting there on her bed with blood pooling on her arm.

"Please look at me I'm worried, what was in that letter from home?" He hesitantly took a step closer to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Octavia slowly turned around and faced him, shocking him with the fact that she was crying. "I have to go home…"

"What do you mean you have to go home? Christmas break is still ages away." Sirius cupped her face and wiped away her tears, confused as to what she was on about.

Octavia shook her head before another sob broke through her, "no I have to go home this weekend, Aunt Hattie died. Her funeral is this weekend, I have to spend the weekend with my family and you can't come with me. You know how Hattie felt about your family."

Her sobs became harder and Sirius had no choice but to pull her away from the edge, he wrapped his arms around and let her cry in peace.

He knew how Hattie felt about his family, she was from Ophelia's side of the family and as much as she had the same values as the Blacks and Carrows she hated the way the Blacks went about some of their actions. Hattie believed that keeping the peace with the Ministry is what kept them safe and sacred, whereas the Blacks weren't so worried about keeping the peace with the Ministry since they believed they could pay whoever they needed off.

"It'll be alright, you will take your parchment with you and it's only the weekend. You leave Friday night and come back Sunday yes?"

"Yes but…"

"No buts O, you will fine for two days. Do you really think your parents will do something that bad when they know you have to return to Hogwarts, this won't be like your grandmother, you aren't spending a long period of time at home. You are just going home for the funeral and to spend a little bit of time with your family. Take your parchment and we can communicate whenever you want, either Moony or I will always have ours on hand for if you need us at any point." Sirius reassured Octavia but he knew he wasn't succeeding, he could see the fear in her eyes about going home and hated that.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Olivia0707** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I know I responded to your reviewing answering your question but as a reminder since what is seen in this chapter, I do try and portray James and Sirius as bullies from time to time because essentially that is what they were during their time at Hogwarts.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I do hope that smiles and squishes my cheeks is a good thing and that you enjoyed the previous chapter.**


	18. The Process Begins

Chapter 17: The Process Begins

Octavia's weekend at home turned in to two weeks at home and it worried Sirius and Remus, they were unsure as to why she was kept at home and she wasn't replying on her parchment.

At one point Sirius had begun telling them all to be careful with what they were writing in case someone else had gotten their hands on it and was reading their communication. Sirius knew Octavia was smart, he knew there would be no possible way for anyone to read their notes in the past and no way to detect who had a copy apart from the initials that appeared at the beginning of each new sentence.

No there was no way for Octavia's parents to know who she was communicating with had they found it.

The one thing that really worried the group of friends was that Alecto and Amycus returned to Hogwarts a week after leaving but Octavia wasn't in sight, she was still at home, not responding to their messages.

"Can I leave now?" Octavia questioned but Pomfry just gave her a stern look.

Upon Octavia's arrival at Hogwarts McGonagall instantly ushered her towards the Hospital Wing to be checked out, it seemed her not returning with her brother and sister made certain professors cautious around her in case something had happened.

"No I still have a couple more tests to run."

"I'm perfectly fine." Octavia snapped at the Healer and Pomfry's lips went into a tight line.

"Now I believe the last time you claimed to be perfectly fine Mr Black dragged you in here because you had a bleeding wound on your forearm."

Octavia fell silent and turned her gaze away from Pomfry, she knew she was fine, her parents wouldn't have let her return unless otherwise. Her parents had even had one of their most trusted Healers come out and inspect her before allowing her to return.

She was stupid pulling her parchment out without checking as to if her family was asleep or not before trying to get in contact with her friends, she was caught and they weren't happy about it.

"Alright you may return to your common room and see your friends, it seems as though you are perfectly fine."

Octavia jumped off the bed and left the Hospital Wing muttering to herself about the stupidness of this whole situation.

Her parents should have known what would happen spending her siblings back without her but yet they did it anyway, keeping Octavia at home while she recovered from her latest punishment.

It was Sunday and Octavia didn't want to be bugged by everyone at the moment, instead she headed towards the hidden room her and her friends had found last year, again wishing for an easier way to find her friends within the confines of the castle.

She entered the room and found it completely empty, unsure of where her friends could be but slightly relieved at their absence. She walked over and took a seat at the table before grabbing six blank pieces of parchments and began working on charming them so they all had a set of new ones.

Sirius entered the room laughing about their latest prank on Filch with James, both of their laughs died off at the sight of Octavia sitting there at the table.

Sirius carefully watched her, looking for any signs of injury as he walked towards her. He was curious as to how long she had been back at Hogwarts and why she hadn't found them yet.

"O! When did you get back?" James exclaimed, clearly excited at finally seeing her again. It seemed as though he was oblivious to the worry that Sirius and Remus had about her.

Octavia's head snapped up, clearly startled by their arrival and gave them both smiles. She looked at her watch, "an hour or so. I wasn't ready to go back and face everyone in the common room, I assume they all have questions."

"Speaking of questions, why didn't you come back with your brother and sister?" James questioned when he noticed that Sirius didn't, which convinced him.

Sirius only didn't question her later return because James was present, there was a part of him that knew she had been punished for something but James had no idea what was happening in her home.

"Oh…I was just taking the loss of my aunt a lot harder than Alecto and Amycus. My parents thought it would be best if I had another week at home, my siblings insisted on staying so we could be together as a family but after a week my parents insisted that they returned since they can't afford to have too much time off away from classes." Octavia spoke before looking back down at the parchments.

"Fair enough, anyway I have detention. I will see you at dinner?" James questioned and Octavia nodded with a small smile.

The smile instantly dropped the moment she was left alone with Sirius. "Is it really needed for you to question me now of times?" Octavia raised an eyebrow before looking back down at the table.

"You didn't return, we thought it was just for the weekend and you _hated_ your aunt, what really happened?"

"They found my parchment, I thought they were asleep but didn't check it. They didn't like that I was communicating with someone while they didn't know who…Alecto and Amycus stayed behind to try and keep up the grieving family image but I was taking longer to heal and my parents said their education was too important for them to miss too much." Octavia explained, refusing to look at her best friend knowing he would be angry at the revelations of what happened.

"How bad was it?" he spoke softly forcing her to look at him.

"Well I was only gone too weeks, I've had worse remember and I also have a shiny new scar on my ribs." Octavia was worried that maybe Pomfry's test would indicate there was a scar there but she hoped she would let it go, thinking it was old.

Sirius nodded before looking at what she was doing, "what are you doing?"

"Well they found my parchment, so I'm making new ones…" she explained and he nodded, watching her in hopes of learning the charm.

It was then Sirius wondered if there was a way to connect anything else as a form of communication, whether it be mirrors or something similar.

 _Octavia wanted to wake up, she was getting sick and tired of these weird realistic dreams she seemed to be having more and more of lately._

 _She knew she was standing in one of the many Hogwarts corridors, but unsure of what she was meant to be seeing._

 _"James?" she called out, spotting the very familiar boy._

 _It was in that moment she truly realised she was invisible in her dreams, they couldn't see or hear her._

 _Instead she followed the boy, curious as to what he was doing since she wasn't able to wake up._

 _She managed to catch up with the boy and look over his shoulder and she was completely shocked at the sight._

 _There was a map in his hands, but not just any map, it seemed to be a map of Hogwarts. There were footprints on indicating where people were going, she recognised a few names not entirely surprised that some of the Professors stayed. Her own name wasn't on the map so she couldn't work out who she was following, but it was the name at the top of the map that caught her eye, Marauder's Map._

"We should map Hogwarts." Octavia declared to break the silence. They were sitting in the boys' dorm trying to distract themselves until Remus was released from the Hospital Wing and all gone off to do their own thing.

It's been a few days since she had the dream and was curious as to if it was possible to map Hogwarts, she had no idea something was in existence already or not but she wanted to try. There was a part of her that thought maybe her dreams were real but she didn't know if it was true or not.

"What are you on about O?" Sirius questioned while the others were just confused.

"I just thought it would be good to map Hogwarts, we have discovered so much in such a short time. We could put what we do know of the floors and from the gaps go and explore those areas, wouldn't it be cool?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at her while the others just grinned at her, this idea sounded pretty cool to them.

"I like it," James grinned at her but she was too busy looking at Sirius.

Sirius just knew there was something off about this whole map Hogwarts thing, she had to have seen something in one of her dreams otherwise they would have come up with this idea before now.

Sirius used the time of James and Peter being distracted by mapping what they knew to go and question Octavia.

"What's really going on?" he whispered in her ear and she shook her head.

"Not now…"

"Why not?"

"We can't tell them, what if they don't understand." She pleaded with him, he was about to give in due to hating seeing her like this.

"What makes you think that? We all know about Moony and his condition, you can't hurt anyone about this."

"What if I could? We don't know what the deal is with my dreams, what if me telling someone what I saw ends up killing someone?"

"They're dreams O, there is nothing to them. Tell them or I will." He warned and she glared at him, not believing he was going to break her trust.

"You wouldn't," she hissed at him but she finally caught the attention of James and Peter.

"What are you two arguing about this time?"

"O has something to tell you all."

"What's wrong O?" James questioned noticing the tears clouding her eyes.

"Please Sirius…" she ignored the boys and looked at Sirius, hoping she could plead with him. It was in moments like these that she wishes it was back to how it used to be, just the two of them against the world.

"No O, we can't keep doing this anymore. They could help, especially Moony." Sirius spoke sternly and it was then that the tears finally escaped Octavia's eyes and ran down her cheeks. "I'm sorry but no more secrets between us," he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, he hated he was doing this but he had no idea what was going on with her anymore and it was starting to worry him.

It was silent, James and Peter had no idea what was going on between Sirius and Octavia but they were worried. All of them were fiercely protective over the only girl in their group, well Lilith was there friend as well but she never joined in on the pranks or exploring of the castle, she claimed she wanted to stay away from that sort of stuff. They all hated seeing her cry and their pranks always became crueller when someone had made her cry, well except when it had been Alecto and Amycus that made her cry. Octavia refused to let anyone prank her brother and sister.

"So I have these dreams that feel oddly real, the people in them usually look familiar but I can't put a name to the face. I've been having them since first year but there isn't anything we can do. The first one the girl in it reminded me of either myself or Alecto but much older and our mother doesn't have the same red hair we do, so I assumed it was the future. I got the idea for the map from one of these dreams as well."

"That's why you're against taking Divination!" James exclaimed causing her to laugh.

"That's all you got from it? My reason for not taking a bullshit subject like that?" Octavia responded, a little annoyed.

It was only a week ago that they all begun discussing what classes they were going to pick up for their third year after hearing from Marlene about some of the subjects. Straight away Octavia claimed she didn't want to participate in Divination and only Sirius knew the real reason behind it.

"It's not like anyone can die from it," James shrugged and she pulled away from Sirius and looked at James carefully.

"Okay so what if I see something, tell you all and then it causes something stupid to happen and someone dies because of it?"

"Then why get us to map Hogwarts?" James reply came so fast that it stunned Octavia, she hadn't thought this far ahead. "Exactly..." he smirked at her and Sirius laughed.

"There O, not so bad." Sirius responded but she just glared at him before getting up and heading for the door.

"Wait O…" James called out.

Octavia hesitated before deciding to turn around and face the boys again, "what?"

"Well I just thought with the full moon being last night that we could start the mandrake process soon."

Octavia fell silent and her jaw dropped at what James said, it was obvious she clearly forgot about the mandrake leaves and hoped they were still fine in the jar under her bed.

"I completely forgot about that, I have to check on them and make sure they haven't died before we can start." Octavia left the boys' dorm with the idea of going to her own and checking on the mandrake leaves.

When she entered her dorm she only found Lilith sitting there, she thought she was off with Marlene while they talked about girly things.

Lilith had found a love of make-up, clothes, hairstyles all things incredibly girly that Octavia just scrunched her nose at, but it was something Lilith shared with Marlene.

"What are you doing?" Lilith questioned while she watched Octavia dig around underneath her own bed.

"Looking for the bloody Mandrake leaves…" she muttered and Lilith laughed.

"They won't be any good now, if you want to keep Mandrake leaves long term then they have to be treated properly." Lilith explained and Octavia's head snapped up.

"How do you know this?"

"I enjoy Herbology…" she shrugged.

Octavia let out a groan as she leaned back against her bed, "now what?"

"If you are up for it, Slughorn should have them in his cupboard, Mandrake leaves are a very common Potion ingredient." Lilith explained and she shook her head as she watched Octavia's eyes light up before she got up and rushed out of the dorm.

Octavia entered the boys' dorm to find pieces of parchments all over the place, she assumed in the five minutes she was gone they had set to work on the plan of the map.

"So it turns out the Mandrakes leaves we stole way back when are no longer of use, but Lilith suggested stealing them from Slughorn, something of which I don't know why we didn't think of to begin with." The boys responded with a noise of complaint.

"Does that mean we can steal the rest of the ingredients we need for the potion from Slughorn?" Peter questioned and the rest of them were silent, obviously trying to work out if it was possible.

"No Pete, it sounds like it will be better that way but if Slughorn notices the ingredients that are missing as well as the Mandrake leaves they will realise what is happening. Add that to us having to be quiet for a whole moon cycle, they will work out very quickly what is happening especially considering I was asking McGonagall about her process of becoming an Animagus." Octavia explained and Peter hung his head.

"Pete O is right, we just need to stick to our original plan of ordering them and having them delivered hoping no questions the ingredients."

"What I don't understand is if it has to be a whole moon cycle why aren't we starting on a full moon?"

"Because Moony's senses are too high, we need to start when it is a half-moon so he won't realise by the time he does it will be too late." Octavia answered James' question while Sirius hit him over the back of the head.

"So what we can't talk for a month, at all?" Peter questioned, disappointment coming through in his voice and Octavia gave him a soft look.

"No we can, carefully. I just think it will be easier if the Professors think we are betting to see who can stay silent the longest, Lilith will be the judge. She's stated that she won't do this but she will do everything else she can to make sure we can help Moony, that includes helping us achieve this and keep it a secret." Octavia responded and the boys nodded in agreement, the silent bet did seem like the smartest solution.

"So let's go steal from Slughorn," Sirius spoke with a wicked grin on his face while he rubbed his hands together, James and Octavia just laughed.

"Cookie?" Octavia held the container out to Remus.

The second years currently had a free period and the common room was empty, the other boys had claimed they wanted to find some Slytherins to annoy, Lilith needed to head to the library for research on one of their essays while Remus just wanted to rest in the common room.

"Thanks, how come you aren't with everyone else?" Remus grabbed a cookie and made room for her beside him on the large arm chair.

"Didn't feel like annoying Slytherins and I've already finished the essay Lilith is researching, how are you feeling? Are your wounds still bothering you?"

"No O, I'm feeling much better. The wolf seems to be handling the moons a lot better now that you have all accepted me," he gave her a grateful smile and she easily returned it.

"What are you reading?" she grabbed the book and opened it to where he was reading. "Seers?"

"Sirius told me about your dreams, I was curious as to if you were seeing the future or have an incredibly overactive imagination."

"Could my dreams and accidental magic be connected?"

"I don't know if it's considered accidental magic if you've learnt how to control, don't you agree?" Remus spoke, laughing softly when he saw the annoyed look on her face.

"Sirius told you?" she growled in response, not even surprised when Remus didn't flinch.

The boys were now starting to get used to her temper, knowing that she would never hurt them no matter how angry she got, she would raise her wand as a threat but she would never follow through, she bluffed hoping they would back off.

"He did, if they are connected it could help but we don't know for sure. Without knowing if one of your dreams could come true there is no way to know, yes you convinced the others that mapping Hogwarts is a brilliant idea but will it actually work? Hogwarts is unplottable, it's part of the appeal, how can you map something that won't appear on maps?"

"I don't know, what about one of my dreams where I saw a potential daughter of mine having the same coloured eyes that Regulus has. Wouldn't that prove that our marriage does go through?"

"Not necessarily, what if you and Sirius break away from your families and get married instead, if you two had a daughter there is a chance that she will have Sirius' eyes. There is no way to know for sure that the daughter you saw was with Regulus."

"So that's it, I'm just a freak." She threw her arms up in defeat before leaning back on the chair and sulked over it, nothing was helping.

"Well if that's the case, we are both freaks." Remus laughed while patting her leg before grabbing another cookie and continue on with his reading before she interrupted him.

"This is disgusting, can I change my mind." Peter complained and the others laughed, for some reason Peter was willingly to put the Mandrake leaf in his mouth first.

It's been two weeks since the last full moon and Octavia deemed it the right time for them to begin, Remus' heightened senses were at an all-time low and he may not be able to sniff out the leaves in their mouths. This was the one thing they were unsure of, they were unsure just how well his nose worked when it came to sniffing things out.

James and Sirius where the ones in the end that headed down to Slughorn's storage cupboard to steal the Mandrake leaves, since it wasn't unusual for the two of them to disappear during the night.

"Well you can but then you won't become an Animagus like the rest of us." James grinned at Peter, hoping to convince the smaller boy to continue on with the plan.

"Exactly, if not we will be fine with just three of us." Sirius joined in with a shrug while he popped the leaf in his mouth.

Octavia watched as Sirius and James scrunched their faces up in disgust, she laughed causing them to glare at her. She knew it would taste bad, she knew it would change the taste of everything they ate. For a month she would taste nothing but Mandrake and she was willing, if it meant they could help Remus, she would do anything for him.

"Fine…" Peter muttered, struggling to talk clearly with the leaf under his tongue.

Octavia placed her own leaf in her mouth, shocked by the taste of it. She knew it would be bad, but this, this was the worst taste imaginable. She had been fed some pretty horrible things by her parents over the years but nothing came close to this.

She hunched over and placed her hands on her knees in hopes of getting in some fresher air.

Sirius noticing her actions rushed to her side and placed a hand on her back, "you alright O?"

She nodded in response, taking a couple of deep breaths noting the nauseas feeling had finally disappeared.

"The taste wasn't agreeing with me but I'm alright now." She finally spoke, reassuring the three boys who were now watching her with curious eyes.

"Maybe you shouldn't do this, maybe you should just take it out now."

"Why Sirius? The worst is over, it can't get any worse than this can it? I'm used to the taste now, I will be fine." Octavia gave him a smile before exiting the dorm.

She had gotten Lilith to agree to drag Remus down to breakfast, trying to keep him occupied for as long as possible so he wouldn't question where the rest of them where while they were putting the leaves in their mouths. All they needed was a moment alone with Lilith so they could claim that was when the bet started.

When Octavia entered the Great Hall she instantly spotted Lilith and Remus sitting by themselves, there was something there that looked a little odd to her but she didn't have long to watch them closely as Lilith chose that moment to turn around and spot her, the two girls shared a smile as Octavia walked over and joined them.

"So Remus, we should be in for an interesting and quiet time from now on." Lilith spoke and Octavia raised an eyebrow, unsure as to where she was going.

"Last night Octavia, James and Sirius got into an argument about who could stay quiet the longest after I told them all that none of them shut up."

"This should be interesting," Remus looked at Octavia with a smirk on his face. "What about Pete?" he questioned and Octavia noticed that the boys had picked the perfect time to arrive.

"Pete being who he is, decided to join in on the bet as well. All four of them while be silent, as I said, we will have an interesting and quiet time ahead of us." Lilith grinned before catching Remus' attention again.

Octavia shared a look with Sirius, they both knew watch each other was thinking. They had successfully gotten Remus to believe what was going on, now all they had to do was get through the next moon cycle.

It was three days before someone questioned their silence, it was also three days before they had Transfiguration. Slughorn rarely paid attention in his classes, too busy occupying himself with whatever it was he did while Sprout busied herself with her plants, not noticing the quiet Gryffindors. Binns was used to a quiet classroom either way, Sinister always demanded a deathly silent classroom and Reddington was a new Professor, not used their ways anyway.

No it wasn't until they had Transfiguration for the first time since putting the leaves under their tongues that McGonagall noticed the unusual silence amongst the group of friends. McGonagall had even noticed they were quieter than usual during meals as well.

"Miss Carrow, I was wondering if you could explain your silence over the last couple of days…" Octavia didn't respond, she just looked at her friends.

They knew they were taking a risk with this, they knew if anyone could work out what was going on it would be McGonagall but they all decided the risk was worth it to help Remus.

"No, what about you Mr Potter?" again there was no response.

"Professor, the four of them entered a bet amongst themselves, it was to see who could stay silent the longest. I claimed that they all talk too much, they took offence and hence the bet started." Lilith explained and McGonagall nodded.

"Very well, I must say, I do enjoy a quiet classroom for once." Everyone snicked at her comment while James and Sirius looked unimpressed by it.

Two weeks had passed by incredibly slow for the four Gryffindors who were hiding Mandrake leaves under their tongues, they hated how they could only talk amongst themselves when Remus wasn't around. They were sick of not being able to taste anything and Octavia was just glad she was a Seeker and didn't really have to communicate with anyone on the Quidditch team, she just had to run her times.

Octavia was currently hiding in the secluded room trying to get some space from the noisy common room since it was giving her a headache.

"Are you alright?" Sirius muttered, still not having gotten used to talking properly with the leaf in his mouth.

"No the goddamn common room was giving me a headache…" she begun rubbing her temples with her fingers, hoping to relieve some of the tension.

"It'll be alright, we only have two weeks left…"

"Two weeks left of what?"

They both froze at the sound of Remus' voice, they hadn't realised he had followed Sirius into their hidden room for whatever reason. They slowly turned and faced him.

"Is there really a bet going on between the four of you because I doubt you two gave up that easily, I know you both, you don't cheat like that. And what is that smell?"

"Moony…" Octavia spoke, hoping to be able to plead with him.

The full moon was only two nights away and Remus could be easily agitated at this time of the month, they knew he would be angry when he realised what they were doing but they hoped he would realise it was for his benefit.

"Don't O, just tell me what is going on. Why did Lilith tell me you four were competing to see who could stay silent the longest?"

"Why does it matter? Why can't you let us continue to do what we are doing?"

"Why isn't Lilith involved? Why are you all involved in it, but not me? Have you finally realised that I'm not safe to be around anymore, that I don't deserve to have friends." Remus spoke bitterly.

Octavia frowned, hearing the hurt come through in his voice as it wavered. She never wanted to hurt him by doing this, she just wanted to help him.

"Godric no Moony, we're doing this to help you in the long run."

"Why? How will this help me…" Remus watched the two of them, as they nervously shifted on the spot. "What have you done?"

"We found out that werewolves don't hurt animals when in their wolf form, Animagus included…" Sirius tried to explain but Remus cut him off.

"YOU WHAT!"

"Moony…" Octavia spoke softly hoping to calm down him

"No, you two have got to be kidding me! You thought doing something so reckless and stupid would help me! What makes you think I would willingly let you out there with me, regardless of what some book says? How the hell did you two manage to convince Pete and James to agree to this?" Remus snapped at them as he walked towards.

"We might not even be able to complete the process, this is only the first step. Calm down mate, you're scaring O." Sirius spoke while a hand on Remus' shoulder.

They both looked at her, noticing that she was indeed scared.

Octavia had never seen Remus angry like this, she was too used to people hurting her when they were angry, but Sirius was the only one who never did.

"O?" Sirius spoke softly as he tried to step closer to her but it was like an invisible wall appeared between them, it was preventing him from stepping closer to her.

Remus realising what was happening placed his wand on the ground and held his hands up, "I won't hurt you because we are friends, no matter how angry I get remember that I will never hurt you." All the anger was gone from his voice.

Octavia slowly nodded and the boys were finally able to step closer to her, Sirius hugged her before looking at Remus. "How did you work out what was happening?"

"She was scared, it seems to be her accidental bursts of magic are tied to her emotions. She was terrified that I was going to hurt her like everyone else in her life when they get angry."

"He's right, the only person that hasn't hurt me when angry is you Sirius. Everyone else, my parents and Alecto, have all hurt me at one point or another." Octavia spoke softly causing Sirius to hug her tighter noting that she was trembling in his arms.

"I won't ever hurt you O, please remember that but regardless of everything, what you are all doing is incredibly stupid."

"Noted but we're still going ahead, we still need to make the potion." Sirius grinned at Remus.

"What potion?"

"The book O found stated that after the leaves get taken out of our mouths it needs to go into a potion for us to drink on the night of a full moon for six months. We have the ingredients, just been waiting until the moment we could make it since it only lasts so long without the leaves."

"Six months? What about after that?"

"Hours of meditation," Sirius complained earning a small laugh from Octavia.

Octavia pulled away from Sirius, feeling better about the whole thing. "The meditation is what is tricky about the whole thing, not one book could tell us how much meditation needs to be done, they all state everyone is different. The only thing they said was that we would know when we've done enough meditation due to our dreams start housing nothing but animals, compared to usual, and the next step is another potion."

"What does that potion do?" Remus questioned, incredibly curious about the thing.

"Well the first one helps open our minds to idea of being an Animagus while also searching for our soul creature during the mediation, while the second one helps prepare our body for the changes but that is only a once off potion. From there it's just attempting to complete the change."

"So what we begin spending more and more time in here?" Remus questioned and Octavia shook her head.

"No…we decided against that just in case one of us is rather large. We might have seen McGonagall in her Animagus form, but we don't know how much control we could have to begin with. What if one of us is a dragon and that dragon gets set loose in the castle? We were thinking the forest…" Octavia explained and Remus nodded.

"So countless nights in the Forbidden Forest while you four attempt to turn into animals it is…" Remus spoke and both Octavia and Sirius could tell he was weary of this plan but at least he was no longer yelling at them.

 **BREAK**

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Well as you can see, Octavia didn't succeed in avoiding everyone.**

 **Katie** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. All I can say is thank you for your spazzing phone that allowed you to find my story, I'm glad you are hooked and I hope you are still reading it!**


	19. Plans for the Future

Chapter 18: Plans for the Future

"You can stop anytime you know," Lilith laughed watching the disgusted look on Octavia's face as she took her first Potion with the added Mandrake leaf that had been in her mouth for the past month.

"No way, this is to help Moony. He knows and as much as he claims we are doing something incredibly stupid, he understands."

"You think there is a part of him that hopes it works, don't you?" Lilith questioned and Octavia nodded before swallowing the last of her potion just as the doors to their dorm opened revealing Blake and Evans.

"Wow look at that, you two are actually in here doing something besides sleeping." Blake spoke bitterly with a sneer on her face.

"And look at that, we were just leaving." Octavia snapped back before leaving the room, a quick glance over her shoulder showed that Lilith was following her.

"God that girl is so annoyed, tell me again why we can't move into the boys' dorm?" Octavia complained once they were out of the common room and into the empty corridor.

Lilith laughed in response, causing Octavia to throw a glare at her. "Well there are a couple of reasons, one being it's against the school rules, two there is only one spare bed and three, they are boys and they are disgusting. Do you really want to live in that mess?"

Octavia tried so hard to hold her laugh in but it didn't work, it eventually came out. "You're right, it's disgusting in there…maybe we can conjure some beds in our hidden room and we can live out there for the rest of our days."

"One day, maybe one day but for now she isn't all that bad and she's right we don't actually spend a lot of time in our dorm since we have that hidden room." Lilith responded as she looped her arm through Octavia's and the two of them walked off in search of the boys.

It was a full moon and before dinner they had dropped Remus off at the Hospital Wing before retreating back to the boys' dorm to put the final touches on their potions before having to drink their first one.

The two girls entered the secluded room and found James, Sirius and Peter lounging around on the chairs. James and Sirius were in the middle of a game of wizard chess while Peter was eagerly watching the two of them.

"Have you three taken your potions yet?" Octavia questioned as the two walked over and joined in the circle watching the game.

"Yeah, have you O?" Peter responded since James and Sirius decided to stay quiet due to focus, or that they hadn't noticed the two girls yet.

"Yeah, I'm just the glad the full moon was tonight. I don't know how I could explain to my parents that I was taken a potion at home and couldn't tell them what it was." Octavia responded before throwing a cushion at Sirius, laughing when he doesn't even budge.

"Boys and their toys." Lilith laughed out.

"Your parents won't approve of you taking strange potions?" Peter questioned and Octavia looked at him for a moment, trying to find the right wording for the answer.

"They can just be very untrusting sometimes, our families can be very set in there ways. They hate the idea of bringing in muggle ideals into our lives, our parents' even hate using cars so they apparate or floo everywhere. I know some of the children in our generation of these families have no problems using cars but they pay someone else to drive, refusing to drive themselves." Octavia finally responded and Peter nodded in acknowledgement.

"So they will think the potion is some muggle thing?"

"Exactly, remember what I said last year about Christmas? It's a muggle holiday so we don't celebrate it even though our families jump at every chance to throw a party to show who has the most money. Some years there is a party like last year but others it's just a dinner between the closer families, like mine and Sirius' for example. Most of the time they hold out until New Year's Eve for the big party."

"What was so special about the party last year that you and Sirius couldn't attend? I've heard you say in the past that you weren't allowed to attend the parties because you weren't old enough, you said they stated you weren't at Hogwarts yet." Lilith spoke, joining in on the conversation taking place between Octavia and Peter.

"No idea," Octavia responded, knowing she was lying.

She didn't want to have to tell her friends that she knew the truth behind why her and Sirius weren't allowed to attend the party last year, she had found out during the summer. She didn't want to tell them that Voldemort was in attendance, it was the same as to why she didn't want to tell her friends about her summer.

* * *

Octavia was currently floating on her broom in the middle of the Quidditch Pitch, they haven't had practise in a week since they were all heading home for Christmas break tomorrow.

There was a part of her that was terrified at returning home, ever since she started at Hogwarts every time she went home for whatever reason she was always getting punished for one reason or another. Was she really she changing? Was she that different from the girl she was before Hogwarts?

Everyone in her family had stated it at one point or another and she was worried about what would happen if she continued going down this path, she didn't know if she could continue to sit on the fear of what her family had in store for her next.

"You won't be alone, I won't let it happen." Sirius spoke, grateful that he didn't scare the girl.

Octavia was glad she had sensed someone appear beside her, otherwise with him speaking would have scared her and in turn potentially caused her to fall off her broom.

"What makes you think I'm worried about being at alone?"

"Because I know you O, you are worried about going home and being alone with your family again."

"They're my family, would they really love me if they still did this to me?" she questioned and he fell silent.

"No idea but my family stopped, regardless of what happens. I land myself in Gryffindor and nothing besides a Howler, I constantly refuse to do the things my parents' request of me and I get nothing but you? You get punished for not answering a question quick enough."

"But you're the heir, they know if they several ties with you too early and they don't disown you then they will lose the ties to the Black family, you will cut them off."

"That's the plan, well except for Regulus. If you two get married I can't cut him off."

"I wish it was easier for us, I wish we had it as easy as James and Lilith." Octavia turned and faced him with a sad expression on her face. "Why can't we run away?"

"Where would we go?" was Sirius response and in turn Octavia didn't respond.

She trusted her friends but didn't trust their parents yet. It didn't matter if the Potters and Longbottoms were some of the biggest blood traitor families out there, they had strong ties within the Ministry. No one was sure where the current generation had their ties laid out, did they follow their parents or did they go a different route.

All of that aside, if they could be trusted, did Octavia want to put them in danger by living with one of those families if they agreed to take her in? Lilith's father worked at St Mungo's, Octavia knew her parents had connections at St Mungo's because it was how she was healed sometimes without there ever being a record of her injuries. It was only when the connections were unreachable and the injuries were too dire without receiving medical attention that Dinky had healed her.

* * *

"Misses Tavia?" Octavia poked her head out of her bathroom at the sound of Dinky's voice.

They had just returned home after getting off the train and she was instructed to wash up for dinner, she was told that the Black family would be joining them. The idea of seeing Sirius already thrilled her, she knew that with another family over her parents wouldn't punish her. It didn't matter if it was a blood traitor family or one as to close to theirs as the Blacks were, they wouldn't punish her in front of guests.

"Yes Dinky?" Octavia responded with a soft smile.

She had always loved Dinky and knew Dinky was very fond of her, that Dinky loved her more than her own parents regardless of the ownership.

"Master Amycus is requesting you to join him in the library before dinner."

"Do you know why Dinky?"

"No Tavia," Dinky shook her head. "I was just asked to tell you of the request."

"Very well, thank you Dinky." Octavia dismissed the elf before she dried her hands and headed downstairs in search of Amycus in the library.

She was confused as to why Amycus had requested to see her, she hasn't heard a word from her brother since the past June when he warned her about her summer. Even when they came home for Hattie's funeral he didn't say a word, he didn't say a word when she was lying in her bed in pain.

By now she had realised that her sister was a lost cause, she had learnt that her sister was one of Voldemort's Death Eaters, something she was unsure as to why he would want a 16 year old. She had to sit there and watch as she got her mark, promising that one day she would be in the same spot as long as she did what was requested of her but she couldn't, she couldn't betray her friends.

Amycus was still an unknown, she was unsure as to what he wanted, what he thought and what his future held for him. She hoped that her brother would stay the protective older brother type that she had grown up with, who still seemed to care and worry about her but there was a small part of her that knew without a shred of doubt that he would follow Alecto into Voldemort's folds.

"You wanted to see me?" Octavia spoke when she entered the library, spotting Amycus sitting in his favourite arm chair in front of the fire.

"Yes, I wanted to know how you were doing after the summer. I would have come and spoken to you earlier but I couldn't be seen questioning your health. Right now our parents and Alecto are out."

"Why do you care Am?"

"Because you're my baby sister."

"So is Alecto, you're older than her by 10 minutes. Why do you seem to be the only one that cares about me?" she walked over and took a seat in one of the other chairs and faced her brother, she was curious as to where this is going.

"Because I seem to have a different sense of the word 'family' compared to the rest of the family, it was something I once thought I shared with Al but it seems she has changed since meeting the Dark Lord."

"How do I know you aren't one of his followers? I might not have put a face to a single one of the ones that visited during the summer because they wear masks, how do I know this isn't some plan that he has hatched in hopes of me agreeing to his plans for me."

"Because I don't know what his plans are for you, I haven't been accepted into his circle yet." Octavia stared at her brother, weary of him. She knew her parents had gone out they said something about a last minute business emergency as she passed them in the hall but she didn't know Alecto was out.

Amycus scratched the back of his neck before lifting the sleeves of his cloak baring his bare forearms to her. "I don't have the mark yet, I'm not a part of his inner circle."

"But you could be, I heard Bella and Alecto talking. They mentioned how they all receive a task that he deals of great importance, how do I know you haven't been given this task in hopes of turning me against my friends, because that's what he wants from me."

"Because you have to trust me, I tried everything I could to keep Alecto away from you after you cut her hair off."

"But she attacked me first!"

"I know that O but to her you are a blood traitor regardless of what the Dark Lord wants, I even warned you about agreeing to everything they say but you couldn't do that, could you?" Amycus questioned and Octavia turned her gaze to look out the window. "Give me a look at your arm, please O."

Octavia reluctantly agreed and lifted the sleeve on her left arm, it never left her attention that her scar was in the same place a Death Eater would receive their Dark Mark.

"Who healed it?"

"Pomfry after extensive questioning from both her and Dumbledore, regardless of what happened and my refusal to tell them they couldn't refuse treatment." Octavia pulled her arm back and faced the fire. "Why did you really ask me down here Am?"

Amycus didn't respond at first, he stood up and walked over to kneel in front of her causing her to move her gaze from the fire to him.

"I want you to remember that no matter what, regardless of what happens between now and the immediate future. You are my sister and I love you no matter what, regardless of anything that happens I am doing it to protect you and myself. I won't do anything unless I absolutely have too."

"No you don't, you don't have to do anything. You don't have to follow our parents' values, you're the heir, they have no other male in our generation to leave the title too." Octavia spoke with wide eyes, she was worried about what Amycus was going on about.

"My future is set, I need to keep an eye on Al because no one else will but I know Sirius will always protect you. I trust Sirius to protect, why do you think Dinky started getting Sirius when our parents hurt you? I ordered her too, I ordered her to get Sirius every time you were hurt because I knew you would need someone…"

Amycus was cut off by the sound of Dinky arriving in the room, not even giving Octavia the chance to say anything else on this topic.

"You asked me to inform you of their return Master Amycus." Dinky spoke and nodded before disappearing.

"Our conversation has to end now, just remember regardless of anything that happens from here on out. I will love you no matter what, okay?" Octavia nodded as her eyes welled up.

Amycus kissed her forehead before standing up and leaving the room.

Octavia sat there for a moment, composing herself before standing and leaving the room herself with a million and one questions running through her head.

* * *

It was the 25th and to everyone else in the world except for Octavia, her family and the people they associate with it was Christmas Day.

Octavia hasn't seen Sirius since their first day at home when his family joined them for dinner, she was even too scared to ask her parents why the Black family hasn't been around as much as usual in case they deemed it inappropriate to question as such.

She knew she would finally see Sirius tonight since the Malfoy's were throwing a party, it seems as though Lucius has proposed to Narcissa. It wasn't a shock to her since she knew about the arranged marriage deal set up between the two of them but the fact that he proposed instead of just waiting until the moment they could marry proved something, they were actually in love regardless of what brought them together.

She knew Sirius would have to be in attendance, there was no way his family would prevent him from attending a family function.

"Octavia it's time to leave," Octavia looked up at the sound of her father's voice and nodded.

She was currently sitting in the library, already dressed and ready for the party, she was just waiting on her family and be told it was time to leave.

She followed her father to the living room where the rest of her family was standing, the Malfoy's may be the ones throwing the party but her parents spared no expense when it came to their dress robes.

Due to the colour of both Alecto and Octavia's hair they were always seen in dresses of the same shades over the year, they never wore the same colour at the same time but there is a consistency to the colour they wear.

This year it seems as though Alecto has brought an emerald green dress while Ophelia has picked out a blue dress for Octavia.

As soon as she was standing in the Malfoy's living room she left the sight of her parents, knowing they wouldn't care what she did now as long as she stayed out of trouble. Nothing was mentioned to her about sticking by their side or even Regulus' so she was free to leave in search of Sirius.

After much searching she finally found Sirius standing outside in the garden, not even caring about the cold but it wasn't until she was closer to him that she realised a heating charm has been placed around the garden to keep anyone who wished to marvel its beauty would stay warm and not freeze.

"Why are you out here?" Octavia questioned and Sirius shrugged in response.

"My house has been a mad house all break with news of their engagement, I haven't been allowed to leave otherwise I would have come and seen you by now." Sirius turned and faced her, "Please tell me you are fine and nothing has happened?" He questioned and Octavia nodded.

"I'm fine, nothing's happened. I've stayed quiet and to my room, they haven't bothered me at all." She reassured him and she watched as relief washed over his face.

"Good, that's really good. Not long now until we return and if you can return without being abused then I will be happy."

"Today's the 25th and we return to Hogwarts on the 2nd, hopefully I can get by like the way I have been and everything will be alright." Octavia spoke, not wanting to tell him about the conversation with Amycus because she still didn't understand the whole thing completely.

He had basically told her that he was planning on joining Voldemort, being one of his Death Eaters and hoping to follow Alecto by getting the Dark Mark as well regardless of the choice he has as the heir to the Carrow family.

He stated he was doing it to keep an eye on Alecto and he trusted Sirius to look after Octavia, but she was worried. How long would it take for him to turn against her as well, just like Alecto?

"Exactly you can get through it and now hopefully that this party has happened, I am able to leave the house. Maybe we can get in some Quidditch before we return to Hogwarts?" Sirius gave her a smile and she returned it, wishing more than anything he can hug her and give her the reassurance she needed.

But they were both smart, they both knew that physical contact was off limits between them at functions like this. They were promised to other people and had to act as such.

"Come on, let's go back inside before someone comes looking for us. The last thing we need is rumours about the two of us floating around." Octavia spoke and Sirius nodded, leading the way back inside.

"You look beautiful by the way O," Sirius looked over his shoulder at her and gave her smile, which turned into a grin at the slight of her cheeks flaring up in embarrassment.

"Thank you," she muttered quietly not used to compliments at all in any aspect.

* * *

Octavia ran up the stairs to her room, trying to keep the tears at bay before she began digging through her trunk hoping more than anything she brought it home with her.

She knew she would just end up in more trouble for the mess she was causing looking for this one particular piece of parchment especially after what happened last time but she needed her friends' help.

She finally found it and quickly threw everything back in before grabbing a quill and writing a message to her friends.

 _O – James, Lilith, someone I don't care which one. I need one of you to buy me a broom, Lilith ask Frank to help you buy the best one. I don't care about price I just need a new broom come the time we're due back at Hogwarts._

 _S – What happened O?_

 _O – Amycus mentioned to my parents that I'm playing Quidditch._

 _J – But Alecto plays Quidditch, she's the Seeker on the Slytherin team._

 _S – They don't know that, Amycus helped cover it up for her. Why do you think the Slytherin team is mostly males, they don't think girls should play Quidditch._

 _L – I'm going to Diagon Alley tomorrow with my parents, hopefully they will understand and let us do this but what if it happens again?_

 _O – They won't find it next time._

 _S – O is everything alright at home?_

Octavia didn't respond, she just threw the parchment back in her trunk ignoring the parchment indicating that more messages were coming through from her friends.

She knew if Sirius was that worried he would turn up to check on her, her parents wouldn't think anything of him turning up in the middle of the day since he was the only friendship they approved of, well as long as it didn't come between the marriages set up for each of them.

The soft knock on her bedroom caused her to look up at it, not sure who would be bothering her after what happened. She was surprised her parents only destroyed her broom and didn't punish her, unless that was what was going to happen now.

"O…" her eyes narrowed at the sound of her brother's voice.

"Go away Amycus," she snapped but the door continued to be pushed open anyway.

"I want to apologise."

"You can shove your apology, you shouldn't have done it in the first place. Why can you keep Alecto's secret for three years but you can't even keep mine for six months?"

"Because I had too, if I didn't Alecto would have and then you would have thrown out that she was playing as well and then she would have retaliated against you. I did it to protect you from her."

"They destroyed my broom Am, what would you have done had they punished me?"

"We're returning to Hogwarts the day after tomorrow, they wouldn't have in fear of you returning to Hogwarts in pain. Alecto gave me until dinner tonight to say something otherwise she would have at dinner, it's why I left it as late as possible. Remember what I said at the beginning of break O."

The tears finally escaped and ran down her cheeks, Amycus frowned at her before turning and leaving her alone in her room.

"O are you alright?" her head snaps up at the sound of Sirius' voice and she finds him standing in the doorway to her room.

"My broom is destroyed…"

"It'll be alright, it's all sorted." Sirius walked over and took a seat beside her. "Amycus said something weird when I walked past him though."

"What did he say?" she wiped away her tears with her sleeves before shifting around to face him.

"To always protect you no matter what…"

Octavia nodded in response, knowing now wasn't the time to tell Sirius about the conversation she shared with her brother with fear of who was listening.

"You've always been there for me why would that change anyway?" Octavia questioned with a small smile and Sirius grinned in response.

"It wouldn't and we only have tomorrow to get through before we return, your parents didn't hurt you over the news?" Octavia shook her head and he nodded. "Good, you'll be alright, I doubt your parents will touch you this close to our return."

Octavia nodded, remembering what Amycus said and his reasons as to why he told then and when. In theory it made sense but she hated that her brother betrayed her like that, she just hoped he was doing it for the right reasons like he stated.

* * *

Octavia and Sirius were currently in a compartment on the train waiting for the rest of their friends to turn up, Octavia was hoping that one of them was able to get her the broom she needed.

She still couldn't get over the break in trust that Amycus did by telling their parents she was playing Quidditch and in turn had her broom destroyed, she was hurt more than she would have thought by a simple action by her brother.

She was still confused by her brother's actions, unsure as to if he really meant what he said or if he was just hoping to gain her trust for Voldemort.

The compartment door opened revealing James and Lilith laughing about something, neither Sirius nor Octavia could say anything before James held his hand up. Both James and Lilith moved aside, watching as Frank walked past muttering something about crazy bloody women.

They shut door and burst out laughing again causing Sirius and Octavia to share a look.

"What is so funny?" Sirius questioned and it was a couple of moments until at least one of them stopped laughing to explain.

"Well it turns out that Frank has finally gotten Alice to agree to being his girlfriend but it seemed as though she hadn't told her parents yet, we both stood there and watched as Frank rushed over to her and snogged her. Alice was in shock, but then manage to slap him before storming off. She caught up with us on the train and apologised explaining that her parents don't allow her to date…" Lilith started explaining first, having composed herself long enough to explain but couldn't tell the whole story before starting to laugh again.

"At that point Frank lost it, demanding to know why she agreed and all this other stuff. She slapped him again before kissing him and that was when we lost it, started laughing like hyenas. He yelled at us and we took off." James managed to finish his part of the story and the two of them started laughing again.

Sirius and Octavia shared a look before shaking their heads, they did find the story amusing but nowhere near as much as the two laughing hyenas.

"Anyway, enough about Frank and his lack of social etiquette. Please tell me you managed to get my broom?" Octavia questioned and her heart snuck when Lilith shook her head.

The last thing Octavia needed was her parents to find out that she ordered another broom, she was hoping that if either James or Lilith had managed to buy the broom she could claim it was a friends if her parents found out that she was still playing Quidditch. They couldn't damage a broom if they couldn't find it, she planned to ask Lilith or James to keep it during the summer and during Christmas Break she was planning on leaving her broom in the team's storage shed.

"It'll be alright, we will find a way for you to get a broom. For now you can borrow mine O," Sirius spoke and Octavia nodded, he must have realised what her thought process was when asking them to buy the broom.

"What's wrong with O?" Remus spoke when he entered the compartment where his friends were sitting.

He was the last one to arrive, with Peter only arriving a couple of minutes before him and he noticed instantly the dark cloud hovering above Octavia.

"No broom," Sirius mouthed and Remus nodded.

He might not be as obsessed with Quidditch that James, Sirius and Octavia were but he still enjoyed the sport immensely and knew that if it wasn't for his condition he probably would have tried at for the team at one point or another. He understood how different his life would be because he was now a werewolf, he hated it but he also understood.

"So, how was everyone's Christmas'?" Sirius questioned hoping that it will help bring Octavia out of her bad mood.

* * *

They had been back at Hogwarts for a week and Octavia still hasn't found a work around for her new broom without her parents finding out that she paid for another, she was getting anxious and the longer she was back at Hogwarts the closer their first practise was getting.

"Just suck it up and buy a new one," Sirius muttered one morning at breakfast, noticing Octavia's foul mood.

"Can't you claim that the goblins made a mistake?" Peter added in and the group burst out laughing.

"You really do sleep during History of Magic don't you mate?" James clapped him on the back.

"The goblins don't make mistakes when it comes to gold, it's why they handle our gold instead of our own kind. They're the only ones we trust more than ourselves, trust me. If the sacred families can trust someone they deem to be lower than them with their money it means something." Octavia explained and Peter nodded in acknowledgement.

The owls swooped in making their general noise every time they do when mail is arriving, Octavia watched as James and Lilith looked up at the roof in search of a familiar owl. They both claimed they had left something at home.

But it wasn't a familiar owl that they noticed first, what they noticed first was the strange owl that dropped a package on the table in between them all before taking off.

"O it's got your name on," Remus handed her the note attached to it.

Octavia grabbed it and opened it, unsure as to who would be sending her letters and packages.

 _Remember what I said, I love you no matter and I'm doing what I can to protect you for as long as I can._

Realising it was from Amycus, she quickly shoved it in her pocket before anyone could read it and she opened the package.

"Who sent you a brand new broom O?" Lilith questioned but Octavia was too busy staring at the broom.

It was stunning, must be a brand new release. Octavia didn't even remember reading about it in the Quidditch magazine she read before Christmas break, how Amycus got a hold of this she had no idea.

"My guardian angel, that's who." Octavia finally responded, looking over at the Slytherin table in search of her brother but he had his back to her, making her wonder if he did that on purpose.

It was only in the last week that Octavia had realised just how often Amycus sits facing the Gryffindor table with hopes of keeping an eye on her, she never realised just how much he looked out for her.

She had never paid attention to the friends him and Alecto had but now paying closer attention to the twins she noticed they had different friends. It wasn't their friends that had attacked her the previous year, no it was Alecto's friends. Amycus' friends didn't say a single word to her and she now wondered how he managed that, he claimed he had to keep up appearances in front of the Slytherin students but requesting them to leave alone the blood traitor Gryffindor would be a feat or was her arranged marriage with a Black helping on that front as well since Walburga and Orion haven't called it off yet.

"It's Saturday and I'm going for a fly now." Octavia grinned at her friends before making a grab for her brand new broom.

She had no idea how she would even begin to thank her brother for this new broom, she was still hurt her brother betrayed her and she just hoped it didn't happen again.

"Who's it from O?" Sirius spoke stepping in beside her.

She looked over her shoulder and found that he was alone. "Amycus."

"Why? He's the reason your old broom got destroyed."

She looked at him for a moment before she filled him on the conversation she had with Amycus at the beginning of the break.

"So he hasn't turned on you?" Sirius spoke, shock clearly displayed on his face.

"That's what he said, he said he's stayed with Alecto and going through with what our parents having planned for him to protect her. He trusts you to protect me, it's why he told them about me playing Quidditch because if he didn't Alecto would."

"How long do you think it will last?" Sirius questioned but Octavia didn't respond because it was something she didn't want to think about.

As long as Amycus still loved Octavia and still looked out for her, she believed she was still accepted in her family. She didn't want to lose that.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I didn't even realise I had 50 reviews until I got the email about your review, thank you for that! Yes Animagus training, they had to start at some point.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. No she didn't listen to your plan but hey, she made it through Christmas Break without being abused by her parents.**


	20. Magic Tricks

Chapter 19: Magic Tricks

January turned into February, February turned into March and March turned into April.

The last couple of months all passed without incident, two Quidditch matches were played giving Gryffindor and Slytherin a win each, making the final match between the two houses to declare the winner for the Quidditch Cup.

Things had even been light amongst the group of friends, they stayed away from most of the other students mostly sticking to themselves in hopes of getting everything finalised for the map but it didn't stop them from getting placed in detention.

"What are you doing?" James questioned with curiosity.

James had noticed that Remus had written on a piece of parchment, one different to the one he was writing his Charms notes on.

Sirius and Octavia had just gotten a detention for talking during Flitwick's explanation of the next charm they were working on, Remus as always had marked down their detentions and it was only now that James had finally spotted him.

"Marking down their detentions." Remus replied nonchalantly and James' jaw fell opened.

James stared at Remus before looking at where Sirius and Octavia were sitting on the other side of the classroom, he kept switching his gaze between the two unable to speak.

"I've been keeping count for you too if that helps," Remus added in before hiding the parchment and focusing on his notes again, acting like the conversation didn't take place.

"All year you two have had a bet about how many detentions you can rack up!" James exclaimed as soon as he had the opportunity.

He had to wait all day until they were alone in their secluded room but once they were in there, he let it out.

"It took you this long?" Octavia replied with a smirk on her face.

Her carefree attitude in regards to her response just angered James even more about the whole thing, "why didn't you tell me?" James stalked closer to Octavia, not taking noticing of her flinch.

"Hey careful mate," Sirius clasped his hand around James' shoulder.

James turned around and faced Sirius, taking his anger out on him instead. "You want me to be careful but yet you didn't tell me about the bet! Why the bloody hell couldn't you tell me, I want to be in on this."

Sirius smirked in response but didn't say anything.

"You are James, I've been keeping count for you all year, just been waiting for you to catch on." Remus responded.

"You're all a bunch of bloody prats." James muttered before walking over to the table in the corner and starting on his homework.

"O?" Sirius questioned softly as he knelt down in front of her, still noticing the faraway look in her eyes, unsure as to what will happen.

"I'm okay…" she spoke softly while nodding her head.

"You sure?"

"I am," she gave him a smile.

But Sirius just tilted his head and watched her, he knew that look on her face. It was the same one Remus had when he was yelling at them before Christmas break for attempting to become Animagus, the same one she had on her face whenever her parents' yelled at her at home.

Sirius hadn't been the one to work out that Octavia's bursts of magic were linked with her emotions, before they started at Hogwarts he had only seen her levitate things and just assumed it was a weird thing but when they arrived at Hogwarts he had seen her set things on fire and that one shield against him and Remus before Christmas.

He could link the fire to anger and the shield to fear but he had no idea what caused her levitation but did it really matter since she had worked out how to control that on her own?

He still worried about her, that one day someone that couldn't be trusted will see her use magic without a wand and she will be gone. He knows that he should probably tell someone, whether it be McGonagall or Dumbledore but he was worried she would be used as an experiment for something or her place at Hogwarts will be revoked and the last thing he wants is to permanently send her back to her parents.

Sirius eventually stopped watching Octavia with concern, mainly because she whacked him across his head with her book before leaving claiming that she was sick of the boys and wanted to spend time with some girls. The boys all laughed as she left, not even stopping as she flipped them off.

"Is O alright?" Remus questioned as he sat down beside Sirius on the couch.

"I think so, I think James just startled her, she will be alright."

"No shield?" Remus whispered hoping that the others didn't hear him.

"No," Sirius shook his head. "But I'm thinking, if she can control the levitating why can't she control the others? Fire is fuelled by anger and the shield is fuelled by fear, wouldn't it be the same concept she did when she succeeded in controlling the levitating?"

Remus was silent as he pondered Sirius' question, he had a very good point but because it wasn't him who was having the issues with the magic it was hard for him to come up with a good reason.

"I think the best thing is to talk to her, she knows how her levitation works. Maybe she will be able to tell you whether or not it will work, it's her magic and she knows the feeling of it all." Remus spoke and they both fell silent for a moment. "But unless you want to tell the others about her maybe we should continue this later."

Sirius nodded in agreement before getting up and walking over to where James was sitting working on the Transfiguration homework since he had left his book in the dorm.

"What are we doing in here Sirius?" Octavia questioned her best friend as he dragged her into an empty classroom.

"Last year you promised me you wouldn't practise your wandless magic on your own, but yet you did. You spent all summer practising how to levitating things, I think it's time you start practising on the next one. The next one that showed itself was the fire and I sure as hell aren't letting you practise it on your own."

"I didn't mean to break my promise, I just…" Octavia frowned and hung her head, not being able to finish her sentence.

Sirius stepped forward and hugged her, he might not know everything that happened during her summer, but he understood to a degree as to why she broke her promise about not practising her magic alone.

"It's fine O, I understand. I just don't want you to get hurt this time because you really can, it's fire you are playing with."

"How do I even start with this one?" Octavia mumbled against his chest, completely unsure of what exactly Sirius was saying.

"I think it's all linked with your moods, the fire manifests when you are angry."

Octavia pulled away and looked at Sirius, how he worked that out she was unsure, did that mean that the one time shield was caused by fear because she was scared that day when Remus was yelling at her but was unsure as to why James hadn't caused it.

"So what you're going to throw pillows at me?" Octavia raised an eyebrow and watched a smirk appeared on Sirius' face before he shook his head.

"Far from it, you managed to control your levitation with no idea of how or why it happens, we have a better idea with the fire. So tell me, how did you manage to control the levitation over the summer?" Sirius questioned and Octavia went silent.

She tried to remember everything she did during the summer, how she worked it out, how she managed to pull the magic out of her.

So she and Sirius then made themselves comfortable on the chairs in the room as she attempted to explain everything she could think of in regards to the summer and her working out how to control the levitation ability she seemed to have.

"What have you and Sirius been up to?" Octavia opened one eye and came face to face with James.

She was currently sitting in the Gryffindor common room, hoping to get a nap in before Quidditch practise. Sirius had kept her up late the night before with the two of them trying to get her fire magic to manifest.

"What are you on about James?" She spoke while shaking her head, she stood up and headed for the girls' staircase now knowing her nap would be out of the question so she decided that a fly beforehand would be more beneficial.

James wrapped his hand around her wrist attempting to stop her before she went up the stairs now knowing full well that he couldn't follow her anywhere.

"No whatever it is you and Sirius are planning I want in, whatever it is against the snakes I want in." James spoke sternly and Octavia pulled her arm out of his grasp.

"You're losing it James, we aren't planning anything. Just go bug Pete, I have practise." Octavia snapped before heading up the stairs.

She entered her dorm glad to see it was empty, she walked over and rested her head against the post of her bed. If James had worked out that her and Sirius were up to something how long until the rest of their friends worked it out.

Sirius tried telling her to tell them but she couldn't, she was worried they would treat her like a Wandless. It didn't matter if she had a wand or not, the fact that she could perform wandless magic was a scary thought to anyone.

Wandless were known to be uncontrolled creatures that could be set off at the smallest thing, a lot of people threw around the word 'unstable'. She had a temper when provoked but she also knew how to keep it in check when needed, especially around her parents.

She was unsure on how her friends would handle the information, Sirius grew up watching her perform the magic and knew she wasn't anything like the Wandless mentioned in books. In fact it was something Sirius had already looked into.

Remus accepted her because of his own condition, he believed himself to be unstable and harmful to other people but they accepted him and in turn he accepted her and he tried to tell her that the rest of her friends would be the same.

But she knew the truth, she knew that Wandless were less common than werewolves and there was even less information about them out in the world. The only reason that Sirius had access to the books was because of his own family, they were curious in the Wandless but Octavia now believed it was because Voldemort was in search of one for himself.

"What's your problem Carrow?" Octavia turned her head and glared at Blake.

"My problem is nosy bitches like you!" Octavia snapped.

"I'm a nosy bitch? It's better than walking around thinking I'm better than everyone else."

"But you do think so!" Octavia screeched and it was then she noticed the spare bed catch fire.

She knew it had to be her and just hoped that Blake didn't turn around and spot it, the last thing she needed was someone who hated her see something as weird as this.

They had worked out that the fire was linked to her anger, so she just hoped that if she calmed down she would be able to stop the fire.

She didn't even know what Blake was ranting about anymore, she had tuned the girl out since she was too busy focusing on the fire hoping it would stop.

Octavia let out a sigh of relief when the fire went out, "bugger off Blake." Octavia snapped before pushing past the girl and heading down the stairs, completely forgetting as to why she went up to her dorm in the first place.

Sirius had just entered the common room, him and Remus were off in the library researching on what could be different about Octavia. They had come across something but all it was, was a word mentioning something but they couldn't find any information on it.

As soon as his eyes laid on Octavia he knew straight away that something happened, that something had gone wrong and she was annoyed and he was just grateful that nothing had burst into flames yet.

"Is she alright?" Remus spoke, now realising that something wasn't right with Octavia.

"I'll handle it, you keep the others occupied." Sirius responded before leaving the common room following her.

"O stop!"

Sirius continued to chase after her, he knew she was ignoring him but he needed her to stop. He made a grab for her wrist and pulled her back to face him.

"What the hell Sirius!" Octavia growled at him and his face softened, watching her, he was really worried.

"What happened? What is so bad that you are storming away from me?" He questioned softly, grateful when she closed her eyes because it was a sign she was calming down.

"Blake was yelling at me and I got so annoyed that the spare bed burst into flames," Sirius' eyes went wide as she spoke and she shook her head. "No I managed to stop them, if I calm down then so does the fire."

"Well that's something O, we are one step closer to being able to control the fire. What was Blake going on about?"

"No idea, I was too focused on the fire." Octavia lowered her gaze.

Sirius noticing her actions wrapped her arms around him and pulled her close, he didn't know what else to say. He knew that Blake always pushed her buttons, they didn't really get along from the start. Even with her magic he was so unsure, he couldn't even work out what was going on with it just that whatever they thought used to be bursts of accidental magic, isn't since she was able to control it.

"Come on let's go for a fly before you have practise."

Lilith looked around the Gryffindor common room, James was trying to help Peter understand Wizard's Chess he always stated he couldn't play and James had finally agreed to help him today. Sirius and Octavia were sitting in the corner, obviously arguing about something while Remus was sitting next to Lilith, watching Sirius and Octavia as well.

"What do you think they're arguing about this time?" Lilith questioned, knowing full well she caught Remus off guard by the way his body tensed for a moment.

"Who knows with those two, I'm sure there are arguments between you and Frank that no one else knows about." Remus retorted with a sly smile on his face, knowing full well it was true.

"But don't you worry about them? Obviously their home life is different to ours."

Lilith watched as Remus was silent for a moment, she knew then and there that there was something he knew that she didn't, his silence proves it. She was a little hurt over it but she knew Sirius and Octavia, they didn't easily give up information, Remus had to have found out.

"As long as they keep turning up to Hogwarts when needed, I will butt out of their home lives. If one of them doesn't return after breaks them I will worry." Remus responded with a sad smile and Lilith frowned at him. "It's not my place Lilith," Remus spoke, noticing that she knew there was something going on. He grabbed her hand and gripped it before looking back over at Sirius and Octavia.

"Hey O!" Octavia stopped walking at the sound of the voice, she wearily turned around and faced Regulus.

Regulus hasn't said a word to either Sirius or Octavia since September, while they were at Hogwarts, Christmas break when they were forced to spend time together doesn't count.

"Hey Reg, how have you been?" She gave him an easy smile knowing it would be better to be polite as she didn't know what information he was sending home.

"Good, but listen you and Sirius need to stay out of trouble, it's causing waves back home."

In that moment Octavia was thankful for all the etiquette training she had growing up because she knew if she couldn't control her facial expressions it would have shown disgust, annoyance, a multitude of things.

She didn't have to question who was sending information home, it could be any number of the students in Slytherin since her family had connections to most if not all of them. The only people she knew wouldn't be sending information home was Sirius and the two Ravenclaws, only because they knew what it was like to be in her shoes except to those families Ravenclaw was a second choice option.

"Reg, you stay out of my business and I will stay out of yours. I've seen you following Lestrange around like a lost puppy, even you've said that Bella is certifiably crazy, he's her brother in law."

"And Bella is my cousin, what's your point?"

"Make friends with people your own age Reg, come Lestrange's graduation next year you won't have any friends left." Octavia spoke sincerely and Regulus slowly nodded at her. "You know our parents, you know what they are like. Yes they will appreciate you making friends with Lestrange but your own age will be better."

"Yes because father would enjoy me making friends with the Head of the Auror Department's son," Regulus spoke bitterly and Octavia shook her head.

"You never know what will happen, he may be nothing like his father."

"Like you aren't anything like your parents?" Regulus spat out and it took everything in her not to glare at him.

"Don't start on this Reg…" Octavia stopped speaking at the sound of footsteps coming up behind her, she turned around and found three fifth year Slytherin students.

"Why are you sharing air with this blood traitor Black?" one of the girls spoke and Octavia didn't say anything in response, she didn't see the point.

"Because if you haven't forgotten Crabbe she is my future wife." Regulus spoke calmly but when Octavia looked at him she noticed the tensed jaw that she regularly saw on Sirius when he was annoyed.

"Right…" the girls all gave Octavia a once over before smiling at Regulus. "Of course, come we need to talk." They walked over to Regulus and two of them looped an arm through his before they dragged him away.

Octavia shook her head, it didn't surprise her that the girls were acting this way. She had seen it happen with Sirius when they first started at Hogwarts, hoping to get his attention in hopes of maybe securing a future with him and his family. Everyone knew he was the heir to the Black family, but not everyone knew that he was already promised to another.

Not overly bothered by the attention Regulus was receiving, she turned on her heel and headed in the original direction she was going before Regulus noticed her.

* * *

"I'm sorry." Octavia spat out while Remus and Sirius quickly rushed forward to put out the fire Octavia had caused but wasn't able to put it out.

"It's fine, we knew what would happen when we agreed to this." Sirius responded but didn't face his freaked out best friend.

"Knew what would happen…is that a fire!" Lilith shrieked causing all three of them to jump in fright, not noticing that she had joined them in their hidden room.

It was the weekend and at some point during the day all three of them have snuck off to the hidden room the group of friends shared, in hopes of helping Octavia find some control over her powers but so far no luck. She had only managed to put a fire out once, and has been able to start them at will on the rare occasion.

Fear run through Octavia's veins as she saw Lilith standing there, watching the scene with curiosity. She was no longer looking at the boys' so she had no idea if the fire was still going or not.

"Damn it, O." Octavia heard Sirius mutter but she didn't turn around, she continued to watch Lilith and her unnervingly calm face.

"What's going on in here?" Lilith questioned, looking at the three of them but no one spoke. "O tell me, what is so bad that you can't tell me. It seriously can't be worse than Moony being a werewolf."

Octavia shook her head as her eyes welled up before she rushed out of the room, not even noticing that Lilith was pushed to the floor as she went past her.

"Okay what the _hell_ was that? I was pushed to the floor but she didn't even touch me!" Lilith yelled while still sitting on the floor, neither of the boys said anything at first but Remus walked over and helped her stand up.

"Should we follow her?" Remus questioned and Sirius shook his head before he paced the room.

"Someone me what happened _now_!" Lilith ordered and Sirius finally stopped pacing.

Sirius faced Lilith and took a deep breath, "she'll never tell her Moony."

"But she'll hate you, both of us." Remus responded, realising what Sirius was about to do.

"She'll forgive us, the more people who know, the easier it might be for us to find something." Sirius responded and Remus nodded, knowing full well that Sirius knows her better than anyone.

"Tell me!" Lilith fumed and the boys could tell she was getting annoyed.

All three of them then sat down on the couch in the room as the boys explained what they so far knew of Octavia and her bursts of magic, what ideas they had and what they knew couldn't be true.

* * *

"How could you! I trusted you, I trust you with so much Sirius but you couldn't even keep this one bloody secret! I hate you!" Octavia yelled with tears in her eyes before she stormed off.

Two days ago Sirius and Remus told Lilith everything they knew about Octavia and her burst of magic, they thought she took it well but Octavia yelling at Sirius now proved him wrong.

Sirius placed his face in his hands and gripped his hair, sitting there for a moment giving Octavia her space before going in search of Remus knowing he needs a heads up.

He knew Octavia would calm down eventually, he just had to wait but for now he was worried about what happened between Lilith and Octavia.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes, you could say what Amycus did was nice but remember, he is also the reason as to why her broom got damaged in the first place.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I probably would rebel as well but Octavia loves her family and doesn't want to lose them, regardless of what they do. Yes I understand it is clearly a fucked up version of love but it's the family she grew up with and the world she grew up in. Her rebellion will come out one day, just for now she's a young girl terrified of losing the only people she knows as family.**

 **Rose099** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	21. Friendship Over?

Chapter 20: Friendship Over?

The four second year Gryffindor boys were currently sitting in the common room, for once completely silent. Two of them have no idea what caused the issue they were currently in while the other two did, the two that did know what happened felt guilty because they had caused it.

Sirius and Remus shared a looked before where they looked over at where Octavia was sitting with Marlene and the other third year girls while Lilith was sitting with her brother Frank and the other fourth years.

It has been three weeks since Sirius and Remus told Lilith the truth, neither one of them has seen Lilith and Octavia share words. During classes and meals they don't sit near each other, in fact most of the time they spend their free time with the respective people they were currently with.

It was only this morning that Octavia first spoke to Sirius, she had spoken to Remus much earlier due to her knowledge of knowing that Sirius was the one that told Lilith the truth about her magic.

Rumours from the girl population in Gryffindor was that a shouting match erupted between Octavia and Lilith, none of the girls have repeated what was said exactly but just enough to know that the argument between the two has caused a rift between the two and the rest of their group.

Octavia blamed Sirius for the loss of her girl best friend, she had always wanted one and now that she finally did he ripped her away, she wondered if he was jealous, but he couldn't be because he had James right?

Sirius was worried about Octavia, it didn't matter if the two of them finally exchanged words for the first time in three weeks, he was still worried it had put a strain on the friendship that existed between them.

He locked eyes with the girl in question and she gave him a small smile before continuing on with her conversation with the third year girls. The small smile in his direction didn't help ease his worries about her and about where their friendship now stood.

"Okay seriously what is going on with the girls, you two must know something." James questioned, finally fed up with the distance from the girls.

Regardless of all the comments James makes about the girls, being just that, bloody girls, he does actually miss them. The girls change the group, whether it's for better or worse he's unsure but Hogwarts is home, his friends are family and that includes the two girls that have barely spoken to him in the last three weeks.

"We know as much as you two, they got into an argument and in turn haven't spoken in three weeks." Sirius responded while standing up heading for the portrait wanting to get out of the now very crowded common room.

It was getting closer and closer to June, which meant that it was getting closer to the end of term which meant going home for all of them for the summer.

Sirius hadn't voiced it yet but he was worried how Octavia's summer was going to compare to the previous one. He had seen her receive at least one letter over the course of the last three weeks and he had no idea as to what it said but he knew her extremely well and by the shift in her posture as she read it, it wasn't good news.

"Sirius you claim you don't know what's going on but yet you and Octavia haven't spoken in three weeks either." James responded as soon as all four boys were standing in the empty corridor outside the Fat Lady Portrait.

"He's right, this is different to the start of the year when you caused her to miss Quidditch practise, you aren't even attempting to talk to her."

Sirius ignored both James and Peter's comments and kept walking, he didn't want to admit that Peter was right, he didn't want to admit that the reason that he wasn't attempting to talk to her again was because he didn't want to hear those three words come out of her mouth that caused such an impact within him.

Octavia might have told him that she's hated him in the past, but it was always in a joking manner. This time was different, he could see the anger and hatred in her eyes and he hated that it was directed at him for the first time. It didn't matter if she finally said something this morning, it didn't matter if it was something as simple as 'Sirius pass the toast' or even the small smiles she's now giving in his direction, their friendship was now different and he didn't know how he could fix it.

James stood back and watched as Sirius, Remus and Peter continued walking down the corridor, following Sirius to whatever place he had in mind. James had seen the same haunted look in Sirius before, the same time the following year and earlier in the year when Octavia hadn't returned to Hogwarts from her weekend at home when they all thought she would. That same look was what made James realise it was Octavia that had caused all of this.

He turned around before heading back to the common room, hoping she was still sitting with the third years.

"Can we talk?" James questioned, grateful that Octavia was still in the common room and hadn't headed up the girls' stairs yet.

"Sure, what did you want to talk about?" she gave him a smile, making James realise now that he was never the issue.

"Private." He stated and watched as the smile fell from her face, he was worried now that maybe he would end up on her bad side.

Octavia nodded before standing up and following James out of the common room, she was wondering when this would happen, she was surprised that James hasn't sought her out before now. She knew he would question what was happening between what was once known as a group of friends, now it was just smaller with Lilith and Octavia not speaking.

Octavia hated that her and Lilith weren't speaking but she couldn't say anything, not without Lilith apologising for everything that was said. Octavia was always concerned about how the rest of their friends would take it, she knew they would take it badly but Lilith took it much worse than she had expected. She always thought that maybe because they accepted Remus that when she told them about her at the right time and once they had all the information they would be accepting, but Lilith wasn't.

"What did you want to talk about?" Octavia questioned once her and James were hidden away in a classroom.

"What's going on and please don't say nothing, I haven't seen you and Lilith share words in three weeks and same goes for you and Sirius, don't say this morning counts because it doesn't." James spoke and Octavia instantly picked up on the tone in his voice, he wasn't going to be taken as a fool this time.

Octavia just sat down on the chair and hung her head, willing herself not to cry. Three weeks ago when Octavia began spending more time with Marlene, she questioned once what was going on. Octavia just shrugged and changed the topic of conversation, Marlene picking up on the subtle signs allowed this to happen and never questioned it again.

So this would be the first time in three weeks that someone had questioned her as to what was happening and she couldn't take it, she couldn't hold the emotions in anymore.

James, noticing the action, hesitantly walked over and hugged her. He had no idea what to do with a crying girl, he had never seen Lilith cry just assumed Octavia or Frank handled it and on the one occasion he knew for sure that Octavia had cried, Sirius handled it.

Octavia twisted in James' arms and pressed her face against his shoulder as her tears silently escaped, she hated that someone other than Sirius was seeing her like this but she couldn't hold them back anymore. Too much hurt, anger and pain had built up in three weeks and now it was all escaping because someone she trusted had showed they cared by asking such a simple question.

James just hugged her, unsure as to what he should do next, or even say. He just sat there and continued to hug her as long as she needed.

Octavia eventually pulled away from James and wiped her cheeks with her sleeve getting rid of the evidence that she was crying, she refused to look at him and she was grateful he didn't force her too, he just sat beside her.

"What's going on? You honestly can't think I will believe it's nothing after witnessing that." James finally spoke breaking the silence and at first the only sign of recognition that he got from her was a nod of her head.

"Lilith is refusing to speak to me because of something Sirius told her, I'm not talking to him because of that." Octavia finally spoke but she still couldn't look up at him, she hated that someone saw this side of her, she hated being seen as weak.

"What was said? It can't honestly be that bad."

"But it is…" she finally looked up at him and he frowned noticing the tears building up in her eyes again, she quickly looked away again noticing the frown.

"How? What could honestly be worse than Moony's furry little problem? We all accepted that."

"Because I reminded you that he was still the same person we've known, no one has been hurt by him. According to Lilith, this is worse…" Octavia stood up and walked away from him, she wanted to leave but couldn't, she knew he wouldn't follow her regardless.

"How could whatever is going on be worse than Moony, yes we know no one has been hurt and we're trying our hardest to help him, you included. You haven't hurt anyone O…" James was cut off by Octavia quickly spinning around to face him, her blue eyes blazing with emotion.

"But I have hurt someone, or have you forgotten what happened to you first year. Does you being pulled into the air during Defence Against the Dark Arts before Halloween ring any bells?" She snapped, her anger taking over her fear at the moment knowing she's already lost one friend, what's another one?

"I knew it had to be you but I had no proof, I want you to teach me how you did it!" James exclaimed, the joy clearly evident on his face and it shocked her.

"I can't teach you that, watch." Octavia walked over and placed her wand on the table in front of him before focusing on the chair beside him.

It wasn't long until the chair began floating next to him, the shock was evident on his face as he looked between the chair, Octavia and her wand.

"How, what, why…I don't understand." James muttered and Octavia finally dropped the chair before picking her wand back up.

She didn't speak at first, she just walked around and sat down beside him. "I don't know, to begin with the magic just an accident, like what happened to you and we thought I was still having accidental magic. I would randomly float things, I was able to control that one last summer. We've learnt that when I'm angry things burst into flames and when I'm scared I produce a protective shield around me. That's what Sirius told Lilith, she claims I'm a Wandless and I shouldn't be at Hogwarts, she thinks I should be locked up where I can have someone constantly watching me to make sure I'm not killing anyone."

"But nothing has happened, what happened to me was an accident, you didn't do it on purpose and I was fine that afternoon. Regardless of all of that, you have a wand, Wandless don't have a wand."

Octavia held her wand out for James to examine, "you look closely and you can notice it's actually two different types of wood, my wand is different, it's special and I'm destined for a great future." Octavia spoke with a mocking tone, letting James grab the wand.

"Lilith's wrong, completely and utterly wrong. You're Octavia Carrow, regardless of who your family is and what they want for you, you are no more dangerous than Moony when there is no full moon. If you can control the levitation then I have no doubt that you will be able to control the others." James had a grin on his face as he handed her her wand back.

"It's not that easy, the fire is so hard to control. I can either get one to start on my own but not stop it, or I have no control over starting it but I can stop it at will."

"But what if that's the point? What if the whole point of you being able to create flames is not to be able to put them? Them starting when you're angry sounds like a defence mechanism, you put them out when you are no longer angry and the threat is gone. When you create the flames you don't create them out of anger, it's something else, have you tried produce water instead to put them?"

Octavia shook her head, "no it can't be that simple. The fire doesn't come from me like it would with a wand, it catches to something and burns that way. Where would the water come from?"

"Another water source? Who knows if it's simple or not, this is so unknown. I honestly don't believe you are Wandless, you have a wand and are the furthest thing from unstable."

Octavia looked around the room, could James be right?

"Come on," she stood up and tilted her head, heading for the door.

"Where are we going?"

"To find Sirius and Moony, god damn I wish we had that map finished, it would be so much easier."

"It's a map of Hogwarts, how can it find our friends." James spoke and Octavia looked at him with a sly grin on her face.

"Because in my dream, with the map, I saw the map and it had a numerous amount of footprints on it moving. I'm assuming the footprints help us locate our friends."

"Seriously, who says you're unstable…wait are your dreams and magic connected?" James' questioned caused Octavia's steps to falter.

"Sirius and Moony think so but they can't find anything, or if they have, they haven't told me."

"We'll find something, I promise. We're doing everything we can to help Moony, we will help you too." James squeezed Octavia's hand and she gave him a smile before they left in search of their friends.

 **BREAK**

"So you can tell James but I can't tell Lilith?" Sirius hissed at Octavia, finally finding her hiding out in the Astronomy Tower.

Octavia and James had found Sirius and Remus, told them of his ideas in terms of her magic but nothing was said to Peter.

They spent the afternoon out on the Quidditch Pitch, having fun and being together as friend but as soon was dinner was finished Octavia had slipped them and disappeared. Sirius has spent the time since looking for her.

Octavia looked at Sirius, causing him to frown, she still wasn't happy that he told Lilith and the glare was evident of that.

"Look I'm sorry, I really am for telling Lilith. I didn't know what else to do, she had no idea what happened and when you stormed out of the room you were so scared of what she would think that you had your shield up and it pushed her out of the way."

Octavia didn't say anything, she just leaned forward and rested her arms on the bar looking out across the grounds as Sirius sat down beside her.

"I like it when the world is quiet like this, I don't feel over whelmed, I don't have to worry about what people think of me, when the world is like this I almost forget that other people exist." Octavia finally responded tilting her head slightly to look at him.

"James mentioned you cried in front of him."

Octavia nodded, "I just broke at him asking what was going on, it just happened."

"He also told me some of the things Lilith said, why didn't you tell me she said those things?"

Octavia closed her eyes and placed her head against her arms, there was a part of her that was glad that James said something but another was annoyed that he had.

"James, Moony and I are all accepting of you, we know you can't be a Wandless and you aren't unstable. You don't hurt people, you are the most protective of us all, you're loyalty is remarkable considering the people who raised you."

"You're making me sound like a dog…" Octavia muttered and Sirius barked out a laugh causing her to open her eyes and look at him again.

"So what it's all true. Hey!" Sirius exclaimed, clearly excited about something. "Maybe you're animagus will be a dog."

"God we've been so distracted by my magic that we haven't done any meditation and there is no way I can do it successfully over the summer." Octavia rubbed her temples, hearing a noise of annoyance from Sirius beside her, she knew he hated her returning home.

"What did the research say about going from Potions to meditation months later?"

"Nothing from what I saw, it just said the meditation won't cause any affects until we have taken all the Potions simultaneously every month on the full moon."

"Then the beginning of the new term we will start our meditation, what are you going to do about Lilith?"

"She refuses to talk to me, no matter what I try, it won't happen."

"She just needs to be reminded of who you are, just like you did for us with Moony. She will come around…" Sirius patted her knee and she turned her gaze back out.

"What do you think my summer will be like after last year?" Octavia questioned and Sirius was silent, he looked out on the grounds.

"The quiet world helps me forget who your parents are, it sometimes allows me to think what our lives would be like if our parents loved us."

"Your parents do love you…" Sirius' scoff cut her off and she frowned at him.

"My parents don't love me, they stopped abusing me because one day I will have rein over the family. They knew if they didn't stop that when I did turn 17 I would have cut them all off, it was either stop abusing me or disown me. What would their explanation be for disowning an 11 year old who has been accepted to Hogwarts but not yet sorted?"

"Whereas I'm the means to an end…" Octavia muttered and Sirius stared at her confused. "I overheard them speaking at Christmas, they're marriage contract stated that they had to have two separate pregnancies. They only had me because they had to otherwise they couldn't get the final sum of money from the contract."

"You have me, you don't need your family when you have me and the rest of our friends." Sirius gave her a small smile and she nodded.

"Alright enough of this depressing topic, on to another one. Are you ready for the match against Slytherin next week?" Sirius spoke causing her to sit up straighter.

"Right a whole Quidditch Match where no one will the question the closeness between Alecto and I, where Amycus has all the chances in the world to show that he has turned against his blood traitor sister by sending Bludgers my way, or even if he doesn't there is still the other Beater, even the Chasers can block my path. It won't be a fun match…" Octavia spoke as a shiver ran through her body as she thought of it.

"It'll be alright, everyone comes out to watch that match surely nothing will happen." Sirius tried to reassure her but he knew it didn't help.

 **BREAK**

Octavia was nervous and the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team noticed due to her being unusually quiet, when she was first on the team she would be quiet but once she got to the team a bit better a side of her came out that they hadn't seen yet. They were well used to her bouncing around the team like she had an endless amount of energy, even after a Quidditch Match where one would think she would be exhausted but she never was.

Today was different, instead she was sitting in the corner throwing a spare Quaffle up and down, ignoring the rest of them. She wasn't even paying attention to the speech Soloman was giving.

"Hello…earth to O?"

Octavia moved her gaze to the side to find Marlene and Frank watching her with curious eyes.

"Sorry…" she mumbled and they shook their heads before sitting on the ground either side of her.

"It's fine, are you 100% okay with going out there today, we can always get someone else to play." Frank explained and Octavia narrowed her eyes at him.

"No way, I will never hear the end of it from them if I don't play and this amazing broom will go to waste." She cooed while petting her broom causing them to laugh.

"Seriously, whoever gave you that broom is a miracle worker since that broom is set to be released to the public in July." Frank pouted, causing both girls to laugh.

"I know." She grinned at him.

"Carrow!" Soloman called out and Octavia averted her gaze, to face her captain.

"Yeah?"

"Your brother and Higgins are mean Beaters, I need you to watch your back. Longbottom and Franklin can't permanently watch you, they need to watch the whole team."

"Understood." There was a part of Octavia that thought maybe Amycus would leave her alone, or send weak Bludgers her way. Why would he send her such an amazing broom only to knock her off it 5 months later? Franklin was her concern not her brother.

"Tell me baby sister, where did you get such a broom? I know you can't off snuck off during Christmas break and you don't have the connections." Alecto sneered at her while the two of them floated above the pitch, looking out for signs of the Snitch.

"Why, are you jealous?" Octavia snapped back, catching sight of something glinting in the far distance but didn't want to move yet.

Alecto was watching her and can't have spotted it, Gryffindor also needed a couple of more goals to win the cup.

Alecto just narrowed her eyes before flying off and Octavia was glad it wasn't in the same direction as to where she saw the Snitch just moments before.

They had been up here for around an hour and so far no one had been playing dirtier than usual towards Octavia, it was all normal dirty tactics for the Slytherins and she was glad. She hoped that maybe with Amycus as Captain, he was able to control their aggression towards the blood traitor.

Most of the people were considered blood traitors on the team, especially Frank and Marlene with the families they come from but she supposed that having the professors in the stands prevented something worse than usual to occur.

Octavia finally heard the commentator call out the score, glad that they were finally ahead by the right number of points and she was able to go after the snitch. The catch was she had to find it again, before Alecto noticed what she was doing.

She then began flying across the pitch, making it seem like she was just aimlessly flying around in hopes that Alecto wouldn't bother playing attention to her, but of course when she did finally spot the snitch, it was in the middle of the two of them.

Her plans of getting closer to it without Alecto noticing backfired and they both went speeding towards it at the same time.

The Snitch didn't even move, it just stayed there floating in the same spot as if it was playing chicken with Alecto and Octavia.

Octavia made it there just moments before Alecto and she thanked her new broom for it, but just as she went to wrap her fingers around the snitch she felt a sharp pain in her back which was shortly followed by blackness.

 **BREAK**

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. All I can say about Octavia and her magic, is that particular one was accidental but there is a reason behind everything.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Hopefully this clears up your confusion about the previous chapter, if not I apologise.**

 **Lilian123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you love it!**


	22. Another Year, Another Summer

Chapter 21: Another Year, Another Summer

Octavia slowly blinked open her eyes, quickly closing them at the harsh light coming in.

"O?"

"Hmm?" she responded to the voice, knowing it sounded familiar but couldn't place it.

She slowly opened her eyes again, being able to handle the bright light better than previously. She found Sirius' face hovering in front of her and she could tell he was worried but she didn't understand why.

She looked around and noticed she was currently in the Hospital Wing, but she couldn't remember why. The last thing she remembered was spotting the Snitch and having Alecto across the Pitch from her.

"How are you feeling?"

His questioned caused her to raise an eyebrow but it was then that she finally attempted to move so she was sitting up on her bed, it was then that she felt the pain shoot through her back.

"I'll take that as a not good, hang on I'll get Pomfry." Octavia nodded and Sirius rushed off in search of the Healer.

Octavia tried to rack her brain for what happened during the Quidditch match, even what the final score was because she wanted to know if they had won the Quidditch Cup or not.

"Here dear drink this it will help with the pain," Pomfry spoke holding out a goblet full of a pain potion for her, she eagerly took it and drank it all needing her pain to be gone.

"Thank you, what happened?" Octavia looked at Sirius knowing he was in the stands and knew what happened completely.

"Higgins hit a Bludger your way, it hit you in the back." Sirius explained before sitting on the bed beside her causing Pomfry to cluck her tongue at them both but she didn't say anything before walking off.

"What happened after that?" Octavia questioned, leaning against Sirius' shoulder attempting to keep her eyes opened.

It doesn't matter that after years of taking pain potions, they still made her drowsy and the only thing that usually helped was pepper up potions but her stomach couldn't handle taking both.

"You managed the catch the Snitch, so we did win and we won the cup."

"That's something…"

"Maybe you should get some more sleep, I know how you can be." Sirius spoke while moving his arm so she can sleep against him more comfortably.

"No I'm fine, I want to know what happened." She responded mid yawn. Sirius didn't respond at first. "Sirius?"

"You fell from your broom, Alecto actually saved you. Well at first she was frozen to spot as you fell but then she caught you. Those flowers are actually from her."

"I'm surprised she didn't let me fall to my death," Octavia scoffed before pulling away and crawling towards the end of the bed to examine the flowers.

"Like the professors would have let you fall to your death, Pomfry stated only one person visiting you at all times but since I haven't left no one else has seen you."

Octavia turned her head and looked at him, "That's odd, she has no problem with five of us visiting Moony."

"O I think she has a feeling that something isn't right for you at home, I think she has a feeling about the abuse you receive but she hasn't worked out if it comes from your parents or siblings, I do believe she has worked out the I'm incredibly protective over you. Maybe her thinking will never leave your side until you woke up and her limiting it to one visitor at a time will prevent them both from visiting."

"Who knows, I can't believe she honestly sent me flowers, orchids at that." She crawled back to her spot against Sirius.

"It shocked me too, Amycus tried to check on you as well, I actually let him through knowing the truth about him." He responded and she only nodded, he knew she was practically asleep against him.

Sirius softly stroked her hair to help her fall asleep the bit quicker knowing she would feel better once she woke up, it was always the case with her and pain potions.

When Octavia woke up she was startled, Sirius wasn't beside her like he was when she fell asleep.

"Sirius has detention with Flitwick." The sound of Amycus' voice startled her, she turned her head and looked at him.

"Wouldn't you being in here be bad for your Slytherin imagine?" she said snarky.

"Don't be like that O, it's hard for me. I have to make everyone believe I am on their side of everything, but I am allowed to be in here and check up on you. You got injured during a Quidditch match, by something that is considered a cheap shot."

"It's normal to take the Seeker out with a Bludger Am."

"O, he was right behind you. Anyone else and he would have bumped them instead of sending a Bludger towards them, I would have done that, any decent Beater would have bumped them instead of aim a Bludger at them." At least now she understood as to why her back was so sore.

"Why did Alecto send me flowers? I thought she hated me?" Octavia spoke causing Amycus to frown at her before he stood up and walked over to sit beside her on the bed.

Octavia stared at her brother, unsure of what he was doing. Amycus wasn't one for being physically affectionate, he rarely hugged his family and Octavia hasn't heard of him having a girlfriend like she had of Alecto having a boyfriend.

Amycus shocked her by wrapping his arms around her, hugging her. "She doesn't hate you, she still loves you like family and that's what makes this whole thing worse. If she hated you, why did your house sorting affect her so much, the things you say or do? If she hated you, she would be indifferent to it all. When you cut her hair off, she reacted like she did because she loved you and she hated that someone she loved did that to her, if she didn't then she wouldn't have caused a scene in front of the Great Hall like she did."

"But she's hurt me like our parents do."

"I know O but as crazy as it sounds, she hopes that if she does what she does then maybe you will change your ways. You'll realise that the only way to stop the pain is to submit to her and her ways."

"But Quidditch?"

"She was worried something like this would happen, look I know it seems like everything she has done is because she hates you but she doesn't. I won't ever leave her alone with you because I don't want her hurting you again but she does love you. She thought with us telling our parents you were playing Quidditch it will stop you from playing and playing against Slytherin, she knew what would happen when we did finally play."

"You've been spending too much time with Bella Am…" Octavia retorted, pulling herself free from Amycus.

"Believe what you want, Al does love you. She just might be a bit more on certifiably crazy side like Bella is compared to us." Octavia shook her head just as the tears were building up.

"If she loved me she wouldn't hurt me, you love me and you don't hurt me."

Amycus slightly shook his head before he reached out and cupped her face, wiping away the tears that had escaped.

"I know it doesn't make sense but Al and I talk, we're still as close as you remember us to be. Trust me when I say she loves you, she just has a hard way of showing it sometimes but her sending you your favourite flowers is a step in the right direction."

"Is everything alright in here?"

Amycus instantly dropped his hands at the sound of Remus' voice, Octavia looked at him and slowly nodded.

"Everything's fine mutt," Amycus spoke defensively and her jaw dropped.

"Am!" Octavia scolded but the tense look on his face didn't budge.

"Remember what I said O, she loves you because if she didn't she would be indifferent to the things you do." Amycus spoke before getting off the bed and leaving her alone with Remus.

"How does he know?"

"Alecto is a Prefect, I'm assuming they know." Octavia shrugged.

She knew how Alecto would have found out, Voldemort would have mentioned something to her and she would have passed it onto Amycus.

"Very well, how are you feeling? James mentioned how he and Sirius had detention so I thought I would come check up on you. What was Amycus doing in here?"

"Checking up on me just like you, don't tell me you're going to have an issue with my brother because of what happens at home?"

"Something tells me that Sirius trusts your brother otherwise he wouldn't have left you alone and risk him turning up."

"You're right because Sirius told Amycus he wouldn't be here." Remus nodded and made his way over to sit in the vacant chair.

Octavia rolled onto her side and looked at him.

"Did Alecto really save me?" Remus nodded and Octavia fell silent.

"You know Lilith was worried about you."

"She won't even talk to me…" Octavia rolled over and turned her back on him.

Remus fell silent, unsure as to what to say next. He had a feeling that whatever was spoken about between her and Amycus had put her in a bad mood, he didn't want to pry and question what was going on. There was something about how quickly Amycus removed his hands from her face that spoke volumes.

Even noticing the flowers sitting at the end of her bed confused him, he knew they weren't from Lilith because all she did was ask how she was doing and if she was awake yet. Remus had even asked if she had gone to the Hospital Wing and she said no, so that only left Alecto to send her flowers because that doesn't seem like a boy thing to do.

If Alecto did send the flowers to Octavia, it made him question a few things. What was really going on at home for Octavia and what was being kept from them all because he had a feeling there was more going on that her and Sirius were keeping from them all and it worried Remus.

 **BREAK**

Alecto was pacing in an empty room waiting for Amycus to return, she was worried.

The look on Sirius' face when she handed the flowers over said it all, that she had truly fucked up as a big sister.

In that moment when Octavia fell from her broom, realisation set in for Alecto. She almost lost her and everything she's done in the past, hurting her like she had was a mistake and there was nothing she could do to fix it.

She didn't even know what the Dark Lord's fascination was with her sister, it confused her. She assumed that the Dark Lord would label her as a blood traitor for not agreeing to his plans, at the time she was angry and confused why she wasn't killed like the rest that opposed him but now after almost losing her, she was thankful.

Alecto leaned forward and ran her hands through her hair, confusion was running ramped in her mind and it was bothering her. There was a part of her that hated her sister, for the house she was in, the friends she made and everything she's done since starting at Hogwarts but a part of her was terrified at the thought of almost losing her sister like that.

"Al?" She spun around and faced Amycus.

"Oh god Am, please tell me she's alright." Alecto's eyes welled up and she didn't know if it was from confusion or the worry.

"She's fine, she's awake and perfectly fine. You saved her Al." Amycus stepped forward and hugged her.

Amycus almost wanted to check himself into St Mungo's, him hugging both his sisters for comfort in the same day, in the space of an hour was too much for him but he was doing everything he could to protect them and that included protecting them from each other.

"We almost lost her and all I can think about is the terrible things I've done, abusing her like our parents. You were right, I shouldn't be treating her like our parents do, I should be protecting her. I've been a horrible sister, my judgement was just so clouded."

"Shh, it's alright, if you can realise your mistakes she will be able to forgive you for them. You just have to prove you are worth forgiven and those flowers are a step in the right direction. Go back to keeping her secrets, remember she was placed in that house away from everyone except Sirius. They've both had no choice but to make friends within that house, who knows what will happen? Maybe the two of them can convince their friends to all join us on our side, imagine having a Potter and Longbottom with us."

Amycus stood there with Alecto in his arms, he softly stroked her hair attempting to calm her down. Two years Octavia has been at Hogwarts and two years he has spent calming Alecto down, he knew there wasn't something quite right with his twin sister and he hated it. He knew that she showed her loved in a weird and unusual way, even sometimes between the two of them it was hard for her to show how she felt.

He knew that as twins they would always have each other's backs, it's why he was following her regardless of what he thought about everything the Dark Lord had said so far. He knew he had to make it believable, that he believed everything that the Dark Lord spoke of and some of it he did.

Amycus felt hopeless as Alecto broke down in sobs but he did his brotherly duty and stood there to continue hugging her, giving her the comfort she clearly needed.

 **BREAK**

"Is it just me or is she looking at me funny?" Octavia whispered to Sirius.

They were currently sitting in the Great Hall for dinner, Octavia was still a bit stiff from her injury and he tried to convince her to have dinner in the kitchen instead of the Great Hall but she insisted.

They were facing the Slytherin table, something the both of them had gotten into the habit of doing with both of their siblings in that house.

Octavia was referring to Alecto, watching her.

"No it's not just you, I've noticed it as well. Maybe she's hoping for a thank you for the flowers." Sirius's comment caused Octavia to scoff.

"She can shove her thank you up her ass, I'm not saying thank you for shit." Octavia spoke stubbornly.

Sirius looked at her for a moment, she raised an eyebrow in response but he shook his head before focusing on his dinner.

The two of them made conversation with the rest of their friends during dinner, it wasn't until dessert was served that the empty seat beside Octavia was taken.

She looked to her right and noticed Lilith sitting there with an odd look on her face.

"Yes?" Octavia spoke calmly, she needed to stay calm, she had no idea what would happen. But surely Lilith wouldn't cause a scene, right?

"I'm just glad you are okay O, you're lucky your sister was so close to catch you." Lilith gave her a smile before standing up and making her way back to her original seat.

Octavia didn't say anything to anyone, she didn't know what to say. She thought this had to be a good sign, her stating she was glad she was okay, the use of the nickname and the smile. All of it together should be good news.

"One step at a time, like always." Sirius spoke, hoping to calm her intentions down.

Octavia could be known for jumping into something without thinking, Sirius was the one that usually made her calm down and think and vice versus.

"When are we going to find out what happened between the two of you?" Peter questioned, noticing the tension build around everyone but they all stayed silent.

The three boys were still unsure as to the extent of what was said between Lilith and Octavia, only knew what Octavia let slip to James. She refused to repeat anything else, it was like the summer all over again. Anytime someone asked her about it, she just shook her head while averting her gaze.

"How are you feeling O?" James questioned hoping to change the topic, receiving a grateful smile from the girl.

"Better, the pain potion helped. I just need a good night's sleep, Moony I don't know how you do it with your furry little problem." Octavia smirked at Remus.

They had all started calling Remus' werewolf issue his furry little problem as well as making snide remarks towards him about it. To begin with he was concerned about their words but now he just laughed about it.

"I tried them all out and now keep the most comfortable one stored in the back for my own personal use." He grinned at them and Octavia laughed out loud, this being the first time he has made a joke about his condition.

"Who are you and where is Moony?" Sirius questioned with narrowed eyes and the rest of the boys laughed, knowing Sirius was making fun about the whole situation.

"Oh him, I tied him up and hid him in one of the broom cupboards." That was all it took for the rest of them to burst into a fit of laughter, forgetting for one moment about the issues they all had to deal with on their own.

 **BREAK**

"Have you figured out what you are going to do with your broom yet?" Sirius questioned and Octavia nodded.

They were currently out on the Quidditch Pitch with James, Remus and Peter having a last minute fly together before they all get spilt up for the summer, Remus and Peter were currently borrowing Sirius and Octavia's broom giving the two of them a chance to talk privately on the ground. They have two days until they all board the Hogwarts Express to head home for the summer.

The Castle was filled with buzz from most of the students excited about going home, except for Sirius and Octavia, they were dreading going home for the summer.

"James said he will take it for the summer, that way it won't get broken by my parents again if Alecto says something. She might since they lost."

"She's probably hating that she lost to you right now…" Sirius responded.

"I don't know what to think about Alecto anymore." Octavia responded softly and Sirius let out a sigh.

Sirius knew how much Octavia loved her family, he was hoping that maybe now that it seemed like Alecto didn't care about her as well as her parents it would make it easier for the two of them to maybe one day severe ties with them. All he had to do was make it to 17 without completely pissing his parents off and he would inherit everything, he can cut his family off.

He knew his parents made the mistake of having children too old, they were getting older in their age and they wanted an heir quickly. It was the only reason why Sirius was getting everything the moment he turned 17, his parents wanted to pass on some of the responsibilities before it was too late.

He knew the two of them would survive on his own families fortunes if Octavia got disowned they would be fine, he could support them both.

But now, with Amycus telling stories about how Alecto's fucked up version of love is still there and it bothered Sirius because it pulled her back towards to her family.

"Just see what happens during the summer O, we have no idea what's going to happen."

Octavia nodded before looking up to the sky where their friends were currently flying around, she wanted to get up there and have the wind clear her head but she couldn't take her broom from Remus so quickly considering he only just went up there.

"What if Alecto and Bella are more alike than we thought, remember when Bella drowned her owl?" Octavia spoke and Sirius looked at her, they had never spoke of the moment when they were younger and witnessed Bellatrix drown her owl.

"What are you on about?" Sirius questioned, he now worried as to why she was bringing this up now of all times.

"Bella loved Barney but yet she drowned him in the lake while she was bathing him instead of using a wash cloth or getting Blink to wash Barney."

"Bella's psychotic, what is your point?"

"My point is, Bella loved Barney more than she did Cissy or Dromeda…"

"So she had a weird connection with a bird." Sirius cut her off but only grinned when she glared at him.

"What if Alecto shows her love the same as Bella? What if there is something wrong with both of them?"

"It could be possible but with Alecto one would assume it's because your parents are cousins, whereas Cygnus and Druella aren't related at all."

"So what I could end up crazy like Bella and Al?" Sirius frowned before reaching over and cupping her face.

"I won't let it happen, if you go crazy I will go crazy with you." He smirked and she finally laughed.

"Everything alright over there?" Remus called out and watched as Sirius' hands dropped from Octavia's face.

Sirius laughed before standing up and brushing himself off, "O here just thinks she's going crazy is all."

"Well she is convinced she can see the future." Remus grinned and Octavia narrowed her eyes for a moment.

Octavia smiled at him sweetly and he was worried, he had seen this look a number of times before. "And in that future you are a teacher Moony."

Both Sirius and Remus laughed in response, that statement didn't even dignify a response.

"Two more days and second year is over…" Remus spoke, Octavia smiled at him before leaning against him, the two of them were now on the ground on their own.

"I still can't believe it, it's all gone so fast."

"Are you going to tell your parents you're talking Muggle Studies?"

Octavia groaned in response, "godric I can't even believe I let Sirius talk me into that."

"Will you be alright?" Remus questioned, full of worry. He didn't want anything to happen to her over the summer.

"Yeah, I've seen third year letters. They just list all the required books, I will tell my parents I'm taking Ancient Runes instead and buy that book and when Hogwarts starts I will order the book required for Muggle Studies."

"What about Care of Magical Creatures?"

"They won't mind, especially when I say I just want the knowledge for a future Ministry career."

"But you want that career to get out of the country and move to Romanian to work with dragons?"

"That's the plan." Octavia grinned causing Remus to laugh. "Come on, I want cookies." She stood up and waited for Remus to join her.

"Chocolate cookies?"

"No other." She smiled at him, not really caring about leaving the other three behind.

 **BREAK**

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Of course Octavia is okay, it's only her second year and I've still got five more to write about.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad as for O sneaking away to Potter's…wait and see.**

 **Guest** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Ah yes the dreaded cliffhanger, I hate writing them as much as I hate reading them but sometimes it is necessary for a story. As for Lilith and James, I figured since in the books it seemed as though James easily accepted Remus for his condition so I figured why not Octavia as well and Lilith, well not everyone accepts everyone so easily.**


	23. Letters to Pass Time

**A/N: I'm feeling generous…**

Chapter 22: Letters to Pass Time

 _J – Anyone there?_

 _S – I'm here, my house is a mad house. I can't believe my parents._

 _J – Why what have they done this time?_

 _S – Narcissa is getting married this summer now that she has graduated from Hogwarts, my parents suggested they use the summer home in Scotland. So they've shipped us all out here in preparation for the wedding._

 _J – What about O?_

 _S – Her family will be joining us next week, she is in the bridal party._

 _J – Why is that? I didn't think her and Narcissa were close, I admit you both rarely speak of your families but Dromeda gets mentioned more than anyone._

 _S – Something about this being a small family affair but I call bull, so it's family members being in the bridal party. We're all paired up with our respective future wife/husband._

 _J – Sounds like fun, glad I'm not invited._

 _S – I'm sure I can sneak you in, somewhere in my family tree there was someone who went and married a Potter, well before you became blood traitors._

 _J – Yes because your family hearing the name Potter now will go down amazingly._

 _S – Maybe you're right, I just wish there wasn't so many people coming and going from here._

 _J – Thought you said it was a family affair?_

 _S – I think that's to cover up the fact that no one really liked Narcissa and Lucius. Narcissa was the younger sister, who had to live under Bella's shadow. Everyone was afraid of Bella because she is psychotic while everyone hated Lucius because he threw money at them all to get his way. There are rumours in the family that Lucius brought his Prefects badge, his dad threw money at Slughorn._

 _J – Being your family it wouldn't surprise me._

 _S – What's that meant to mean?_

 _J – My parents work in the Ministry as well Sirius, they hear things. I wasn't passing judgement at you, just the things we've heard about your parents and other family members._

 _S – Ohh, look I have to go. Talk later._

 _J – Sirius, I didn't mean anything by it._

* * *

 _R – Are we making plans to meet up at Diagon Alley again this summer?_

 _J – Yeah of course, same as last year I don't think Sirius and Octavia will be able to join us though._

 _R – Even if we could organise a day for all of us to be there, I don't think their parents would appreciate seeing all of us together in public._

 _J – What makes you say that Moony? We're lovely people._

 _R – Yes, because a Potter and a Werewolf would be lovely company to someone of their status._

 _P – I think you are both fine company…_

 _R – We were making a joke out of it, you all may think we are just fine company but O and Sirius' family don't think so._

 _J – Speaking of O have either of you heard from her?_

 _R – No but I'm sure she is just fine._

 _P – She can't have disappeared again could she?_

 _J – No Sirius stated that her family would be arriving at his summer home soon within a few days, they will have each other this summer._

 _R – That's got to be something._

 _P – Do you think we'll hear from Lilith?_

 _J – She hasn't responded to any of our messages while we were at Hogwarts, why now during the summer?_

 _P – She doesn't have a problem with us, I thought it was just O?_

 _J – We don't know the full extant to what is going but have you had a conversation with Lilith since she stopped spending time with us?_

 _P – No…_

 _R – None of us have Pete, we believe her issue with O extends to the rest of us for whatever reason._

 _J – She'll come around at some point, she's smart. Now Diagon Alley?_

* * *

 _O – James please tell me you are taking good care of my broom._

 _R – What will you do if he doesn't?_

 _O – Kill him…_

 _R – You wouldn't._

 _O – I don't know, my broom is pretty fantastic!_

 _J – You're broom is just fine, I've even taken it out for a couple of flies to make sure it still works._

 _O – I'm so jealous, I just want to get on a broom and go out for a fly but every day is some new function that has me in formal gowns._

 _J – But at least you have Sirius with you._

 _O – That's an understatement._

 _R – What's going on O?_

 _O – Our families are so set on us keeping up appearances I'm forced to spend time with Regulus while Sirius is forced to spend time with Makenna._

 _J – Who's Makenna?_

 _O – The girl Sirius is promised to, you would recognise her if you saw her. She's at Hogwarts with us, she will be going into her sixth year this year._

 _R – Hey, don't your brother and sister graduate after this year?_

 _O – Yeah, they're going into their seventh. Speaking of which, it has been constant talk of Quidditch. Everyone is trying to convince Amycus to step down as Quidditch Captain so he can focus on his NEWTs and get a decent career._

 _J – Wouldn't he be the one to take over the company?_

 _O – Actually no…turns out Regulus and I will be getting it once we graduate. Most of the face time will be done by Regulus but I will be on the books and help with the big decisions, it's so in time we can pass it on to our future son._

 _R – What if you don't have a son?_

 _J – O?_

 _S – She has to keep having children until one of them is a boy._

 _R – When did she find all of this out?_

 _S – Dinner last night, we both found out some more of the contents of our marriage contracts that was drawn up by our parents. By being thirteen we are allowed to know some of it but O's birthday is too close to the Hogwarts departure so they decided to inform her early._

 _J – But that's insane, what happens if she never has a boy?_

 _S – None of the money that is stated in the contract, they still get their trusts from both families but for them to receive a lump sum money to afford housing or other luxuries, they need the lump sum from the marriage._

 _R – Can't you have a son and that will fix it?_

 _S – O and I believe they want to finally merge the company to the one CEO, being the son of both a Carrow and a Black._

 _J – O?_

 _O – I'm here, sorry. I just need to get out of here and go for a fly, it's becoming too much and I don't have anyone else to talk to about._

 _R – We're always here for you._

 _S – She can't always pull her parchment out, she's sharing a room with Makenna. I believe she's currently claiming to be taking a bath and is able to reply slowly due to that._

 _O – That is correct._

 _J – Who is Sirius sharing with?_

 _S – Regulus, but he's gone off with our father._

 _R – Any chance of you two now being old enough that you can sneak off to Diagon Alley for the day without parental supervision?_

 _O – Not until I'm actually thirteen and plus, we aren't allowed to go anywhere while the wedding is going on._

 _J – The summer will fly by and the first thing we'll do at Hogwarts is get you on your broom._

 _O – Can't wait._

* * *

 _L – How badly have I ruined our friendship?_

 _R – Depends, do you still think those horrible things about O?_

 _L – Does everyone know?_

 _R – Pete doesn't but I know for a fact that him and James are off together, Sirius and O also won't be checking their parchments today since the wedding is today._

 _L – I've just heard so many horrible things about Wandless, I panicked when I heard everything you and Sirius were telling me and I took it out on O. I feel so bad but I'm so scared about sharing a dorm with her._

 _R – She isn't going to combust like people think Wandless do because one she isn't a Wandless and two, she isn't unstable. She's exactly the same person you've known since out first night at Hogwarts, you accepted her knowing who she was and who her family is. Why the change now?_

 _L – What makes you all think she isn't a Wandless?_

 _R – Because she has a wand, the whole point of a Wandless is that they can perform magic without a wand. No Wandless on record have a wand._

 _L – Then how is she able to do the magic without a wand in her hand?_

 _R – That we do not know, she is learning the control aspect but we are doing everything we can to find out why her magic is the way it is._

 _L – What if she is a Wandless and just so happens to have a wand? We know what her family are like, we've heard the stories, we've heard they used her parents' wands to learn spells how do we know they just didn't buy her one to cover it up?_

 _R – Something tells me if her parents knew the truth about her magic, she wouldn't be at Hogwarts with us. What gave you the change of mind?_

 _L – I spoke to my dad about Wandless and asked him a few questions, turns out there was a Wandless in the family so many generations back and they were perfectly fine, nothing like what the records say._

 _R – You know you've hurt O with everything you've said to her._

 _L – I know but I don't know how to even begin apologising to her._

 _R – My suggestion, give her space for the summer and wait till September. Apologising in writing won't go down well, especially with her summer so far._

 _L – How bad is it?_

 _R – It's not bad as such, she's just frustrated with the lack of flying and being surrounded by all those families but she will fine._

 _L – Thank you and I'm sorry for shutting you all out._

 _R – It's fine, we'll always be friends. I always expect you all to react like that in regards to me, I never expected to find someone that scares people more than I would._

 _L – People don't know you._

 _R – And you know O, but yet you still reacted the way you did. Everyone makes mistake, you just have to be smart enough to realise you made them and own up to your mistakes._

 _L – I will I promise, come the new term I will apologise to everyone._

* * *

 _J – O I'm so sorry._

 _O – Why, why are you sorry! What happened to my broom!_

 _J – I crashed it and it's damaged, I'm so sorry._

 _O – YOU CRASHED MY BROOM!_

 _J – I'm so sorry._

 _O – JAMES YOU ARE DEAD WHEN WE ARE BACK AT HOGWARTS!_

 _J – I'm sorry O, but I was joking. You're broom is perfectly fine._

 _O – That's it! Next time I'm asking Moony!_

 _J – I'm sorry, it was just sitting there waiting for me to use it._

 _S – What did you do James, O is fuming._

 _J – Told her that I crashed her broom…_

 _S – No wonder she is pissed, watch your back on that train._

 _J – She wouldn't do anything would she?_

 _S – Wait and see James._

* * *

 _J – Anyone heard from Lilith or Pete this summer?_

 _R – I spoke with Lilith the other week, told her to stay off her parchment in case something happens between her and O but we've been owling since. If you want to talk to her, you should owl her._

 _J – Nah, the things she said to O were pretty harsh. How can you forgive her for what was said?_

 _R – I heard her side, I haven't completely forgiven her but I'm still her friend regardless._

 _O – Whose friend?_

 _S – Seriously I'm so glad the crazy is over and we are now hidden away in the middle of nowhere._

 _J – How did you get to Hogwarts so early Sirius?_

 _S – Hah, you are so funny James. But no we're at O's family summer home, it is literally in the middle of nowhere. It's great, just our two families and because the house is so huge to house such a large amount of people at one time so it seems rather empty. O and I are going unnoticed._

 _O – Seriously whose friend?_

 _R – James and I were talking about Lilith, I heard from her the other day._

 _J – O, are you alright?_

 _S – She's fine, still upset about the whole Lilith thing and she refuses to tell me everything that was said. Our summer has been different…to say the least this year. I don't know if it's because of the wedding or maybe our families are finally coming around to us being in Gryffindor but it's different._

 _J – Different how?_

 _S – It's hard to explain, it's everything that feels different including the atmosphere between everyone. Its odd is all._

 _R – Could Amycus or Alecto have told your parents about the last Quidditch match where she fell after taking a Bludger?_

 _S – Nothing's been said but at Christmas they demanded she stopped playing, I doubt they would have said something because her parents would have said something about her playing Quidditch._

 _J – Why isn't she responding now?_

 _S – No idea, just because we're at the same house, I'm not the in the same room as her._

 _J – Well go check you dummy._

 _R – He can be such an idiot sometimes, have you heard from Pete?_

 _J – Not since we all did earlier in the summer, I swear he is more secretive about his summers than O and Sirius._

 _R – Come on now, that's a bit fair fetched. The only reason Sirius and O don't tell us much about their summer is because we wouldn't understand. You may be a Pureblood like them, same with Lilith, but neither of your parents; treat you like theirs do. Your parents had you out of love, theirs had them out of obligation that has to be a harsh upbringing._

 _J – Fine, fine, I will let them be secretive but Pete?_

 _S – Thank you James but Pete, he always claims his family is super close and he spends most of his summer being busy with them. O is fine by the way, just in speaking with her father._

 _J – I admit I have no family left but my parents, but both you and O have plenty of family left and have spent hours complaining about spending so much time with them and yet here you are replying when you can which is more than Pete._

 _R – Why is O in with her father?_

 _J – Sirius?_

 _R – I swear if those two are pulling the disappearing act now, I won't be happy._

 _J – Didn't Sirius say last summer that he was disappearing when he was being called, what if he was being called by his parents?_

 _R – It's possible, anyway I'm meant to be meeting Lilith at Diagon Alley, you're more than welcome to join us James._

 _J – Might do, see you soon._

* * *

 _S – Anyone awake?_

 _L – I am but depends if you want to talk to me or not…_

 _S – I don't even know fully the things that was said between you and O, but the things you did say were so hurtful. You were so quick to jump on the Moony is still the old person bandwagon when we found out the truth but we tell you what we think we know about O and her magic and you treat her like that. That's disgusting Lilith._

 _L – I know, I panicked. All I've ever heard is such bad things, but I grew up hearing about the poor people attacked by werewolves from dad because he works in the ward at St Mungo's, I've heard from both of my parents how they need to change the laws so things are easier for werewolves. But all I've ever heard about people who can perform wandless magic are about Wandless, it's not good things._

 _S – Why the change now Lilith?_

 _L – I spoke to my father, we had a Wandless in the family so many generations back. It was kept off the records, they claimed she was a squib but the family protected her and word is that she was nothing like the stories we've heard._

 _S – Then how come when you were growing up and hearing things about Wandless why didn't your parents speak up about it._

 _L – Because my mum doesn't know, dad said it's a Longbottom family secret that we get told when we are 17. They want us to continue to know about the family member from way back when that was a Wandless in case one day we have one of our own. There is no link as to how Wandless come to be but if we've already had one in the Longbottom line, what's to say we won't have another?_

 _S – But still, you two were best friends. You couldn't put aside the information you've been told as a child and look at your best friend, the girl who can't hurt anyone. I managed to push aside everything my family told me about werewolves._

 _L – But you've been rebelling against your family._

 _S – O hasn't, she was told the same information and values or are you forgetting how often we've said how close our families are?_

 _L – But that's because O loves everyone, regardless of where they come from and what's been given to them as a result._

 _S – Exactly, does that sound like a psychotic Wandless who needs to be locked up and put under 24 hour surveillance?_

 _L – No…I really messed up didn't I?_

 _S – You need to talk to her and make things right, if you don't, you might just lose all of us._

 _L – Remus said to do it in person, giving her the summer._

 _L – Sirius?_

 _L – Sirius you there?  
_

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Ah yes her cunning idea, I do believe that everyone has traits that could be considered to be everyone one of the four houses but we are placed due to the majority of our traits.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I love how you keep suggesting that Octavia should run away to the Potter's, it is an idea but also something her parents probably won't approve of.**


	24. Third Year - Could Hope Lie Within Her?

Chapter 23: Could Hope Lie Within Her?

Octavia was startled awake by the sound of the thunder from the storm happening outside her room.

"Hey it's alright, it was just thunder." Sirius spoke softly, noticing how startled she seemed to be. Normally he would place a comforting hand on her back like he has in the past, but he couldn't this time.

She nodded before turning around on the bed and facing him, she noticed the parchment and board resting on the bed beside him, as well as noticing the signs indicating that there was a new message.

When she remade them she had gotten rid of the glow, she now knew it was stupid to make the parchment glow to indicate a new message from one of her friends. She didn't understand how any of the professors hasn't noticed or even said something, most of the group had even said so at one point or another.

"Who are you speaking to?"

"Lilith, I couldn't sleep."

"Oh…" She stopped speaking to swallow the lump that was rising in her throat.

She was still hurt over what happened between her and Lilith so long ago but the pain wasn't as bad now that she knew most of her friends have accepted her. She knew that Peter would have to be told at some point or another but for now, while they didn't have all the information, he could stay in the dark.

"Just give her a chance when we go back to Hogwarts."

"Why what was she saying Sirius?"

"Don't worry about that, just talk to her when we go back, she'll tell you everything. Now how are you feeling?"

"When do we have to put the paste Al gave us back on?" Octavia questioned in attempts to dodge his question.

"Not till morning, are you going to tell me what had your father so mad at you earlier?"

Octavia shook her head, she had no idea why her father was so mad this time. He didn't even explain, he was just throwing words at her before he raised his wand. The next thing she knew, she was laying on the ground in agony.

Alecto had found her and against Octavia's better judgement, she let her sister help her upstairs and into her bathroom to wash off the blood and apply the paste to help heal the wounds because no matter how much they called, Dinky wouldn't appear.

"Al sure is acting different this summer…"

"Your whole family was until today when your father requested you in the library. What happened?"

"No idea, I'm assuming for Al it was because of the Quidditch Match, she chose to save me. She could have let me fall and claimed she froze at seeing her sister get hurt and fall like that." Octavia scooted closer to the end of the bed and Sirius noticed her hesitate with a couple of movements indicating it hurt.

"Are you alright?" He questioned wearily, unsure as to if she would snap at him or not.

"No," She huffed in response and stopped moving. "I have to go to the bathroom but I can't get off the goddamn bed."

Sirius flicked the blanket off him and walked around to her side of the bed before helping her off it.

"Thank you, I should be fine from here." She gave him a smile before heading towards the bathroom.

Sirius waited until she was in the bathroom before he climbed back into the bed and picked his parchment up noticing there was a new message from Lilith on it.

 _L – Sirius you there?_

 _S – Yeah, I'm here sorry. As I was saying just talk to O when we go back to Hogwarts, everything might work out._

 _L – You sure?_

 _S – I could sugar coat it but no I'm not, I have no idea how O will react. We have a week until we are back at Hogwarts, just wait the week._

"Sirius?" he looked up from the parchment and noticed the tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

Sirius didn't say anything as she shook her head, he just hoped the tears were because of the pain she was in. He hated that Dinky wouldn't come when called, he just hoped her parents were punishing her for whatever it was they think she did by blocking Dinky from her and he wasn't even game enough to call Kreacher, the wretched elf didn't listen to him anyway.

He scooted down in the bed so he was laying down and waited until she curled up on his chest again to go back to sleep.

Earlier they discovered that her practically laying on him was the only way she would fall asleep, she couldn't sleep on her back because of the pain and she felt safer having him close, but they both knew what would happen if anyone found out they were sharing a bed right now.

Sirius just hoped Amycus would keep his promise, the last thing Octavia needed was another form of her parent's punishment.

Amycus had entered Octavia's room in hopes of checking on her but was shocked to discover Sirius in there with her while she was asleep.

Sirius had no idea what to say to him, all Amycus did in the end was ask how she was doing before stating he wouldn't tell anyone about this.

 **BREAK**

"Am what am I doing here?" Octavia complained as her and Amycus walked down the street of Diagon Alley.

"Two reasons, one we need to talk but it can't be done at home and two I still need to figure out what to get my baby sister for her 13th birthday." He gave her a smile and she grinned at him.

There was a part of her that assumed she wouldn't be getting a birthday present from him because of the broom she received back in January.

"I'm sure you will find something Am."

"Yes but I also have a feeling that it won't come close to the broom."

"That broom is amazing Am, I can't thank you enough for that."

"You don't have to thank me, it's the least I could do after what happened to your old one."

Octavia nodded and they both fell silent as they continued walking, she looked through all the windows hoping something would catch her eye but even when she was down here earlier in the month getting her supplies for Hogwarts nothing caught her eye.

"What did you want to talk about?" She questioned cautiously, she had no idea what he wanted to talk about.

It wasn't like they were keeping secrets from Alecto at the moment since it seemed like she had changed her views, there was no more hatred in her eyes as she spoke and the fact that Alecto had helped her with her back was a good sign.

"Your back, how are you feeling? I've been meaning to ask but our parents have been keeping me so busy. The only reason we could get out today was because I told them I still needed to buy you a present for tomorrow."

"It's much better, thank you." She gave him a smile as he directed her into one of the shops. "The paste Al gave me really helped."

"What about the fact that Sirius was with you all night?" He spoke harshly and it caused her to look up at him full off worry. "Don't worry, I haven't told anyone just like I promised Sirius. I came to check on you and found you fast asleep against him, he was awake, half watching you with concern half doing homework."

Doing homework confused her until she remembered the conversation she had with Sirius about Lilith.

"Right, homework. He was just worried and nothing happened Am, we both understand…"

"It's alright O, I'm not here to berate you for that. As long as you both uphold your own marriages when the time comes that's all that matters, surely you know that both Al and I have dated?"

Octavia was shocked, she knew her sister had dated but not Amycus. She knew him, knew he wasn't big on affection and physical contact, how had he dated before?

"I knew about Al but not you."

"None of them have ever been serious, we knew that none of them could be serious, we know we have to up hold our marriages come our graduation in June." Octavia nodded, it was the same thing she had heard on multiple occasions.

She was always questioned what the state of her friendship was with Sirius, almost as if they were worried that one day they would both ditch their own marriage contracts. Some days she wished they could, she would be happier living with Sirius for the rest of her life, why couldn't Regulus and Makenna get married instead?

"Don't you hate that we have no say in our future though Am?"

"Sometimes but it's the way it is, the only way to get the future I want completely is to leave this family, leave both you and Al behind. I know you have Sirius but after what happened last week with father and your back, I just can't. Al needs me and I need to look out for you."

"What about when we're all older? Would you leave then?"

"Is that what you are thinking of doing?" Amycus raised an eyebrow as he spoke, knowing that there was a reason why his youngest sister was put in Gryffindor of all places.

He had always known her to be the shy girl who agreed with everything their parents had said without question, what had the hat seen to place her in the house known for bravery?

"Sometimes, when things seem fine with our parents I think maybe everything has finally changed, maybe they have accepted me but just as things settle down, they all seemed to be flipped on their heads."

"Maybe it will get better with time."

"Or maybe one day our parents are going to go too far and kill me instead of abuse me…" Octavia muttered darkly before walking over to where she saw something that caught her eye.

"O, you can't believe that."

Octavia didn't say anything in response, she couldn't, not in front of people. Before she had walked towards the case, the store workers had ignored the presence of her and Amycus and hadn't heard her comment about being killed by her parents.

"I want that one," Octavia pointed towards and Amycus nodded before getting the workers attention.

 **BREAK**

"Ahhh, finally!" Sirius exclaimed before collapsing down on the bench seat in the compartment.

It was now September 1st and they were heading back to Hogwarts, something which excited both Sirius and Octavia.

"How has Alecto been the last couple of days, she was very quiet at dinner last night?" Sirius questioned, knowing if he questioned how she was feeling she would snap at him.

"I'm not too sure, Am and I went to Diagon the day before last and bought my birthday present and when we returned she was gone. Ever since she returned, she was deathly silent, didn't say a word to anyone."

"I have to ask, are they…" Sirius was cut off by the compartment door opening revealing both James and Remus.

"Fancy seeing you two here," James spoke with a smirk on his face and it caused Sirius to laugh.

"We aren't gone yet mate." Sirius stood up and greeted both boys with a hug.

Octavia hesitantly stood up, she knew she wouldn't be able to get away without hugging both of them. Her back was almost healed but if too much pressure was placed on it, she could feel the pain.

She hugged James first, just hoped that Remus would catch something and take it easier on her and she was glad it worked.

"You okay?" Remus whispered in her ear and she nodded in response.

"Am now."

"How was your summer with the crazy wedding?" James questioned once they were all seated.

"Oh god don't even get me started," Octavia pouted at them before throwing her arms up, overreacting causing them to laugh at her reaction.

"It can't have been that bad, I've been to weddings before and they can be lots of fun." James responded with a grin on his face, something told everyone else he just loved the copious amounts of food.

"How about this James, you attend one of the weddings that our families throw and then you can decide if it's lots of fun."

"Well I am hoping to get an invite to both of your weddings." James grinned causing a glare from both Sirius and Octavia, while Remus couldn't help but laugh.

"Who's getting married?" Peter questioned, no one had noticed his arrived but he had heard James' comment.

"Nothing Pete, it's just a joke. Where have you been all summer?" Octavia questioned and they all sat down on the bench getting comfortable for the long ride.

"Wait!" Octavia yelled out in the middle of the boys' conversation about which Quidditch team is better, she caught all of their attentions but just grinned at them. "James where is my broom!"

James burst out laughing before jumping up and pulling down his trunk, rummaging through it in search of her broom. He pulled it out and she snatched it from him, examining it to make sure there wasn't a mark on it.

"You are so lucky James," she breathed out but James just laughed in response.

"Oh come on O, you know James wouldn't have done anything to that broom. He loves Quidditch, probably more than you do and that broom is stunning, he wouldn't ruin a piece of art like that." Sirius responded but she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Real mature O."

"I'm 13, I'm a big girl." She grinned.

"That reminds me, your present." James began rummaging through the trunk again before pulling out a beautifully wrapped present.

"Your mum wrapped that didn't she?" Peter threw in.

James just shrugged at first, "You're just jealous mate."

Octavia unwrapped the present, incredibly happy at what she saw in the box. She couldn't help but laugh before leaning over and giving James another hug. "It's perfect thank you."

"Your welcome." James stated as Sirius tried to peer over Octavia's shoulder to see what was in the box.

"Jeez, Sirius just ask. Here." She handed the box over as Sirius looked through it.

"Come on then Sirius, show and tell." Remus asked and Pete leaned over to look in the box but Sirius swiftly pulled it away causing the boy to sulk and the rest to laugh.

"It's just the same stuff we got for our birthdays plus a few girly bits and pieces."

"But I'm a girl Sirius, that girl stuff is perfect for me." Octavia spoke and watched as Sirius turned his head to look at her, carefully eyeing her from head to toe that it was slowly becoming unnerving for her to be scrutinized like that.

"When did you become a girl?" he spoke dumbly and she shook her head.

"Where are the rest of my presents?" she demanded and Remus just laughed.

"You can wait till we are at Hogwarts," he responded causing her to huff in annoyance before crossing her arms across her chest and sulk.

 **BREAK**

"Can we talk?" Lilith spoke one morning while Octavia was in the bathroom getting ready for the day.

They had arrived at Hogwarts on Friday, giving them the weekend to settle in before classes start. Octavia was awake and out of the dorm early the following morning, not even giving Lilith the chance to say anything but this morning, Lilith was prepared.

The hand that was holding Octavia's toothbrush hesitated before she continued brushing her teeth, watching Lilith fidget in the doorway nervously waiting for a response from the corner of her eye.

"What did you want to talk about?" Octavia questioned, once she was finished.

She watched as Lilith craned her neck, checking the dorm, she thought it was to make sure it was empty. She wasn't at all surprised that both Evans and Blake were up and out early this morning while Octavia decided to sleep in.

"Our fight, I said some incredibly hurtful and horrible things. I've apologised to the boys for how the things I said affected my friendship with them, I've explained everything the best I could and now it's time I finally apologised to you." Lilith spoke but Octavia didn't say anything she just walked past her exiting the bathroom and took a seat on her bed.

"Why did the boys get an apology during the summer while I had to wait?"

"Because the hurtful things were said to you, I never said anything to the boys. I just shut out them out because they trusted you, I grew up hearing so many bad things about Wandless I just panicked at hearing what you could do."

"But I'm not a Wandless, I tried telling you that, so did the boys. Why couldn't you see that?"

"Because no one other than Wandless can perform wandless magic, that's the whole point."

Octavia took a deep breath and rubbed her temples, tempers were starting to rise again and she didn't want to fight with Lilith anymore.

"Why the change now then?"

"I spoke with my dad about Wandless, claiming they had been mentioned briefly in class and asked questions. He was an Auror back in the day and knew he would have heard of them, he said that we had a family member way back when that was a Wandless and they were everything that was the complete opposite of what we grew up hearing. The Longbottom that was a Wandless is a well-kept secret, not even my mum knows. They claimed she was a squib to everyone who wasn't family, even looking at the family tree the only squib still listed in the books had a family, such a large family. It made me realise that maybe with the right friends and they aren't cut off from the world, then maybe they could have a life that isn't unstable or what people claim them to be."

Neither of them said anything, Octavia just looked at the girl across from her. It was obvious that she was troubled by everything she said, it still troubled Octavia.

"I just don't understand how you were so easily able to jump to conclusions that I was a Wandless, despite the fact that you've seen me use my wand on a large number of occasions. You even thought I was as bad as them, you thought I was unstable and you just wrote me off so easily, you assumed so much." Octavia spoke quietly, knowing that if she was louder her voice would break, showing how upset she was.

"I panicked, I didn't know that there has been at least one instant where a Wandless hasn't ended up being the way everyone says they are."

Octavia shook her head, some of this was so hard for her to accept. "What about Moony though? You so easily accepted him?"

"Maybe it's partly because as rare as werewolves are, they are more common than Wandless. It's been documented about werewolves having normal lives, having families and friends. I've heard the stories from my dad about how badly they are treated at St Mungo's, I've heard from my mum the things that are said within the Ministry. I grew up hearing both good and bad about werewolves, but Wandless it was only bad. I haven't had to rebel against my parents values and beliefs like you and Sirius, it was hard and I panicked. I am deeply sorry for everything I said that hurt you, I hate that I've done that to you." Lilith's eyes welled up and Octavia didn't know what to do or say.

"Did you tell anyone?" Octavia's voice was so low that Lilith almost didn't catch her, when she looked at her once best friend she could tell she was terrified of something.

"God no, I would never do that to you. I still want us to be friends, I miss you O, so much."

"I've missed you too…" Octavia spoke, as her eyes welled up as well causing the two girls to hug and laugh about how they were on the verge of tears.

It was when they turned up for breakfast that boys noticed the two of them laughing about something that they realised things were fine.

"I see the girls are talking again." James whispered in Sirius' ear and he nodded.

"I always knew it would happen, Octavia can't hold a grudge very well."

"Unless it's you…"

Sirius nodded grimly, "Unless it's me…"

 **BREAK**

"How did your parents take the whole you taking Muggle Studies thing?" Octavia questioned as her and Sirius were walking towards the classroom where they would be taking Muggle Studies for the following year.

"Horribly." Sirius grinned and she shook her head.

She knew that was the only reason as to why Sirius was taking Muggle Studies, he wanted to piss off his parents where as she was actually curious to learn how Muggles live since it was something that had always been kept from them because she knew that the things she grew up hearing about them were wrong.

"Do you think news will reach home that I'm taking it?" Octavia questioned and Sirius shook his head.

"Doubtful, I don't believe for a second that there will be a Slytherin taking Muggle Studies and unless they all spilt up and take different classes this period because that will be the only way for them to realise what elective we're taking but again, I don't think any of them are taking Divination."

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into this…" Sirius laughed at her before wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"You'll thank me the day we graduate and run away from our families to live in some muggle town where our kind doesn't go, we will blend in and disappear from this world."

"What about our friends."

"Well of course they will know where we are but no one else, we will escape our families and live of the money I take with us." Sirius smiled at her and she returned it before they entered the classroom, unsure as to what will happen during their class.

When they walked through the door they were shocked, it wasn't a classroom. It was a showroom, housing a large number of products that would be considered to be muggle.

Everyone was unsure as to where they should be but most of them were walking around the room looking at the various objects, some of the students that were muggle born or had one of their parents as a muggle were explaining what some of them were while Octavia was just glad that there wasn't a single Slytherin in the class.

Aside from Sirius and Octavia most of the class was made up of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, none of the boys wanted to take Muggle Studies, Remus said his mother was a muggle and grew up in the muggle world, Peter said that even though both his parents were magical but grew up in a muggle neighbourhood while James and Lilith stated that they just didn't want to take the subject, if they had questions they could ask.

"Welcome, welcome. Everyone take their seats." Professor Smith spoke catching all the students' attentions and bringing them from the muggle objects.

Smith was a stunningly beautiful women who was very young when compared to the rest of the professors at Hogwarts but word from the older students was that her classes were always interesting and they were all surprised that given her background they were shocked at the length of her knowledge.

The younger students always tried to get out of them what they meant but they just stated to wait and see, it was a ritual amongst the students to keep Smith's history a secret until the next batch of third years began taking her class.

The students followed Smith into the classroom and took their seats, eager to see how this class would differ from the rest. Most of their classes were practical, or had a practical component. History of Magic and Astronomy were classes that were purely theory based and both Sirius and Octavia found those classes incredibly boring.

"Now a show of hands if any of you are muggle born," only one hand was raised. "Not surprising, most muggle born students don't find the use for this class while there is a couple every year that wish to learn how wizards view muggles. Now how many of you half one magical one muggle parent?"

A few more hands were raised causing Octavia to look around the room, this is her third year with these people and she didn't know their blood status, although she didn't really care either way but she was curious.

"Now how many of you have only magical parents?" everyone else's hands were raised, including Sirius and Octavia.

There was a reason they had taken seats at the back of the classroom, everyone in Gryffindor might have realised that they having nothing against Muggleborns considering they all but left Evans and a couple of others alone, but that didn't stop the other houses from passing judgement at them because of the pranks they pull on the other houses and they always compared them to their Slytherin relatives and how they treated everyone.

"Now given the circumstances of what is currently happening in our world, how many of you would be considered to be a Pureblood, to have blood that is purer than everyone else's?" Sirius and Octavia shared a look before raising their hands once more. "Now there is nothing to be ashamed of with being a Pureblood, I myself would be considered one as well but yet am classified as a blood traitor for teaching this subject."

"Excuse me if I'm wrong Professor but Smith seems to be a muggle name." The only muggleborn in class spoke and Smith nodded.

"You're right it is, my husband is actually a muggleborn. We met when we were in Hogwarts, for those of you who know your sacred families I actually belong to the Avery family but I was disowned when I married my husband." Sirius and Octavia shared a look once more, shocked at the fact that their Muggle Studies professor was technically an Avery.

"But why would your family disown you for following your heart and marrying someone you love?" Someone else questioned and Octavia wearily looked at Sirius, she was worried where this would go.

"Many reasons, some of which may be studied further if you continue on with this class others are because I defied their wishes. Now since today's class is the first I will start off easy, how about we go back into the show room while some of you who have no muggle parent can have a guess at some of the objects in there." Smith spoke and everyone followed her back out to the showroom.

The period was over and it was time for lunch, Sirius and Octavia both hung back with hope of speaking to Smith. They waited until the rest of the class had piled out before heading up to the front and speaking to her.

"What can I do for the both of you? I must admit I am a little surprised that you two of all people are in this class, this is my seventh year teaching this subject and I have never once had a Slytherin or even someone from one of our families as a student."

"You said you will cover the reasons for you being disowned by your family at some stage during the subject, when?" Sirius spoke but it was when realisation washed over Smith's face that he realised his mistake.

"Both of you have arranged marriages don't you?" They nodded and a look of pity appeared on her face. "Don't worry that particular subject doesn't appear in this class until NEWTs, others will be like how our families view muggles but that won't appear until OWLs. To begin with we only cover muggle related things, whether it be literature, movies, and so on."

"You won't tell anyone about the marriages?" Sirius questioned, there was a reason why they hadn't said anything to anyone yet. They knew if it got back to their parents they could end up in a lot of trouble.

"No I understand that part of the upbringing very well, I understand what the repercussions are for letting others in on our customs and traditions. Please remember if you ever need someone to talk to about anything, whether it be Hogwarts related or anything that is happening at home my door is always open to you. I understand what your upbringing could be like, I will understand."

"Thank you," Octavia gave her a smile.

"We should be getting to lunch." Sirius grabbed her hand and pulled her from the room.

"Do you really think she will understand?" Octavia questioned softly when they were far away from the classroom, making sure Smith didn't hear her.

"I think most of it she will, but as for your abuse I'm unsure. Yes we know that type of punishment is common among the families but not all of them use it, if we weren't as close as we were I wouldn't know about yours. I have no idea if Makenna gets punished like that, unless she tells us she was abused as a child we can't say anything because if she had punishment like that then she will definitely understand the difficulty we have in finding someone to trust."

"But what if we can trust her though." Octavia spoke again and it caused Sirius to stop walking, turn and grip her shoulders.

"We don't know and last thing we need is to tell someone we can't trust, what do you think will happen if she goes to Dumbledore or the Ministry?" Sirius questioned and she averted her gaze. "Promise me you won't say anything to her unless she speaks first, okay?" she nodded.

Sirius placed his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him, "I promise I will always do my best to protect you, when we find someone we trust enough then we will tell them but for now it's just us and Moony, okay? Let's get some lunch."

 **BREAK**

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more. For those of you who haven't made the connection, the end of the previous chapter matches up with the start of this one, it also explains why Sirius disappeared mid conversation with James and Remus, because he heard Octavia's screams.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you love the letters that are exchanged between them, I find it's a good way to cover their summers quickly.**

 **Lilian123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoy my fast updates, I do admit my updates are all over the place but I also write ahead, I don't like to push myself to write chapters and would rather have the story come to me as I please. Yes the relationship I have written between Octavia and Alecto is incredibly weird but I also do love writing the relationship between, it's so different to other sister/sister relationships you can read about but as it's been mentioned before they do believe something is wrong with Alecto and it does go into further detail later on in the story.**


	25. Foul Moods

Chapter 24: Foul Moods

"Hey I've never noticed that before," Lilith spoke, catching the glimmer off a necklace that was around Octavia's neck as the sun reflected off it.

Octavia held the charms in between her fingers, a smile on her face as she looked at them.

"That would be because it's new, Amycus got it for me for my birthday. The charms are meant for a bracelet but I wanted it to be on a necklace, the green charm is my birth stone while the blue gem is the birth stone for Amycus and in turn Alecto." Lilith stepped forward to closely examine the necklace.

"It's beautiful, I thought you had issues with your siblings though?" Lilith questioned wearily, they had only been back at Hogwarts for two weeks and on certain topics things were still a little tense between the two girls but things were slowly fixing themselves.

"Regardless of anything that happens between Am and I, I know he will always love me and protect me but Al is a different story. Things have always been tense between us, more so since I started at Hogwarts but she's still family and I love my family regardless of our differences."

"What differences could you and your family have?" Lilith questioned as the two of them began packing their bags for the day, causing her to miss the way Octavia froze for a moment.

"Well for one I'm in Gryffindor and they've been in Slytherin for centuries, I think the differences between the two houses will explain how it can be with my family, the same goes for Sirius as well." Octavia finally explained, not looking at the other, afraid of what might come through on her face.

Octavia might have been trained to remove all expression of her face and in turn it all came through in her eyes, it was something she shared with Lilith and was now something that the other girl could pick up on. Between Sirius, Remus and Lilith Octavia was finding it very hard to hide her true feelings about something.

Lilith looked up and noticed that Octavia had her back to her, there was something about the way she spoke that didn't sit right with her. She has known for a while that there was something being kept from them all, there was a part of her that thought maybe it was just the whole wandless magic thing but there was something that seemed like there was more too it.

Lilith just kept looking back on the conversation she had with Remus back in April, there was something about the way he spoke that spoke volumes. He obviously knew something and he stated it wasn't his place to tell but yet him and Sirius so easily spoke up about Octavia and her magic, so what else could be going on.

Octavia looked at Lilith and caught the expression on her face, she didn't like it but pushed it aside hoping not to worry the girl or give her reason to think something was being hidden from her.

Octavia gave her a smile, "come on I'm starving and if we have to make the boys wait too long they'll send another terrified first year up here."

Lilith nodded and the two girls headed downstairs to where the boys were waiting for them.

"Have you seen him?"

"Who?"

"The one with the scars."

"No, what scars?"

"He's got scars covering his face."

"No way!"

"Yes way."

"How do you think he got them?"

Octavia and Lilith both stopped at the first years' conversation, they shared a look. Both of them knew exactly who the first year girls were talking…Remus.

"Oi you lot!" Octavia yelled out startling the three girls, standing in the doorway to the first year dorm.

All three of them jumped and wearily turned to face Octavia. "Yes?" one of them questioned.

"O, calm down." Lilith placed a hand on her shoulder but Octavia shook her off.

"I know exactly who you are talking about and I think you better stop, what if he just has a rabid rabbit as a pet?"

"A rabbit can't cause those scars," the same who girl spoke and Octavia narrowed her eyes.

"I know you, you're Edgar's little sister, Amelia Bones. Which tells me you know exactly who I am, so how about this, you and your two little friends stop talking bullocks about our friend and I won't be tempted to make your face look exactly the same." Octavia threatened, seconds later the three girls took off running the rest of the way down the stairs.

"O that wasn't necessary, what if they go to McGonagall?" Lilith pointed out.

Octavia was silent for a moment before shrugging, "who cares, I'm protecting Moony's secret. Worst case scenario is I will have a stern lecture from McGonagall and probably a few detentions for threatening her, she's a Bones Lilith and she knows exactly who I am and what my family can be capable of. If she can't take a threat like that then she doesn't deserve to be in this house." Octavia snapped back before continuing down stairs.

"Says the usually shy girl…" Lilith muttered causing Octavia turn and glare at her.

The boys were waiting at the bottom for the two girls and they all caught the look between the two of them, Sirius picked up his pace to catch with Octavia while the others stayed back with Lilith.

"O what happened?"

"Three stupid first years girls were talking about Moony, so I may have threatened the youngest Bones member that if her and her friends didn't stop talking about him I might be more inclined to make sure their faces ended up looking like his."

Sirius' jaw fell opened, he had not once ever heard Octavia threaten someone like that, she was the shy girl who tried to be friends with everyone. The fact that she threatened three innocent first years like that was a real surprise.

"O that was way too far." He tried to reason with her but knew it didn't work the moment she spun around and glared at him, eyes blazing with anger.

"Are you kidding me! How many times have you threatened the Slytherin students, you and James threaten Snivellus on a daily basis for no goddamn reason but yet I threaten three first years to protect Moony and everyone loses it at me." Octavia spoke through her teeth.

"I get that our summer was hard spending that much time with that many people who look down on us like they do but we don't want to be them, we want to pull away from them and be our own people. That isn't you, you don't threaten people O, it isn't in your nature." Sirius tried to explain calmly but he knew it didn't work, she was still just as angry.

Octavia just spun on her heel and stormed off and Sirius had no choice but to let her go, she needed the time to cool off on her own.

Sirius was sitting in the Great Hall for breakfast on his own when the rest of the group entered and joined him at the Gryffindor table.

"Where's O?" Lilith questioned, noticing that he was alone.

"Most likely the kitchen, I'm just glad we have a free before Care of Magical Creatures."

"What's going on with her? Her foul mood has shown its ugly head more often than not and we've only been back two weeks." Remus spoke and Sirius nodded in agreement.

"It was a hard summer because of the wedding, normally it's just our two families for the two months with the occasional dinner or party with the other families but with the Blacks merging with the Malfoys' those two families were constantly around and then O's family because of their closeness with the Blacks and the Malfoys are incredibly close with the Crabbe and Goyle so it was a mad house with all those families." Sirius explained causing both Lilith and James to nod in understanding.

They both came from Pureblood families and understood how close some of them could be, James might not have spent much time with the same families Lilith did but they had their own sets of families they regularly saw on breaks.

"How bad was it?" Remus questioned and Sirius shook his head.

"I'll meet you guys at class," Sirius stood up and grabbed one of the muffins before leaving the Great Hall and them all sitting there in shock at what just happened.

Sirius entered the Quidditch Pitch and caught sight of the familiar red head floating up in the air, it wasn't until he headed towards the storage cupboard in hopes of grabbing a school broom and joining her that he caught sight of Amycus watching her.

Octavia didn't say anything when Sirius appeared beside her, one look at him made her realise he came out here for his own benefit instead of following her.

"You know Amycus is sitting out here."

"I may have told him to go fuck himself, he then deemed it fit to follow me out here, he must be worried I'm going to throw myself off my broom." A smirk appeared on her face and Sirius laughed.

"Amycus doesn't know you very well if he is convinced that you will throw yourself off your broom in attempts to kill yourself, maybe in attempts to catch the Snitch and hope that I will be there to catch you when you fall."

"That's because you will always be there to catch me when I fall, even when I am a raging bitch."

"Your bad mood can't be due to our summer completely can it?"

"Nope, time of the month." Sirius screwed his face up and she laughed at him. "You asked."

"I will always be here for you O, I've told you this on countless occasions. Your bad moods are nothing compared to my mothers, remember it's you and me against the world." Sirius placed his hand on hers and gave her a smile.

"I just wish more than anything that we don't have to go home for Christmas break, I want to stay here and enjoy a Christmas at Hogwarts. I want months away from my parents and actually be able to celebrate a happy normal Christmas for once." Octavia looked down at where Amycus was sitting in the stands watching the two of them, she was remembering what he said before her birthday about dating.

Sirius spotted her line and sight, that's when he realised something. "Maybe talk to Am and see if he has any advice on that topic."

"Speaking of Am and his advice on topics, did you know he's dated, he claimed I'm allowed to date as long as I understand that it can't be serious."

"Like Regulus would let that happen, he claims you belong to him and him only." Octavia laughed at Sirius, the smirk on his face along with the statement just made it funnier.

But it was true, they both knew how possessive Regulus could be, especially in regards to her.

"I'll race you," Octavia grinned before taking off on the broom knowing full well that she would win against Sirius, especially since he was on a schools broom.

 **BREAK**

"Tell me something," Octavia turned her head at the sound of Frank's voice, she gave him a smile as he jumped over the back of the couch and sat beside her.

Octavia was currently alone in the common room, Lilith was out having a studying group with some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws for her Ancient Runes class while the boys were in detention.

After Octavia threatened those three first year girls, it took all but 24 hours before they went and complained to McGonagall. Octavia was right when she said that she would receive a stern lecture and a large number of detentions, she made it seem like she was feeling guilty for what happened but still sticks by what she did to protect Remus.

"What would you like to know Frank?"

"For one, I've heard rumours about you spending the last two weeks in detention with McGonagall for threatening some poor little first years. Is that something I have to continue to deal with now that I'm Captain?" Frank raised an eyebrow and Octavia laughed.

Frank was made the Captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch team now that Soloman had graduated, along with her graduation it made a Chaser position wide open for James to try out. Frank's Beater partner had also graduated giving another position open for try outs which Sirius was eager to try out for it.

"I have my reasons for what I did to those first years," she quickly looked around and noticed they weren't around. "I wouldn't have actually done something to them, I just needed them to shut up about what they were talking about."

"What were they talking about O?"

"Remus…" was all she said, if the first years had noticed Remus' scars then surely Frank had by now.

"Poor bugger, it's hard to not notice those scars, whatever happened to him must have sucked." Frank shook his head and Octavia nodded, knowing too well about what happened to Remus. "You still never answered my question about being in detention, you, Potter and Black spend an awful amount of time in detention, do I have to worry about it?"

"Like McGonagall is going to put her star Quidditch player in detention, I'm the whole reason as to why the Quidditch Cup is currently sitting in her office." Octavia grinned at him, causing him to laugh. "What's number two?"

"This isn't me saying I'm going to put them on the team but how do I know if the three of you are on the house team that you won't play up, mess around, ignore me and just make fun of the whole thing."

Octavia shook her head, "no way, Quidditch means everything to the three of us. I can't promise we will behave every practise but we will want to win as much as you do."

"Very well, just thought I would ask before try outs tomorrow. I wanted to know what would happen if the three of you were on the team, you shocked everyone last year with your try outs and I didn't want to not give them a position with fear of what could happen with the three of you."

"Well I can assure you the three of us will be perfectly fine on the same team," she gave him a smile before getting up and heading over to where the boys had just entered the common room.

"How was detention boys?" Octavia questioned noticing the annoyed look on Peter's face.

"You're just jealous that you weren't with us." Sirius spoke after chuckling.

"Are you kidding me? Who just had two weeks straight of detentions, McGonagall would lose it if I ended up in detention again. I even just had Frank ask me if it will be a regular occurrence now that he's captain."

"Well you would be ahead in the bet…" James spoke while looking at Remus, knowing full well that unless they kept count themselves they would never know who had the lead.

"Come on, we've made plans with Lilith and she's meeting us there."

"Let me put my books away and then we'll go."

She walked back over to where she had left her things where Frank was still sitting and had been joined by his own friends.

"Thought I would give you the heads up, we're planning to land ourselves in detention again." she teased, laughing at the look on his face.

"You better be joking O, I mean it." He called out as she headed up the stairs, she couldn't help but laugh out at his reaction.

"How come you two get to have all the fun," James complained for the tenth time in the last hour.

Octavia let out a noise of annoyance before opening her eyes and glaring at James.

They were all hidden away in their secret room, the four of them who wanted to complete the Animagus transformation process were currently sitting cross legged on the floor in a squarish circle shape while Lilith and Remus were sitting at the table putting some more details onto the map they were in the process of making.

Remus and Lilith were still hesitant as to if mapping Hogwarts was possible but were still up for the challenge like the others, James was still the only one Octavia had said anything to about the thought that maybe the map could show where your friends are located unless James had said anything to the rest of them.

"James you knew from the start that mediation was involved, did you not know what that meant?" Sirius spoke before Octavia had the chance, knowing full well that she might snap at him.

James didn't say anything, just grumbled a response before closing his eyes again.

Octavia rolled hers before doing the same thing.

"I'm hungry, isn't it time for dinner?" Peter spoke out, not even five minutes later complaining about his hunger. No one said anything at first and the silence was broken by the rumbling of someone's stomach.

"Alright fine, let's go get some dinner." Sirius spoke as he stood up and the others shortly followed, he looked at Octavia and found she was still sitting cross legged on the floor with her eyes closed. "Are you coming?"

Octavia opened her eyes and looked up at Sirius, "no I'm going to stay here in hopes of actually getting somewhere with this whole thing without being interrupted by the babies."

Sirius sat down in front of her and grabbed her hands, tightening his grip when she attempted to pull her hands out of his grasp.

"What's going on with you, we've been at Hogwarts for four weeks and normally by now your bad mood caused by the summer has disappeared. Why has it stuck around so long?"

"Every time I get dressed in the morning I see the scars on my back that he had caused, I get so annoyed. I got absolutely no reason as to why I was punished like that when I normally do have some idea, to have cuts so deep that they scarred and I was in pain for days. I behaved all summer with that stupid wedding, I spent my time with Regulus like I was asked, I played nice with Makenna, I played nice with every single Pureblood that I was expected to be nice too, even the old creeps who tried to feel me up." Octavia saw as anger flashed threw his eyes, she hadn't told him that one of the summer. She gave him a soft smile and laced her fingers with his.

"Normally it's just our two families we have to dodge but this summer, there were so many others and it was harder than normal, I understand that but you have more than those scars on your back. Why is it those particular ones that make you angry?"

"It's just everything, I meant what I said a couple of weeks ago, I want to stay here for Christmas." Octavia muttered before closing her eyes and pulling her hands free from Sirius.

In the end he decided to leave her alone and head downstairs for dinner, with the idea of talking to Amycus about how they could manage to keep Octavia away from her family for Christmas this year.

"Can we talk?" Sirius spoke when he was standing behind Amycus at the Slytherin table.

"Yeah come on, Rab I will see you later." Amycus spoke before standing up and heading out of the Great Hall, tilting his head for Sirius to follow him.

"What did you want to talk about?" Amycus spoke once they were down one of the unused corridors leading towards a dead end.

"It's about O, I'm worried about her. Is there something I don't know that happened during the summer? I'm used to her being in a foul mood for a week or two following breaks because of what happens but it hasn't disappeared." Sirius hated that he was doing this, for even thinking that she was keeping something from him but it had been going on for too long.

"The only abuse I know of is what happened this summer, the cuts on her back. If anything else happened that is bothering her, I wasn't home. They don't sound proof the room anymore, I can always hear her screams so I always know when she is being abused like that."

"How come you've never said anything to your parents about the abuse? How come they stick with her but stopped with the two of you?"

"Al and I never got abused like she does, it was more so when we were younger, like you, to keep us inline but they've continued with O and I don't know why. I have said something to them, I did this summer and in turn I was punished and then a couple of days later father shreds her back like he did."

Sirius couldn't believe this, he never thought that Amycus would speak up to his parents like that because he was trying to keep up appearances but hearing this now, it was all starting to make sense.

"You don't think they treat her like they do because they didn't want her?" Sirius questioned and Amycus raised an eyebrow.

"Where did you hear such a thing like that?"

"O told me, she said she overhead your parents talking about it one night during Christmas break."

"Ah so she does know then, I was afraid when she would find out. How did she react?"

"Not too sure, it was a while before she finally told me and it just came out."

"Was this all you wanted to talk about? Rab might not ask too many questioned because of who you are but the rest of the house, well they aren't as lenient."

"Is there a way you get O to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas instead of going home, that's all she wants this year."

Amycus was silent for a moment, "I'll try, at least it's only September, I'll see what I can do." Amycus gave him a nod before leaving Sirius standing alone in the corridor.

Sirius just hoped Amycus could get this to work, if it's all Octavia wanted then he would try everything to get it to happen. Even if it meant to lie to both of their parents but he just hoped Amycus could work something out knowing it will be easier for them.

 **BREAK**

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **abuu** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm horrible at buying presents for my own friends and family, so I struggle coming up with ideas when it comes to a magical world that someone else created. It could be a number of things, sweets, prank products or books, Quidditch books, Chocolate Frog cards that Octavia is in need of and the girly things could be magically charmed brushes, mirrors or hair accessories that do varies things. The only reason I mentioned the present was because it fit in with the conversation.**


	26. Fears for the Future

Chapter 25: Fears of the Future

Octavia couldn't help it, she was laughing at the way James and Sirius were acting.

The three of them were standing on the Quidditch Pitch, waiting for Frank to address them for the Gryffindor Quidditch try outs. Octavia had never seen the two of them look so focused, it was an unusual sight and she couldn't help but laugh at them for their actions.

Sirius turned his head and glared at her just as Frank stepped out of the team room, ready to start try outs.

Octavia stuck her tongue out before skipping over to where Frank was standing with the rest of the team, she linked her arm through Marlene's before whispering in her ear.

"James and Sirius are hilarious, acting this focused." Marlene smirked at her before looking at where the two boys were standing.

Frank quickly addressed them, thanking them for attending try outs before throwing them all into some quick basic flying drills to find out which ones didn't have a high enough flying standards for the team.

A few more people had turned up to the try outs compared to the previous year due to two positions being opened instead of the previous one. It also didn't help that the two positions that were open were also different positions on the team forcing Frank to hold two separate try outs so he was able to watch everyone individually while they focused on the one task before throwing everyone in together.

Octavia was floating in the one spot watching them all fly around, Frank hadn't released the snitch just yet, as he wasn't too sure as to how some of them would go with her racing through them. It was when she felt a Bludger skim past her ear that she spun around in shock to find Sirius there with a massive grin on his face.

"SIRIUS!" she screamed out, while glaring at him. "What if you had hit me?"

"But I didn't, I didn't aim to hit you, just startle you." He continued to grin and she shook her head.

"Frank can I have your bat?" she questioned when he flew over to find out what the two of them were arguing about.

"Don't even give it to her, we'll all end up in the Hospital Wing."

"I don't have that bad of an aim."

"Try telling Amycus and his broken arm that." Sirius retorted and Octavia crossed her arms.

"Good job for breaking Carrow's arm," Frank patted her on the shoulder. "But you can't have my bat, I'm about to release the Snitch anyway so you'll be busy chasing that. I don't want you to catch it, just chase after it and when you get close don't make a grab for it, just let it get away before chasing it again."

"Will do Cap'in." She saluted before flying off causing Sirius to laugh at her and Frank's face.

Try outs for finally finished but Octavia wasn't on the ground listening to Frank had to say, she was sitting in the goal hoops, looking at the Snitch in her hands. She knew he probably would have preferred if she was down with him and the rest of the team but she wasn't interested in what he had to say, or even who he picked to fill the two empty positions.

"You know that's a Snitch for training purposes, it's meant to go back in the box with the rest of the balls?" Sirius spoke and she looked at up and gave him a smile.

"Wow, one step on the Pitch for try outs and you become a stickler for the rules, next thing I know you will become Prefect."

"Nick it," he deadpanned and she laughed.

"Was planning on it, I like the Snitch, I like feel of it in my hands. It fits in my hands, it's hard and cool."

Sirius reached over and pulled it from her hands, rolling it around in his own hands to see what she liked about it.

"Are you worried about playing this year? Marlene asked me if you were still sure about playing this year after what happened against Slytherin."

"Am said he was pissed about that, that it shouldn't have happened and I doubt that if you made the team, come our match against Slytherin you would let that happen."

"Too right, I protect those I consider family and I will always consider you family O, you know that right?" Octavia nodded at Sirius with a small smile.

"I know Sirius, you're family too regardless of anything that could happen between us."

"Come on let's go shower before getting some food, I know how hungry you get can get after practise." Sirius teased but she just climbed onto her broom and flew down to the ground.

"The Snitch?" Frank questioned with his hand held out but she smiled at him innocently.

"Don't have it," she responded before skipping away, somehow feeling much better now than she was previously and she just put it down to finally being back at Quidditch.

.oOo.

Octavia woke up to the feeling of someone shaking her awake, she grumbled a response before rolling over.

"O wake up." Her eyes snapped open and she sat up at the sound of Sirius' voice, but she relaxed when she realised where she was.

"Did you spend all night in here?" she nodded as she swung her legs around, rubbing her eyes.

She had forgotten that she was in the secluded room late last night, she ended up being out past curfew and couldn't be bothered attempting to sneak back to the Gryffindor common room and risk getting detention so she ended up sleeping on the couch.

"I didn't mean to be in here that late, and when I realised how late it was I didn't want to try dodging Filch or Mrs Norris."

"Lilith was worried that you weren't in the dorm this morning and when she asked me where you were, assuming you were with me that's when I got worried."

"I didn't mean to worry you…"

"I know, it's fine O. Come on let's head back to the common room and get you showered and dressed before breakfast."

She nodded and followed him back to the Gryffindor common room in silence.

Sirius looked at her, worried. She was awfully silent and he didn't know what to do to fix her this time, after try outs three days ago she seemed to be in such a better mood but then yesterday after class she went to the library claiming she needed a book for something but when she returned to the common room, without a book, looking like she had been crying it worried him. They all tried to find out what was wrong with her but she didn't reply, just focused on her homework.

They headed to the Great Hall for dinner and she claimed she wasn't hungry, said if she was she would go to the kitchens and they didn't see her for the rest of the night. Sirius told them all to give her space, saying that if they pushed her she would push them out.

"Are you going to tell me what happened yesterday? Remember I know you incredibly well, after everything we've been through together growing up I also know what it looks like when you've been crying." Sirius questioned as they walked, but he didn't receive a response and he knew not to push it, he just accepted the silence and continued to walk beside her.

"Some of the sixth year Slytherin's had a few choice words, about me, about you, about my future marriage with Regulus, about everything that makes us different to them." Octavia finally spoke, her voice was soft and quiet.

"What did they say O? You can't honestly believe some of the stuff they said."

"They keep claiming that I shouldn't be marrying Regulus, it's they like believe one day he will become the heir instead of you, they all think they should marry him instead, it'll help keep the blood line pure because obviously there is something wrong with us, there was even talks of your contract with Makenna and how it might become void."

"That's all stuff we don't want anyway, why do you care what they think about our marriages? You want to find your prince charming and have the choice to marry him, regardless of what your family thinks. What else was said to make you so upset?"

"They don't understand how my family still claims me as their own, they don't understand why Amycus is protecting me like he is, they think he should be more like Alecto. They claim she has done nothing but bad mouth me in the common room, they think someone should just do what Voldemort didn't do last summer and kill me." her eyes welled up again, she took a step back when Sirius took a step towards her in attempts to hug her.

"How would they know what happened? Who was there last summer?"

"I don't know, the only people I know who were definitely there was Alecto, Bella and Narcissa anyone else wore masks and I couldn't make out their voices, as for how they knew well it could have one of two things, Alecto was telling her friends or they are in with Voldemort and he mentioned it."

Sirius reached out and wiped away a stray tear that had escaped, glad that she didn't take a step away from him this time. His hand stayed on her cheek and he softly stroked it.

"Regardless of what they said about our arranged marriages that we don't want, you shouldn't believe the other stuff they said. Remember what Amycus told you, both he and Alecto love you. We already suspect that maybe Alecto has a skewed view on the sense of love but Amycus, he has claimed that he will do everything he can to protect you, even if that means putting a wedge between the two of you. I spoke to him, he tried going to your parents during the summer, that's why your father did what he did to your back because Amycus requested that it stopped, Amycus was punished as well."

"I didn't know that…" her voice was soft as she lowered her gaze, but Sirius just placed his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him.

"I know and I wasn't planning on telling you because I know you, you would have blamed yourself and told Amycus to say nothing else to your parents to protect him, regardless of the pain and suffering you get. All of this side, don't ever believe someone when they say you should be killed, that's horrible. Think of the people you will be leaving behind, our friends, the people on the Quidditch team, Amycus loves you and even though we haven't spoken to Dromeda in a while she cares about you and my brother, god I hate saying this but my brother cares deeply about you." Sirius spoke, hoping to get her to see that those girls were just trying to tear her down and she shouldn't believe anything that they say.

Octavia nodded before giving the Fat Lady the password for the Gryffindor common room and heading inside, she stopped noticing the crowd hovering around the notice board.

"Guess Frank put the new team listing up," she spoke looking over her shoulder at Sirius, noticing the odd nod of his head.

"He did…" he voice was nonchalant and it confused her.

Sirius had been looking forward to this moment for three days, he had been bugging Frank about it and the only reason he stopped was because he was threatened with a stinging hex.

"James made the team…" Sirius spoke again and Octavia grinned at him, silent for a moment waiting to see if he would say something about himself but he didn't, he just continued to walk towards the stairs.

"Sirius, did you make the team?"

"I haven't looked…"

"What why?" She was confused, it didn't make sense, she assumed both he and James would have been first in line to see the team listing together, surprised that James didn't even say anything to him about his own outcome.

"When Lilith asked where you were this morning I was more concerned with finding you then finding out whether or not I made the team, it made me wonder if I want to be on the team for the same reasons anymore, if I want to be on the team because it's still something we've both wanted for as long as we can remember or if I want to be able to protect you against the Slytherin team after what happened last time."

"You're being an idiot, you've always wanted to be on the team and you spent days bugging Frank about the position." Octavia couldn't believe he was being like this, she pushed past him and everyone else who was crowding around the notice board to see who had made the team.

 _Keeper: Tyler Kingsinton_

 _Beaters: Frank Longbottom, Sirius Black_

 _Chasers: Marlene McKinnon, James Potter, Isabella Lowe_

 _Seeker: Octavia Carrow_

Octavia instantly grinned at the team listing, she was happy for Sirius, regardless of what he just said she knew he wanted on the team because it was something he had always wanted and the events from yesterday had just reminded him of what happened in the match against Slytherin and his fear of almost losing her.

When she turned around Sirius was no longer standing at the bottom of the staircase when she left him, she wanted to follow and tell him that he was on the team but she had to go up, shower and get dressed before coming back down for breakfast.

Octavia didn't manage to catch Sirius until she entered the Great Hall for breakfast, she sat down in the spare seat beside him, he looked up and gave her a smile before looking back down at his plate.

"O where were you last night? I was worried." Lilith spoke, causing her to pull her focus.

"Sorry, I lost track of time and then didn't see the point in attempting to avoid whoever was doing patrols last night to make it back to the common room, I just slept on the couch in there." She gave Lilith a smile and the answer seemed to ease all of their worries about her disappearance the previous night.

"You made the team you know," Octavia spoke, looking back at Sirius but he wasn't looking at her anymore, just looking at his plate.

There was something off about him and it worried her, they were both well known for not opening up when they were asked what was bothering them but they also knew each other extremely well and knew when they can and can't push each other to open up. The fact that they were all sitting in the Great Hall wasn't exactly the best time to push Sirius, it was more to do be done in private, more so when it was just the two of them.

"I don't want it…" Sirius muttered and everyone looked at him with their mouths hanging wide open.

"Why mate? It's all you could speak off leading up to try outs." James questioned but Octavia shook her head.

When Sirius didn't respond, no one said anything else on the topic, just changed it to their upcoming Care of Magical Creatures class and what creature they could be learning about this time round.

It wasn't until that afternoon that Octavia finally managed to pull Sirius away from the rest of their friends.

"What are we doing O?" Sirius complained as she dragged him through the castle.

"We're going for a fly and we're going to throw the Quaffle between us, I want you to remember what you fell in love when it comes to Quidditch like it did in the beginning."

"I don't want too."

"Why? You love going for a fly and most of the time it's you dragging me out for a fly."

"Just drop it O." Sirius growled as he pulled his hand from her grasp, that action caused her to turn around and face him.

"What's really going on? Why don't you want this anymore? Even during the summer it was all you were talking about, what's changed in the last week? If you didn't want this last week you wouldn't have turned up to try outs." Her face softened as she stepped closer to him, hoping to get a better read on him.

Sirius was silent, just looking at her. Her face may have been soft and calm but it was her eyes, always her eyes that gave away the emotion she was feeling whether it was good or bad.

The longer Sirius was silent, the more unnerved she became.

It all happened so fast, Octavia couldn't even remember seeing Sirius step towards her and press his lips against hers.

The kiss only last a moment, but when he pulled away he just left and kept walking.

"SIRIUS!" Octavia yelled out, hoping he would stop so they could talk.

Something had happened, something was said that caused Sirius do that. He wouldn't have done it otherwise, regardless of them both not wanting their future marriages to happen, he wouldn't do something like that to her.

She wanted to follow him, but she couldn't, instead turned and walked in the opposite direction towards the Quidditch Pitch to grab her broom, hoping the rush of air will clear her head.

.oOo.

Weeks had passed since the kiss that took place between Sirius and Octavia, neither one of them said anything, they didn't know how.

Sirius was worried how she was going to react about it all, worried that she would chew him a new one.

While Octavia was worried about him in general, she had no idea what had caused a reaction like that, she was missing something. She didn't want to bring up the kiss in fear that it would just close him off even more but she hadn't found the best chance to bring up what had happened to lead up to that moment.

In the end Sirius had stayed on the Quidditch team, realising what Octavia was trying to show him, regardless of what happened during the Slytherin match he enjoyed playing Quidditch so much and wanted to enjoy these moments with both James and Octavia.

"What's going on with Sirius?" Remus whispered to Octavia one day during Charms.

She didn't say anything at first, just looked up at where Sirius was sitting with James and Peter, except Sirius was actually focusing on his work while James and Peter were goofing off for a change.

"I honestly don't know Moony, I don't even know how to broach the topic with him because every time I try, he snaps at me."

"I've seen his temper, it doesn't worry you?"

She shook her head, she knew Sirius would never hurt her. "No, he would never hurt me just because he loses his temper, you shouldn't worry about that."

"O…"

"Don't Moony, honestly. He knows everything that's happened at home, he hates it so why would he do something like them?" she responded, in code, hoping Remus would get what she was on about without Lilith cluing in who was on the other side.

"Alright fine I believe you but his attitude is worrying me right now, I don't know how to help him."

"I just have to get out of him what is wrong first, something's happened between try outs and the night I spent in the secret room. Once I finally get out of him what's going on, I will know how to fix it or at least help." She responded causing Remus to nod.

Sirius turned his head around with the feeling that someone was watching him, he found both Remus and Octavia looking at him and he could see the concern written on their faces. He returned Octavia's smile before facing forward again, going back to his own work.

.oOo.

"Moony what's a metercircle?" Sirius questioned, causing a variety of reactions from them all but it was only Octavia that laughed.

They were currently sitting in their secluded room working on homework, Sirius and Octavia were currently working on Muggle Studies, which surprisingly seemed to hold Sirius' attention for much longer than any other subjects.

"He means a motorcycle, what's a motorcycle?" Octavia responded once she had stopped laughing, it caused Remus to laugh before he explained.

"It's similar in the aspect of getting a rush of air from a broom but muggles ride them for the adrenaline rush they receive, they're basically like a car…wait do you know what a car is?" Remus questioned causing Sirius' eyebrows to scrunch up in annoyance.

"Yes I know what a car is…" he muttered and Octavia elbowed him in the ribs.

"So yes a motorcycle is like a car but you get the wind rushing through your hair and the adrenaline rush you get from a broom. It has two wheels and a motor like a car does." Remus explained and they could all see the excitement on Sirius' face at the idea of the motorcycle.

"Your mother will kill you if you buy a motorcycle and how the hell are you going to learn how to ride one of those," Octavia pointed a finger at him but he just plastered the evil smirk on his face that she rarely saw, that none of their friends had yet seen. "Whatever you're thinking Sirius, don't do it…" she warned but he continued to look at her like that.

"I'll find a way to ride one of them."

"Just so you know Sirius, you legally have to be a certain age to ride one of them. You have to have to take these tests and everything, it won't be as simple as you buying a bike and teaching yourself how to ride." Remus explained but it didn't seem to bother Sirius.

"Do you really want to piss your mother off?" Octavia questioned, weary of what could happen when Walburga was pissed off, she was worried that maybe she would start punishing him again.

Sirius shrugged in response before looking back down at the book that was between him and Octavia.

"What if?" she spoke quietly and he looked up at her, quickly noticing the worry in her eyes.

"She won't, she knows what will happen if she pushes me away without disowning me. Don't worry alright?" Octavia nodded and looked back at the book, focusing on the assignment task in front of them, all the different forms of transportation that muggles used and how it varied to the forms witches and wizards use.

"Alright Moony, what the hell is a bicycle and how is that different to a motorcycle." Sirius questioned in frustration and they all laughed at him.

It didn't take long for them all to Sirius and Octavia alone, sick of the questions Sirius had when it came to his Muggle Studies assignment, Octavia was too busy laughing at his questions to even concentrate on her own assignment.

"O…" Sirius whined and she looked up through her eyelashes at him.

"Yes Sirius." she responded and he pouted at her. "Oh come on I'm not giving you the answers, you actually enjoy Muggle Studies, but you're just lazy when it comes to the research." His grin caused her to laugh softly.

"I think I'm actually finished, just wanted you to check it for me, like old times?" she nodded, unsure as to why he was asking this of all times.

When they were younger, she used to check his essay for spelling and grammatical errors until he got the hang of it and he did eventually but since they had been at Hogwarts he had rarely asked her to check his essays.

"It's perfect as far as I can tell Sirius, I don't know why you were so worried about it. Don't tell me you have a crush on Smith." She teased and he shook his head, grabbing the parchment from her and rolling it up to place back in his bag.

"Sirius what is going on? What are you keeping from me?" Octavia questioned, frowning when he refused to look at her. "Please talk to me, it can't be worse than me having those sixth years state that they wished Voldemort had killed me that summer."

"All your jokes about my family disowning me may come true."

"What are you on about Sirius?"

"My parents want me to fix whatever it is between Makenna and I as there are rumours floating amongst the families that her family is going to pay the dowry."

"Why do your parents have an issue with that?"

"Because it will look bad on the family, that me being placed in Gryffindor has caused that much trouble that the Rosiers don't want to be a part of the family anymore and that they are willing to pull a lot of their stocks and investments to pay for it."

"But why do you care?"

"If I get disowned I can't protect you anymore, I can't look after both of us when we run away when I turn 17." Octavia now perfectly understood everything, he didn't care either way, he was just worried what would happen to her if he was no longer around to help protect her.

"You're trying to work out how to approach Makenna, why can't you tell her the truth. If you ditch her, come the wedding it will look bad on you not her, you don't care either way what they think of you."

"How the hell am I going to tell the girl, I barely speak to mind you, that I'm planning on disowning my family the minute I turn 17?" Sirius snapped and she took a deep breath before rubbing her temples.

"Don't tell her that, just tell her you're planning on running away, you just want to get to a decent amount of gold in your vault, pay her off for all I care. This is Makenna we are talking about and she is a Rosier, we all know that the Rosiers want nothing but money, it's why they jumped at the chance to have you two get married."

"I really don't want to have to talk to her though that's the thing," he placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward, running his fingers through his hair.

"Is that why you kissed me?" she questioned softly while placing her hands on his, noting the tight grip he had on his hair.

"When I read the letter from mother she stated I must do anything I can to make Makenna change her mind, if that included her wanting us to date or whatever, I was unsure how I would feel about that. I always thought my time at Hogwarts was to do what I wanted and in that moment I panicked thinking I was losing it all, so I kissed you, knowing that at least that would be something I decided to make my own."

"You'll pull your hair out if you don't let go," Octavia whispered while still attempting to pry his fingers out of his hair.

He did as she requested and let go before barking out a laugh, "I say all of that and you have nothing in response?"

"What am I meant to say? That I know where you are coming from, I understand what it means that I have my future taken away from me or are you forgetting that? I worry that one day both of our parents will request the same thing from Regulus and I, for us to start dating publicly like Narcissa and Lucius did. I get why you kissed me, I'm not mad that you did it, yes I'm mad you took away something I wish I had a say in but I won't hold it against you Sirius."

He wrapped his arms around and her and held her close, "I'm afraid that one day I'm going to lose you, I'm going to lose my best friend and that one day our parents won't approve of our friendship anymore."

"I'm scared too Sirius," she whispered in his ear as her eyes welled up.

She always knew this was why neither of them had ever thought about dating each other, because if word got back to their parents then it would be a punishable offence. Their parents would ban them from seeing each other and neither one of them could have that.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Ah yes I remember those types of presents and that could be what they were given in the boxes they received from James but I would rather skip over the presents, future chapters when they are older I will cover some of their presents.**


	27. Making Allies

Chapter 26: Making Allies

"Don't…" Octavia warned as James walked past her.

"And why the bloody hell not? Two years and those two haven't said two words to each other, why the hell are they talking now? It's been forever." James questioned.

Octavia shook her head before looking at where Sirius was standing on the other side of the Entrance Hall talking with Makenna.

It's taken Sirius a while but he has finally gotten up the courage to talk to Makenna and figured out a way for it to work without Sirius letting the truth out, the last thing he needed was for it to get back to his parents, he just hoped that Makenna would take what he said and leave it at that.

He knew there was a chance that Makenna wouldn't like it, wouldn't like being ditched come her wedding day and potentially be caught in the uproar.

"I think I'm going to be sick," James choked out while the two of them stood there and watched as Makenna kissed Sirius but Octavia could tell he wasn't happy with it.

She didn't say anything, instead she watched as Makenna walked towards the two of them.

"Can we talk?" Makenna spoke and Octavia nodded before facing Sirius.

"Go follow him please." James didn't need any further encouragement before he took off after Sirius.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Why is Sirius coming to me now all of a sudden, this is your third year at Hogwarts." Octavia didn't say anything, just looked over to where James was trying to get Sirius to stop.

"Please talk to me, I can't help you if I don't know what's going on. I will tell you what I told him, I don't know where these rumours started but my family isn't paying the dowry. We don't care if you two were placed in Gryffindor." Octavia finally looked at Makenna.

"That's strange considering most of the families look down on us because we were sorted into Gryffindor, what makes you so different?" Octavia questioned.

"I have my own reasons, tell me what is going on Octavia."

"Tell me."

"It doesn't concern you."

"Oh really, you want us to trust you, but you can't tell us that."

"Tell me why Sirius is protecting you."

"No idea what you are on about, but he is just trying to keep his parents happy," Makenna scoffed in response.

"We might not get along very well but I did spend practically the whole summer with you two, I watched Sirius. Sirius lives off pissing his parents off, he wants to see how far he can go before they snap."

"Maybe this is something he doesn't want to piss them off with, they threatened to disown him Makenna."

"Like that bothers him, tell me what is really going on."

"I just did, I'm going to find my friends." Octavia pushed past Makenna but couldn't help but flinch when she harshly gripped her wrist.

"It's you, he's protecting you. He doesn't want to get disown because he's protecting you." Octavia let out a laugh.

"Why would he protect me? I can look after myself or are you forgetting how Gryffindor creamed Slytherin in the prank war my first year. Why did you kiss him?"

"I'll find out why he's protecting you and because I could, do you have a problem with me kissing Sirius?" Makenna spoke with a low voice that Octavia barely heard her.

"You and I both know what would happen if I had a problem with you kissing Sirius, I know the rules about arranged marriages, I know Hogwarts is a time where we are allowed to have fun but for me that doesn't include Sirius because of the close nature of our families."

"I'm only telling you this because I want you to be able to trust me but if you and Sirius want to keep your friendship, if he is protecting you for whatever reason, the things you two do at Hogwarts has to stop. There are a multitude of spies within Hogwarts, keep the physical touching between the two of you to your common room. Word will get back to your parents just like everything else does, you're both still young but the moment they think something more is going on you and I both know what will happen."

Octavia looked at Makenna, hoping to not show the fear and worry on her face.

"Whatever you and Sirius want to do with whatever you are planning to do, I will help, I want to help. I'm not like the rest of our families but we have to learn to trust each other Octavia, let me help."

"You're in Slytherin just like them while Sirius and I aren't, prove we can trust you."

"I will, first Hogsmeade weekend. I'll send you the details." Makenna let go of Octavia's wrist before she left her alone standing in the corridor.

Octavia stood there for a moment, unsure of what just happened with Makenna, had she just made another ally within Slytherin and their families with an upcoming war?

.oOo.

"Hey O, you never told us what Rosier was talking to you about?" James questioned and Sirius' gaze instantly landed on the girl in question.

"Just family stuff from the summer," she responded quickly but refused to look up, but felt Sirius burning a hole in the side of her head.

James fell silent after that, taking her response as she said while Sirius continued to look at her for a few moments eventually giving up and looking back down when he realised she wasn't going to say anything else.

The three of them were currently hiding away in the library looking for a particular spell to try and get something over Filch after he gave them detention for tracking mud through the castle after Quidditch practise the other day but it wasn't just the three of them, it was the whole team.

"What did she say to you," Sirius growled the moment James was gone.

"What did she say to you Sirius?" Octavia responded.

"That we can trust her, she said she'll be in touch before she kissed me and left."

"That's when she came to me and said the same thing."

"She kissed you too?" Sirius spoke with a sly smile on his face and Octavia hit him across the arm.

"No she didn't kiss me, she worked out that you're protecting me from something though. She claimed we can trust her and she wants to help."

"I'm weary of her, she's in Slytherin and a part of those families…"

"But so is Amycus and we trust Amycus, maybe we could eventually trust her."

"She has to earn it O…"

"I know and she said she would, she said the first Hogsmeade weekend."

Sirius fell silent after that, unsure of how to proceed with the conversation. He was weary of the girl he was set to marry come his graduation, the two of them barely spoke and when they did it was just boring polite conversation, there was nothing to it to suggest that she could be trusted.

"I've found it!" James exclaimed as he came back around the corner, quickly looking between the two of them noticing the air thick with tension.

The three of them sat there reading the book that James had returned with, Octavia had remembered seeing this particular spell the previous year when compiling research for a Charms essay and wanted to use it against Filch for a taste of his own medicine.

"Now question is, do we use a spell or a potion?" James questioned.

"As much as this is a Charm and I know I will be able to pull it off, it's easier to get Peeves to deliver a box of sweets then explain how we charmed Filch if we get busted for it. Peeves won't tell on us, he has no reason to turn us in since there is nothing the professors can do to him." Octavia spoke.

"We could always use the cloak…" James started speaking but Sirius cut him off.

"Let's practise hexing Slytherins behind the cloak before we work on Filch, we honestly don't want the Professors asking why we are attacking an adult, one who can't defend himself against magic. The potion it is and we can make it in the dorm tonight before getting Peeves to deliver it in something." Sirius spoke and Octavia nodded in agreement, it didn't take much to convince James it was the better option.

It wasn't until dinner the following day that it finally happened, they don't know if it took that long for Peeves to deliver the box or if it took that long for Filch to eat the cupcake, or small cake as James and Sirius kept referring it to because as they said 'cupcakes are for girls'.

But they were sitting in the Great Hall, assuming nothing would happen when laughter could be heard from a group of girls sitting closest to the door. It was like a domino effect from there, the people surrounding them turned around and began laughing and so on.

When the group of Gryffindors finally realised what was happening they couldn't believe it, for one it was only Sirius, James and Octavia that knew what it was exactly and how it was achieved but to everyone else, when they looked at Filch they were confused as to how he was magically leaving a trail of mud.

But no, it wasn't an ordinary trail of mud, to everyone else they could see the whole trail but when Filch looked behind him to see what everyone was laughing at, all he could see was the trail of mud further away because the ones leading up to him were invisible to him.

When Filch looked out on the masses of students they all tried hard to stifle their laughs but a few always escaped out.

Octavia shared a knowing look with James and Sirius, the plan had worked perfectly and they were thrilled with the results.

Octavia was glad to see that Sirius was finally laughing about something, even if it was as trivial as this. He had been a funk and she was glad she had now found out the truth behind it, now they just had to work out a plan on how to convince his parents that things were fine, or was that why Makenna kissed Sirius, where any number of students could see?

"Better mood now?" Octavia whispered in Sirius ear and he nodded with a grin still firmly planted on his face.

"When I found those damn Marauders that keep leaving mud all over the place they will pay!" Filch yelled out in anger and the mass of students couldn't hold their laughter in anymore, they all let it out until Dumbledore was forced to stand up quieten them down.

"I think we finally found a name for us," Sirius spoke as he and Octavia walked out of the Great Hall after dinner, heading to the Quidditch Pitch to get in a fly before curfew and their first game of the year tomorrow.

.oOo.

"O I need your help," James spoke pulling the girls attention from Marlene, the two of them laughing about something.

It was the following day and the Gryffindor Quidditch Team were currently sitting in the team waiting for the final few minutes to tick down before they had to go and begin their warmup exercises before the game started. They were all curious as to how the team will go with its two new players and under new leadership.

"What's wrong? Can't work out which way you're meant to sit on your broom? She smirked at him and he laughed.

"Funny but no, Sirius is panicking."

"Got it," she spoke and stood up and headed towards the male change rooms, she hesitated at the door and looked at James. He and Sirius were the last ones to leave, she just hoped he was dressed.

"He is dressed," she nodded in thanks and opened the door.

"Sirius?" she called out as she entered the change rooms, she found him sitting on a bench with his head placed in his hands.

She really hated the habit he had picked up of tightly gripping his hair when he was frustrated, confused, angry, nervous basically anything but happy. She walked over and placed her hands over his own.

"What did I say about pulling your hair?" she spoke softly and he let go before looking up at her.

"Were you this nervous last year?" he spoke so quietly that it shocked her, she would never have thought he would be nervous about the game.

"Yes but I seem to remember someone telling me how great I would do, regardless of how shy I can be."

"And you played amazingly, Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup last year because you managed to catch the snitch in every game."

"And you will do fine, you will play just fine today, once you get out there and realise that you will be fine. You will be manage to hit the Bludger towards the Ravenclaw players in attempts to prevent them from scoring and allowing us to win."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you're my best friend, I know you incredibly well."

"What happened to Lilith?" Octavia smiled at the sight of his lips twitching in attempt to smile and she was glad.

"Well if you make us lose today, I may just completely ditch you for her." Octavia stood up and held out her hand. "Don't make me drag you out there." She threatened and he let out a sigh before standing up.

"If we lose I may ditch you for forcing me to do this." Sirius grinned at her and she let out a sigh of relief, managing to pull him out of his funk.

Octavia shook her head, noticing that once again Sirius had either missed his mark or missed the Bludger all together. She quickly looked over to notice Van Der Wald was just floating above the Pitch watching the game below, she also quickly looked around and couldn't notice the Snitch so she took this as a good time to fly over to Sirius.

"Just relax, you're putting too much thought into it." She spoke, stopping beside him.

"I can't do anything right." Sirius spoke and Octavia could detect the frustration in his voice, if this went on much longer she knew he would completely lose it.

"Just breathe and relax, don't overthink everything you are doing. It's like practise, all week you've been hitting your targets, you haven't missed a thing Frank has hit towards you. You're only messing up today because you are over thinking, please relax." She spoke softly and noticed him close his eyes and take a few deep breathes, she placed a hand on his arm before flying off and letting him continue with the game.

Octavia wanted to keep watching Sirius and make sure he will improve but she couldn't, because she noticed that Van Der Wald made a move which meant he had spotted the Snitch and she needed to make a move as well.

Octavia bit her tongue as she rubbed her side, she was annoyed she had missed the Snitch due to a Bludger hitting her in the side and knocking her off course giving Van Der Wald the chance to catch the Snitch without competition and Ravenclaw had ended up winning the match.

She didn't even get to get two words in with Sirius before he threw his broom in her direction and left the team room, she knew James wanted to go after him but when he looked at her she shook her head. She knew she would go after him, but first she needed to shower and get changed giving him a few moments of peace to calm down.

"Can I go after him now?" Octavia jumped as James spoke, she didn't notice him leaning against the wall beside the door to the girls' change rooms as she left and he had startled her.

"Do you have any clue as to where he would have gone?" Octavia spoke with a smirk and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Tell me where he is and then I can go catch up with him."

"How about this, whoever finds him first can pull him out of his funk but remember you were the one that came to me before the game." She continued to smirk at him but he just laughed.

"And looked what happened there, he still played like shit to begin with."

"Funny that you even noticed James," Octavia snapped before leaving the team room, not even caring that James was following her now.

She knew where Sirius would be and knew exactly how he would be, she had a feeling that he wouldn't want James regardless of what was said and there was probably a very strong chance that he will attempt to kick her out as well.

Octavia entered the kitchen, knowing exactly where Sirius will be hiding, in the back corner looking out the small window the house elves had that over looked the Black lake.

"Who would have thought Sirius likes to hide out in the kitchen?" James teased, surprised by the death glare he received in return.

"Fuck off mate." Sirius spoke before looking out the window again.

James took a step forward but Octavia wrapped her fingers around his arm, "it's honestly not worth it."

James ripped his arm out of her grasp and left, muttering fucking bullshit.

"You honestly didn't have to react like that," Octavia walked over and took a seat across from him.

"I could tell you to fuck off as well you know."

"So you had a bad game, it doesn't give you the right to talk to your friends like that."

Sirius looked over at her, his face softening when he noticed the hand on her side. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

"It happens Sirius, injuries happen all the time. It wasn't a cheap shot like the game against Slytherin."

Sirius didn't say anything, he just looked back out the window refusing to look at Octavia, even when she placed a hand on his arm.

"You can't shut us out just because of one bad game, it will get better." Sirius still didn't respond, he continued to look out the window.

Octavia let out a sign before standing up and walking over to one of the house elves asking them to make something in particular.

She continued to sit in front of Sirius in silence while she waited for the house elves to finish their cooking.

"Thank you," she gave the elf a smile, knowing just how much easier it is when you are nicer to the elves compared to when you aren't.

Sirius' head slowly turned, he was able to smell the food that was placed in front her.

"Blueberry waffles huh?" Sirius finally spoke.

"You can have some if you talk to me…" she held out the fork knowing Sirius couldn't say no to them, they were his favourite just like chocolate chip cookies were hers.

"What is there to talk about?" he spoke wearily, still not having made a grab for the fork just yet.

"You snapping at James like you did, I don't think I've ever seen you lose it at James like that. Yes you've snapped at me but I'm used to it, I know you can have a bad temper."

Sirius let out a sigh before grabbing the fork and grabbing some of the waffle in front of him.

"I'll apologise, I just wasn't in the mood for his teasing comments."

"So you had a bad game, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is I had a bad game, I couldn't do anything right, I couldn't even protect you."

"I'm fine, honestly. I will just have a bruise for a couple of days, nothing worse than what I've had before but you just took off after the game, didn't say anything to anyone."

"Frank's probably looking for me as we speak to kick me off the team," Sirius laughed bitterly before looking out the window again.

"Frank won't kick you off the team for one bad game, you've done amazingly well during our practises."

"We done?" Sirius snapped before looking back out the window.

Octavia knew that this was now officially a lost cause, she had tried making peace with Sirius by the use of blueberry waffles but it didn't work. She just had to give him space and hope he would come around, he did say he would apologise to James though.

.oOo.

Octavia looked at where Sirius was sitting with James and the rest of their friends further down the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, it had been a week since the match against Ravenclaw and Sirius had barely said anything to her.

She knew him, she also knew that he was hiding behind his mask. He may have apologised to James for the way he reacted but she also knew that until he started talking to her again, something would still be bothering him.

"I don't think I've ever seen you and my brother not talk like this O." Octavia turned her head and found Regulus sitting beside her.

"He's just annoyed about the Ravenclaw match."

"That was a week ago and if we're going to throw out technicalities O, technically you're the reason Gryffindor lost because you didn't catch the Snitch." Regulus smirked at her and she shook her head.

"Come now, you and I both know that he is incredibly stubborn and ill-tempered, he just wants someone to blame and he can't shove this blame onto your parents so he's using me."

"That doesn't bother you?" Octavia shrugged. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say it does, otherwise you would be sitting with your friends as well."

"It's different when he won't talk to me Reg," she gave him a sad smile before looking back over at her friends.

"Just because you two aren't talking doesn't mean the rest of your friends won't talk to you either, you lot are as thick as thieves I don't honestly believe a small rift between you and my brother will cause problems."

"But yet I don't think I've ever seen you and Sirius share words at Hogwarts, how can you claim to still know him?"

"Regardless of the fact that we don't talk anymore, he is still the same person he has always been just maybe more rebellious, something which I believe is beginning to rub off on you."

"Or maybe I'm starting to stand up for myself Reg, the hat did see something to put me in Gryffindor. As Al and Am have said on a number of occasions that I'm not the same spineless shy girl."

"Oh I still believe you are that shy girl O, you just aren't spineless anymore and you will stand up for yourself when needed, you just had to get away from your parents ruling."

"Funny how you don't say 'our', Sirius always does."

"My parents might be cold heart and not show any affection but they aren't cruel like yours O." with that Regulus stood up and left Octavia alone to wonder what exactly Regulus knew about her home life.

Octavia stood up and left the Great Hall with plans of hiding out in her dorm and finishing off some of her assignments that she had fallen behind on, she knew Sirius needed time and he would come to her when he was ready…at least she hoped.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **HPWeasleyTwins** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It would be the ultimate rebellion if they did dated, but as you said there is a reason as to why they can't.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I promise that one day their lives won't be as complicated as it seems to be now.**


	28. She Couldn't Be, Could She?

**A/N: The previous chapter had been updated a few hours after it was originally posted so I'm unsure as to who read which post. The first post mentioned that Makenna had a younger brother sorted into Ravenclaw, that was the original idea but I changed it but accidently posted the old version. The second update removed that from the conversation, but if you had read the first update there is no need to go back and reread it as there isn't anything of importance.**

 **I've mentioned in earlier chapters that Makenna is the youngest Rosier, but as for her reasons as to why she wants to help Sirius and Octavia that is explained is this chapter.**

.oOo.

Chapter 27: She Couldn't Be, Could She?

Sirius entered the Quidditch Pitch stands, knowing that Octavia had to be out here somewhere. He had already checked the kitchens and their secluded room, Lilith mentioned that she wasn't in their dorm.

He finally found her sitting at the top of the Hufflepuff section of the stands, he wasn't looking at her face on but from the side, with the sun glistening off her checks it was obvious she had been crying.

He always hated seeing her cry, especially when he had a feeling it was his own fault since the two of them haven't spoken since the match against Ravenclaw, he hated that he pushed his best friend away because he was feeling shitty about his bad playing.

"You know I'm such a shitty friend." Sirius sat down beside Octavia and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, glad when she leaned into him.

"I'm used to you shutting me out, remember what happened when we were 9?" Octavia spoke softly.

Sirius let out a laugh, he remembered exactly what she was talking about. It was the Halloween after Octavia had turned 9 and technically Sirius was 10 by that stage but they were finally allowed to escape adult supervision at the parties.

Octavia had successfully found the hidden chocolate stash at the Lestrange's and refused to share it with Sirius claiming he had to find his own, Sirius cracked it when he couldn't find his own source of chocolate and refused to speak to her for two weeks before he caved due to boredom.

"Yes I remember that Halloween so well, I really am sorry O." Sirius spoke quietly and felt her nod against him. "I do hope that you aren't crying because of me."

Octavia pulled away from him and looked at him for a moment before standing up and walking to the railing, closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe. After a moment, she opened her eyes and pulled out a piece of parchment from her pocket.

Sirius stood up and grabbed the parchment from her and quickly read it, when he was done he looked up at her with complete and utter shock.

"When the hell did he send this?" Sirius growled out, anger filling his voice not even realising when she flinched.

"I received it this morning, I don't even know what's wrong with me, how could Voldemort?" Octavia's eyes welled up and Sirius struggled to calm down, it didn't matter if he saw the tears in her eyes and notice just how scared she was.

He hated what Voldemort did to her the summer before their second year and he didn't want to give Voldemort the chance to put Octavia through any more pain and fear.

"I'm going to find Moony, are you going to stay out here?" Octavia nodded at Sirius but didn't move from the railing, he walked over and hugged her tightly before heading inside in search of Remus.

"Tell me about this word you found the other week," Sirius demanded the moment he found Remus hiding in the silence of the library.

"You mean Dreamers?" he questioned and Sirius nodded.

Remus took a deep breath before pulling out the book he had found, the only book that made reference to Dreamers.

.oOo.

"Can anyone tell me anything about Wandless?" Professor Burrows spoke.

They were currently in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Burrows had yet to speak until then. Most of their classes to date started the same way, the students entered and they pulled their books out to read the next chapter with every now and then he would speak and ask them a bunch of questions, some questions lead to discussions that lasted the whole lesson. Every now and then they would do practical work as well.

Octavia looked wearily at Sirius before the rest of the class, barely any hands rose and she was unsure as to how many were afraid to answer or just didn't know anything about Wandless.

"Aren't they unstable witches or wizards who can perform magic without the aid of a wand?" Eileen, a Hufflepuff, answered Burrows question.

"In simple terms yes, in much more complex terms they are to be considered a magical creature. There has only been one on record who has wielded a wand but that wand was made specifically for them, not all of them have been unstable since some of them have gone on to settle down and have families but it is said that control for a Wandless is very hard to come by, they generally need something in there lives that keeps them grounded. There is no limitation to the magic they can perform now who has heard of the term Dreamers?" Burrows questioned and this time no one responded.

Octavia looked at Sirius, Burrows explanation of a Wandless made her think she was one. If there was a Wandless on the records that wielded a wand, couldn't she be another? Sirius was always the one that kept her grounded and under control when she lost it, he was always there for her.

Sirius wasn't looking at Octavia she noticed, no he was looking at Burrows almost as if he was hoping he would explain the term Dreamers, she looked at Remus and noted he was doing the same thing, had they found something?

"As I thought, read Chapter 7 as it goes into detail on some of the more dangerous creatures that you may in counter and we will study further between now and Christmas." Burrows ordered and Octavia continued to look at Sirius.

"Not now O," he whispered before opening his book and looked like he was reading.

Octavia looked at Remus, noting that he wasn't looking at her either. She was worried, there was something they were keeping from her and she was unsure as to what it could be.

Throughout the entire lesson Octavia couldn't focus on her assigned reading, she kept looking at Sirius and Remus. Remus may have been reading the assigned chapter but Sirius was just staring at the book, almost like he was distracted by something on his mind.

She knew it had to do with her, they were talking about Wandless and even though she had a wand they were concerned as to what was exactly different about her, and now that Voldemort had mentioned knowing what she was, it worried her.

"What had you so distracted?" Lilith questioned the moment they left the classroom but when everyone looked at her, they noticed she was looking at Sirius.

"That term, Dreamers. I've heard it before and I was just thinking…"

"If it's what O is?" Lilith responded and Sirius nodded.

"What about me?" Octavia questioned hearing the end of their conversation.

Neither of them said anything at first and she frowned at them, "come on let's go somewhere else and talk." Sirius spoke and Octavia nodded, knowing that they were having lunch in their secluded room thanks to the house elves they had become friendly with.

"Here," Remus spoke pulling a tiny book out of his bag and handing it over to Octavia once they were all seated in the secluded room.

"Page 15," Sirius spoke noticing the confusion on her face.

Octavia flicked through to page 15, taking note of the rest of the information but it was the title on page fifteen that caught her attention, it was the same term that Burrows had mentioned – Dreamers.

 _Many people always seem to confuse the two, whether they think they are talking about Dreamers but refer to Wandless or believe they are talking about Wandless but refer to Dreamers. There are many things that make the two different but there are also many things that make the two very much the same._

A frown was placed on Octavia's face, that was all that was mentioned and it just confused her.

"That's nothing useful." She spoke, her voice full of more anger than she realised.

"What's going on?" Peter questioned, he was the only one who didn't know the extent of what was going on and he was confused by it all.

No one said anything but after a few minutes of silence Remus stood up and motioned for Peter to follow him.

"This doesn't help me at all, it doesn't say anything!" Octavia yelled at them.

"But we have something we have another term, that passage states that people can mix up the two so one would assume that Dreamers can perform Wandless magic like you." Sirius spoke, hoping to calm her down.

"But yet Burrows even said that there was one Wandless on record that had a wand." Octavia snapped and Sirius took a deep breath before looking at James and Lilith for help but they didn't say anything.

"That was specially made for them, O your wand might be different and a rarity but it wasn't especially made for you, Ollivander had no idea about you until you turned up." Sirius responded.

Lilith noticing the tension that was quickly rising between the two spoke up before something else could be said. "Why don't we just ask Burrows about Dreamers, he stated he wasn't at all surprised that no one knew of them, why can't we just ask?"

"No way, I am not asking Burrows what if I get shipped off." Octavia exclaimed with wide eyes, them noticing the fear in them.

"What about McGonagall then? She's been here the whole time we have unlike Burrows?" James piped in and Octavia looked over at where Remus was sitting in the corner with Peter.

"What about Smith Sirius?" she questioned, not able to see his reaction.

"We still can't trust her O, we don't know if she's truly on our side."

"Isn't Smith a Muggleborn?" James questioned and Octavia shook her head in response.

"No, she stated she was an Avery, grew up in one of the Pureblood families like Sirius and I, got sorted into Slytherin like the rest of them but fell in love with a Muggleborn and in the process getting disowned for marrying said Muggleborn." Octavia explained, finally looking at her friends again.

"I think it should be up to O who she asks, essentially this is her secret regardless of us all being involved. Look at what happened when I found out from someone else?" Lilith spoke up, frowning for a moment before looking at Octavia.

Things were back to normal for the two girls and they were both past whatever resentment they had in regards to what happened towards the end of second year, in fact Lilith had joined in on the mission Sirius and Remus had to find out what was different about her while James joined in every now and then but claimed it was boring doing research most of the time and he would rather be with Octavia while she practise her control.

"I'll think about it." Octavia responded before standing up, "I want some fresh air before History of Magic." With that she left, not caring if they were following or not.

.oOo.

"Have you figured out who you are going to speak to?" Remus questioned Octavia one morning during breakfast.

"No, I keep putting it off because what if I can't trust them and they turn me into the Ministry."

"We don't even know what is different about you yet, we won't know until we get more information."

"I can't Moony…" Octavia shook her head and it caught the attention of Sirius.

Remus knew that Octavia was about to push him away if he continued to question her, Remus didn't even have to look at Sirius to know he was worried.

The noise above signal the arrival of the owls with mail for the students, Octavia not expecting anything didn't see the point in looking up at the roof and watch the owls. The only person she really spoke too from outside of Hogwarts was Andromeda, Sirius' cousin, and usually contact went through Sirius but the letters were few and far between.

In fact Octavia had rested her forehead against her arms as she felt a headache coming along and didn't want to deal with the noise from the owls, she figured five, ten minutes at the most and they would be gone and the noise levels would return to normal.

"O?" Sirius spoke, hoping to gather the girls' attention but she didn't budge.

Sirius didn't like the look of the pure black owl sitting on the table in between them all, it looked plain creepy and the bright yellow eyes weren't helping the situation at all.

"O, seriously…" Sirius started and Octavia shot up.

"What Sirius? I real-" she started speaking but stopped dead at the sight of the bird.

Octavia recognised the bird and she couldn't believe he was using this owl, when he sent the last letter to her it was just one of the standard owl but this time, this time he had used the same owl that was regularly seen coming and going from the cabin in the woods that summer.

She hesitantly reached out and grabbed the rolled up parchments that the owl had.

 _Remember what I want from you._

Was all that was written on the first page, Octavia even found his handwriting to be creepy and she hated that he was sending her letters while she was at Hogwarts.

She looked at the other piece of parchment and noticed what was there, she quickly read through it.

 _Dreamers:-_

 _Dreamers are exceptionally rare, they can be even rarer than Wandless and real life Seers. With one only occurring every few hundred years, the last reported one was in 1768. They are a mix of Wandless and Seers._

 _They are capable of performing wandless magic but nowhere to the extent of an actual Wandless, Dreamers can only become sufficient in one class of spells to allow them to produce them without a wand. When they are young it is something that isn't controlled, usually happens when they are distracted, lost in thought or in a surge of emotion and is usually thought to be accidental magic._

 _As they age and study their magic to increase their abilities their preferred type of magic will start to show, whether it be Charms, Transfiguration or the Dark Arts._

 _This is different to Wandless as they can perform any spell without a wand since usually they cannot wield a wand._

 _Dreamers also have speciality wands, they are usually made with two types of wood and almost always contain Dragonheart Strings as their core, on the rare occasion they have had Unicorn hair as their core._

 _There has been instances where Dreamers have been misrecognised as Seers due their ability to see into the future. Seers when needed can see into the near future while Dreamers can only see the distant future, giving them the ability to try and change the events but they must always remember that there is always consequences for their actions, saving one life could kill hundreds._

 _Dreamers are also known for being able to understand Apparation and Animagus transformations better than the ordinary witch or wizard. Their gift does not have to be Transfiguration for this to help them, they are naturally gifted in these abilities. Most Dreamers almost always become an Animgaus but there is no common animal amongst all documented Dreamers._

 _Dreamers are also known to have a deep connection with animals, no one is sure as to what creates this connection. We are unsure as to if it's an undiscovered ability or if the part of them that makes them Dreamers is linked with animals themselves, like Centaurs. Due to the rarity that is Dreamers it makes it harder to further study this connection._

Octavia stared at this, she couldn't believe she had the term Dreamers completely laid out for her and she didn't understand why Voldemort had sent the information to her. She knew there was no way she would do what he wants from her, she couldn't do that to her friends and there was no way that information had no strings attached.

It was obvious that the text had come from a book but she had no idea as to what book it was and she wanted to work out which book it was so she could see if there was any more information other than what was in that page.

"O what is it?" Sirius questioned but she just shook her head before stuffing the parchment in her bag, now deciding she wanted to speak to someone about Dreamers, today at that.

Sirius dropped it after that, he saw the look in her eyes and knew not to question her right now in the Great Hall of all places. He had to wait, there was a part of him that also knew who that letter was from by the way she reacted and he hated that it was could potentially be from Voldemort.

Sirius waited until the two of them were on their way to Muggle Studies before he brought up what happened during breakfast, hoping not to push her away completely.

"What happened this morning O, who was that owl from?" Sirius questioned and wasn't completely surprised when she stopped walking beside him for a moment.

Octavia pulled out the information she was sent this morning and handed it over to Sirius for him to read.

"Where did you find this?"

"I didn't find it, he sent it to me."

"By he, do you mean?" Sirius questioned before attempting to mouth Voldemort and she nodded.

"Why?"

"I think he's hoping I'll still do what he wanted me to do the summer before second year."

"But this tells you what you need to know, you have the dreams and even the magic you have performed how did we not realise it before? They're all spells we learn in Charms."

"My shield is defensive though, we don't learn shields in Charms. My dreams as well, you all thought I was crazy."

"They just seemed odd is all, we were sceptical about it is all." Sirius responded and she just shook her head.

There was a part of him that wondered if there was any dreams that Octavia had kept from him, there had been a few nights where she had woken him up in the middle of the night because of them. Most of them had brought her to the brink of tears because of what she saw, most of what she said she saw was all death and destruction, something which she believed to be because of whatever was brimming on the side of their world, whatever Voldemort was attempting to do with his followers.

"It talks about my wand though, my wand matches the description of what they said, the only thing we don't know if it's true is the Animagus and Apparition part because we haven't tried." Octavia responded, stopped at the door to their Muggle Studies classroom.

"Maybe you should talk to someone, ask them what they know, get all of your questions answered?"

"I'm thinking about talking to McGonagall after class, it's the last one of the day." Octavia spoke softly before walking inside, ending the conversation completely.

"Professor, I was wondering how much you knew about some of the rarer magical creatures?" Octavia asked once everyone cleared out of the classroom.

She was unsure as to how much McGonagall would know but she didn't trust Burrows, he had only been at Hogwarts since the start of the year and she didn't want to get handed over to the Ministry if she was what they all thought she could be, a Dreamer.

"Wouldn't this be a question for Professor Kettleburn or even Professor Burrows?" McGonagall responded but Octavia shook her head.

"It could be but I'm asking you, do you know anything?"

"Take a seat Miss Carrow," McGonagall pointed towards the first row of desks and Octavia obliged. "What creatures are you asking about in particular?"

"Wandless and Dreamers."

"I know more about Wandless because even though they are rare, they are still more common than Dreamers. What would you like to know exactly?"

"What makes them so different? From what I read they can both perform wandless magic but why can Wandless perform all types of magic but not Dreamers, isn't all magic the same?"

She didn't want to trust the bit of information that Voldemort had sent her, she didn't want to trust him and she certainly didn't want him to be right as to what she was but she was still unsure about so much and why was it that Dreamers could only preform one class of magic, whatever that may mean.

"Transfiguration and Charms for example are different in the way they are performed, look at your grades for example, you excel at Charms while your marks in Transfiguration are just above the average. The same is said Mr Potter and Black but in reverse. The difference between the two is the work behind the spell, Charms is all about wand movement while Transfiguration is all about your imagination. You can know the spell like the back of your hand but if you can't picture what you are trying to achieve it won't work."

"But how does Defence Against the Dark Arts work into this and if that is the case, it's all performed without a wand, so how does that make the difference between the two in regards to a Wandless or Dreamer?"

"That is where I am unsure of the differences, why don't you talk with Professor Burrows or Kettleburn?" McGonagall questioned again and noticed the change in Octavia.

"No it's fine, I was just curious is all." Octavia spoke quickly before gathering her things and leaving the room, she had known McGonagall since first year, she trusted her head of house more than the other two.

She was disappointed that McGonagall wasn't able to help, but she supposed that was because she was a Transfiguration Professor and didn't have to know too much about magical creatures.

Octavia did the last thing she thought she would ever do, she went to the library and asked Madam Prince, the librarian if she knew of any books about Dreamers hoping to find something, or even find the book that page was from.

Sirius had found Octavia hiding out in the library just in time to see her throw a book across the table, he had to quickly step to the side to dodge the book flying towards her.

Octavia's eyes went wide as she saw Sirius dodge the book, "sorry I didn't see you."

"It's fine, what did McGonagall say?"

"She didn't know anything, suggested I go to Kettleburn or Burrows but I don't know them Sirius."

Sirius walked over and sat down next to her at the table, he knew trust was hard to come by, it was the way it was with their families, they grew up in an environment where they were taught not to easily trust people.

"Maybe the information is from a book that we can access at home, maybe at Christmas we can find something at home?"

Octavia nodded before leaning forward and placing her head on the table, she wanted to know if she was this Dreamer, it would explain why she was different, she wanted answers but everywhere she looked, she couldn't find them.

"Come on, we have practise." Sirius spoke and Octavia shot up, looking at him and he laughed at the reaction on her face.

"After everything today, I completely forgot about practise."

"We aren't late yet, come on." Sirius stood up, grabbing her bag on the way knowing she would follow him.

.oOo.

"So why aren't we all spending the day together again?" Peter questioned as the group of friends made their way down to Hogsmeade village.

It was finally time for the first Hogsmeade village of the year, some of the older students had made comments about it being late than usual but still all the third years were excited for their first visit.

Peter was also referencing to the fact that Sirius and Octavia weren't spending the whole day with them, they were having trouble convincing all their friends that this was the right thing since they couldn't tell them the sole reason as to why they were and that was because they were meeting up with Makenna.

"Family reasons," Sirius muttered before grabbing Octavia's hand and pulling her quicker down the path.

Octavia looked over her shoulder at her friends and mouthed sorry at them, they all shrugged waving her off since Sirius had been in a foul mood all morning and placed it to that.

"You know Makenna warned us from doing stuff like this, apparently they have spies." Octavia spoke, thinking Sirius would let go of her hand but he didn't.

"We don't even know if we can trust her yet, let's wait until we know we can or not before we stop doing things."

"But our families having spies within Hogwarts make sense Sirius."

"And most of them would be in Slytherin, along with Makenna, we don't know if we can trust her O."

"We'll find out today if we can trust her or not." Octavia snapped back, ripping her hand from Sirius'.

Sirius stopped and looked at her and instantly knew she was annoyed and most likely at him, he muttered an apology before walking through the main stretch of Hogsmeade along with the rest of the students. He didn't want to do this, he wanted to keep Makenna where she belonged, in Slytherin with the rest of the people they couldn't trust but Octavia was the one that pushed it, pushed him to do this.

"There you two are," Makenna spoke, stepping into Sirius' path.

"Yes well we were never exactly told where to meet you." Octavia spoke as she stepped in beside Sirius facing Makenna.

"Yes, well I've found you now that's all that matters." Makenna spoke before leaning forward and quickly kissing Sirius, causing Octavia to giggle at the sight on his face.

"You really need to stop doing that," He growled out and she just flashed him a smile and batted her eyelashes at him.

"Why, all the spies will send home that things are perfectly fine between the two of us in fact we are getting along a lot better than we have previously. Your parents will drop the idea that mine are willing to lose everything and pay the dowry, they won't disown you and you can continue to protect Octavia." Makenna explained before she turned around and started walking.

"It makes sense Sirius, just let her do it if it gets your parents off your back. With everything going on, your parents are the last thing we need to worry about." Octavia placed a hand on his arm and he nodded.

"You coming or what?" Makenna called out and Sirius and Octavia quickly followed her.

It felt like she was giving them a rush tour of the town, quickly leading them through a zig zag path in hopes of not having anyone follow them. Sirius and Octavia had no idea where they were going, they had never been down to Hogsmeade before, in fact they were both worried that maybe they couldn't trust her at all and she was pulling them somewhere where something can happen to them.

"What took so long Kenna?" Octavia raised an eyebrow at Sirius at the sound of the male voice, it was oddly familiar to them both though.

"I had to find these to bumbling idiots, I missed you." Makenna spoke to the voice.

It wasn't until Sirius and Octavia turned the corner and found who she was speaking to, or more so kissing now.

"So you kiss everyone?" Sirius spoke and Octavia couldn't help but laugh as Makenna pulled away.

"Yes well, when a Slytherin dates a Muggleborn Hufflepuff you need to keep up appearances."

"Wow, you have a boyfriend and yet you go around kissing people, how does he feel about that?" Sirius snapped at her and a scowl appeared on Makenna's face.

Octavia placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder to prevent him from doing anything stupid, "don't be like that, I thought you agreed to hear her out. Remember Dromeda dated Ted and look what happened there, you know what could happen."

"It's only been you I've kissed and it's been twice Sirius, don't act so put out when you're the one that wants to fix whatever it is that are causing your parents to threaten to disown you and plus Luke understands and trusts me completely." Makenna spoke before looking up at the Hufflepuff with an adoring smile on her face.

"I know you, you're that Hufflepuff that bumped into us as they were leaving the kitchen a week into our first year." Octavia spoke, finally realising why Luke looked so familiar.

Luke laughed before smiling at them. "So did you manage to find your own way into the kitchen?"

"We did actually, it took a bit but we got there in the end." Octavia grinned at the couple, sneaking a peak at Sirius noticing that he was starting to warm up.

"So does me sharing the one secret that could ruin everything for me and could cost me my family, help improve your trust in me?" Makenna spoke softly causing Sirius and Octavia to share a look.

"Why date him and ruin everything, knowing for a fact that come _my_ graduation we are set to get married?"

"Tell me Sirius, what will happen the moment you turn 17? I know for a fact that you get everything the moment you turn 17 because your parents are aging, they need someone to pass everything onto before something goes wrong for them and there is no one to help you. I've seen you and Octavia during the breaks at the parties, something tells me that you aren't happy with your families."

"Kenna, don't be so cynical." Luke rubbed his hands up and down her arms softly as he softly and Makenna shook her head.

"If you're suggesting that I will disown my family the moment I turn 17, you are crazy."

"Then what Sirius? What is your plan because I know you don't want our marriage to go through?"

"What if I just want to keep my parents happy enough to see me through to my 17 birthday so I can build up my gold before running away, tell me what do you think Dumbledore would do if he hears of a 14 year old run away?" Sirius questioned darkly and Octavia instantly picked up on his change in mood, she knew that Makenna was on the mark and it was obvious that Sirius wasn't happy about that.

"Calm down Sirius, it's obvious that Makenna doesn't want your marriage to go through as well, she's said herself she wants to help. She's dating a Muggleborn in Hufflepuff for godric sake, she's risking everything herself." Octavia spoke softly and Sirius shook her off before walking off on them both.

"Do you trust me Octavia?" Makenna questioned and she softly nodded.

"Sirius didn't want to do this, he figured it would be easier if you were just like the rest of your house because honestly it will look a little suspicious to see a Gryffindor and a Slytherin talk."

"I've seen both you and Sirius share conversations with Amycus and it's only not considered weird because he is your brother, most of the Slytherins know about the marriage that is meant to happen between Sirius and I."

"Let me talk to him Makenna, we'll work something out for you."

"And I will work out why he's protecting you Octavia, either you tell me or I will find out."

"There's nothing to tell Makenna, remember you're the one breaking your families rules while we aren't, keep your nose out of where it doesn't belong." Octavia threatened before walking off in search of Sirius.

"O, there you are. Where's Sirius?" Octavia turned around and found James standing there with the rest of their friends.

She gave them a small smile before quickly looking around in Sirius, not wanting to admit that he was still in a foul mood. She managed to spot him walking out of a shop, which must have been a sweet shop due to the liquorice wands in his hands.

"He's just there," she pointed to Sirius behind them.

Sirius walked over to them all and handed over a chocolate frog to Octavia, she knew what this was, it was a peace offering and her accepting the frog meant she didn't hold anything that just happened against him.

For Sirius it meant letting in another one of the family members that they thought they couldn't trust, for Sirius it meant accepting that he didn't know everything he thought he knew about the families and he hated it.

"Family things all sorted?" Peter questioned.

Sirius nodded, a mouth full of food to begin with. "Now show us, what have you all seen so far?"

Remus placed a hand on Octavia's arm to stop her as the rest of their friends walked off.

"Yes Moony?" she spoke softly, giving him a smile and a small chuckle left his mouth.

"Is he alright?"

"Will be, you know enough to know we aren't happy with our families. Just give him today and tomorrow he will be back to normal." Octavia spoke and Remus nodded before the two of them walked off and joined the rest of their friends as they checked out the rest of Hogsmeade.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I actually didn't mean for Regulus to come out as sounding cold but rereading the chapter, you're right he does sound a bit cold and harsh towards her with some of the things that are said.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm sorry you feel that way about Sirius and Octavia but they are young and hiding what would be considering a rather large secret in regards to their home lives so it can cause some tension between the two of them. As they get older they do get better, mostly anyway.**

 **Katie** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. No need to apologise, I understand that sometimes life gets in the way, even though I post new chapters every couple of days I am also behind in my reading but I'm glad you are still enjoying my story.**


	29. Betrayal

Chapter 28: Betrayal

 _"No I'm telling you they're all dead, Prongs, Lily and Wormtail. He did it." Remus spoke and Octavia growled at him._

 _"You're insane, why would Sirius of all people do something like that. James was family to us!" Octavia yelled in response._

 _"You can't even use the nicknames we have since we were 14, what's with the change?"_

 _"Because I don't believe any of this Moony, tell me. Why would Padfoot betray all of us? Him giving Voldemort Prongs and Lily's location doesn't make sense, he had to know he would have been caught for it and why would he kill Wormtail?"_

 _"Maybe because he's been playing us all along?"_

 _"I just don't believe it, he would have lost so much. He adores Willa, why would he give her up?"_

 _"Maybe he never did…"_

 _"You're insane Moony, Willa is his daughter!"_

Octavia shot up in her bed from her dream, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She knew it was her and Remus arguing, they might have been older but it was enough to realise it was them but it was the nicknames that they both mentioned that confused her.

What was shocking of all was that Sirius had a daughter, what was with her dream, why would she dream of Sirius having a daughter? The same name that she saw her daughter having the previous year, had something changed or were they destined to have a daughter together?

She climbed out of her bed and headed down the stairs before heading up the other staircase and entering the boys' dorm and crept over to Sirius' bed and shook him awake.

"What is it? I swear I'm getting sick and tired of you waking me up in the middle of the night." Sirius sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"You wouldn't betray us right? You'll have our backs always right?" Octavia spoke quietly and Sirius cocked his head to the side, almost trying to read her.

"You had another dream of yours didn't you?" he questioned and she nodded, he hung his head before shifting over and letting her climb in beside him. "What happened?"

"Something about James, Evans and Pete being dead, you betraying us all. Me and Moony arguing and you had a daughter."

"Me having kids," Sirius laughed and Octavia felt a little better about the whole thing. "Now we know that one won't come true if I get my way, get some sleep O." Sirius spoke softly before softly kissing her head.

Octavia didn't fall asleep straight away, she was worried if Sirius would force her to tell the others about the ones she had been keeping from them. If there was anything to her dreams, she didn't want this one to be true, especially if what Remus said was true. At some point in the future, before they got 'old', James and Peter would be dead, along with Evans. Octavia didn't hate Evans but it didn't mean she wanted the girl dead at the hands of Voldemort.

Octavia never told him about the dream she had last year, she didn't see the point since it wasn't of anything useful. She always thought her daughter was with Regulus, but now, now she was thinking it was with Sirius instead of Regulus.

If she was a Dreamer, like they had suspected, then could this really be something from their futures? Could James, Peter and Evans really end up dead, and was it at the hands of Voldemort or Sirius?

When Sirius woke up in the morning he noticed that Octavia was awake but it was obvious she didn't get a wink of sleep after she climbed into bed with him.

"What did you see in your dream O?" he spoke softly, startling her.

"Moony and I were arguing, something about you selling Pete, James and Evans to Voldemort and they ended up dead. Moony was deadest on the fact that you did it while I couldn't believe it, I claimed because you adored your daughter, you wouldn't, couldn't do it." Sirius reached over and wiped away the single tear that had escaped.

"I would never betray you guys, I don't even know Evans but James and Pete, they're our friends why would I do something like that? Regardless of what that piece of parchment that Voldemort sent you, I honestly don't believe that dream will come true."

"But what if it does?" Octavia questioned and Sirius frowned as her voice broke.

"It won't, I will never betray you guys, ever." Sirius spoke sternly, Octavia nodded before snuggling in closer to him. "Get some more sleep, it's the weekend and we don't have to head down for breakfast any time soon."

.oOo.

Everyone looked up and watched as the seventh year Ravenclaw walked towards Professor Flitwick.

The third year Gryffindors were currently in Charms with the Hufflepuff students, it was rare to see another student enter a classroom when most of them had their own classes or if they had study breaks they were in their common room or the library. So of course everyone curious as to why the seventh year decided it to be a good idea to interrupt the third year class.

"Miss Carrow, you've been requested to go and see Professor Dumbledore." Flitwick spoke in his squeaky voice and Octavia instantly looked at her friends.

She couldn't understand why she was to go and see Dumbledore, it didn't make sense. Even when she had to go home for her aunt Hattie's funeral she didn't visit Dumbledore, in fact the only conversation she's had with Dumbledore was last year about her arm.

"Take this," Octavia shoved her parchment that was linked with her friends at Remus, unsure as to what would happen if Dumbledore saw it.

Octavia packed away her things before leaving the classroom, completely unaware of what could happen the moment she entered his office. She was worried that he had found out the truth about her home life, the truth about the scar on the her arm or even that Voldemort was sending her letters on the odd occasion.

"You wanted to see me Professor?" Octavia spoke as she entered Dumbledore's office, still worried about why she was requested.

"Yes, I had Professor McGonagall come and speak to me a few days ago, she stated you were asking questions about Wandless and Dreamers."

The fact that Octavia was questioning McGonagall about the difference between Dreamers and Wandless didn't even cross her mind, now she was worried about what Dumbledore would do if he knew the truth.

"I was but I had read about them and was only curious about the differences between the two, I didn't understand how Wandless could perform all types of magic plus their own while Dreamers could only perform one class of spells."

"It isn't fully studied because both types are so rare, but it is said to believe that it's what makes them different to your average witch or wizard. There is something in them that allows them to perform the wandless magic, almost like they pull the energy needed from within themselves. Wandless are able to pull more energy from within themselves giving them no limitation while Dreamers can't, they are limited and that limitation reduces them to one class of magic. Nearly every single one of the Dreamers on record have been able to produce spells that can be either classified as either Charms or Transfiguration whereas only one has been able to produce spells that would be taught under the Defence Against the Dark Arts branch."

"Why only one?" Octavia questioned, she knew she had to be careful about what she asked or said. She didn't know what Dumbledore would do if he knew the truth.

"I believe it's because of the spells they use, the Patronus Charm for example is as the name says a charm but it's used as a form of defence against Dementors. There are a few spells that are the case. As for why there is only one Dreamer on record who has managed these charms is because I believe it's the amount of concentration put into them. Flipendo as an example, the more energy or concentration you put into performing the spell, the stronger the affects."

"Okay but why is there such a difference? Why can't Dreamers perform all spells but for only a duration of time?"

"I cannot tell you that Miss Carrow but I can tell you why I believe there is a difference between the three. Transfiguration is changing the structure and appearance of an object, it requires more imagination whereas Charms is changing the environment and is heavily based on wand movements."

"But if Charms is based on wand movements how does a Dreamer or Wandless perform them?"

"That I do not know, maybe for them it's based on imagination."

"But then why not Transfiguration as well then if it's imagination?"

"I do not know, that is what I do not understand. What do you believe you have specialised in Octavia?" Dumbledore spoke and Octavia froze, she had no idea what to say in response and now she was terrified she wouldn't be allowed to stay on at Hogwarts.

She had read up on Wandless, they were considered dangerous creatures. They even had a XXXXX Ministry Rating attached to them, while Dreamers, they were so rare that they weren't even on the rating system.

"You can trust me, I've been suspicious about the truth since I heard about your wand, surely you've read enough to know that every single one of the recorded Dreamers have had a wand made from two types of woods. I must note that you've been lucky to have two woods of very similar colour, most don't and that is why they get caught out so early."

"We believe it's Charms, I can levitate things, on occasions things have burst into flames while I've been around and I've also managed to produce a protective shield but that is what threw us because the shield is defensive."

"Interesting, have you managed to succeed in performing anything on command?"

Octavia didn't response, she just stayed silent looking at Dumbledore as she watched him. She was worried about how bad it was going to be when she revealed everything to him, for years her parents spoke badly of him but being at Hogwarts changed that view and now she was just confused.

"What made you think I am one?"

"Your wand, Ollivander informed me of the purchase once you had left. Surely you've read enough to know that Dreamers only ever have wands that contain two types of woods, they have never gone out to a normal witch or wizard."

Octavia didn't say anything, she just focused on the book on Dumbledore's desk and within moments it was floating in front.

"Excellent, that is truly remarkable. Now I do have to ask, where did you find your information?" Dumbledore questioned and that is what terrified her, she didn't know how she would respond saying that it was Voldemort.

"We've been trying to find out what was so different about me and the only thing we could find was information on Wandless, there was only one book that mentioned Dreamers but didn't have any information and it wasn't until Professor Burrows mentioned them in class once that we were really curious."

"That still doesn't tell me where you found your information, I know none of the books in the library house the information you would be after."

"Does it really matter? I obviously wasn't given enough information since I had to go asking more questions, do you know where I can find some books to help me? I want to work out what is so different, I want to be able to control my powers and work out if my dreams are actually real."

The look that appeared on Dumbledore's face made her realise that she made a mistake, that she shouldn't have mentioned her dreams because until then he had only asked about her magical abilities as a Dreamer but nothing about dreams and her future.

"You've been having dreams, as you say, about the future?"

"Yes, is there something wrong with that? From what I've read it's a part of being a Dreamer." Octavia was worried, was she not a Dreamer like her and her friends had thought, like Dumbledore suggested.

"No it most certainly is a part of being a Dreamer and I'm not saying you aren't one because I honestly believe you are a Dreamer because the dots add up but most Dreamers don't have the ability to see into the future until they are older, much older than you are. What have you seen?" Dumbledore's statement had shocked her, if she wasn't meant to see into the future just yet, why was she? Was she that different from other Dreamers?

"Some things are trivial, whether it be me much older seeing my future children off to their time at Hogwarts or moments of my future that make it seem like everything is fine and nothing bad happens but…"

"But what Octavia, there is something else you aren't telling me."

"I feel like there is a war on the horizon for our kind and Voldemort is the front runner." Octavia spoke quietly, not looking at Dumbledore in fact she was looking at the Phoenix that Dumbledore had.

"It was Voldemort that sent you that information wasn't it?" Dumbledore finally questioned but Octavia didn't respond, she didn't want to answer that question.

"Your Phoenix is stunning."

"Yes Fawkes is stunning, a very loyal companion at that. We all need someone loyal in our lives, someone who cares for our wellbeing, the one person we can't keep secrets from." Octavia looked over at Dumbledore just in time to catch him write something on a piece of parchment.

"Yes, it makes things easier having that person in our lives doesn't it?"

"It does, here take this, it will grant you access to the books you need in the Restricted Section." Octavia grabbed the piece of parchment that he held out, with a small smile of thanks. "I do wish that if Voldemort attempts to contact you again that you tell me, I only wish to help you Octavia."

She didn't say anything, just grabbed the piece of parchment and her things before leaving Dumbledore's office, unsure as to if she wanted to go back to her friends just yet.

.oOo.

Octavia stood in the bathroom behind a locked door looking at the permission slip Dumbledore had given her for the books she needed that were in the Restricted Section of the library a few days ago. She hadn't set foot in the library, afraid of what could happen the moment she read those books and she had been dodging every single question her friends threw her way in regards to her being requested to Dumbledore's office.

She unlocked the door and stepped out into her dorm room to notice Lilith sitting cross legged on her bed, almost as if she was waiting for her.

"You took forever in the bathroom, come on I'm starving." Lilith exclaimed and Octavia laughed, it was almost as if the boys were rubbing off on the girls. "What's so funny?"

"You, I've never heard you complain about being hungry like that, ever. It's like the boys are rubbing off on you."

"Or you, you complain that you're hungry all the time, you even eat as much as them." Lilith spoke with a smile on her face and Octavia shook her head.

"Come on let's go get breakfast then if you're so hungry." Octavia teased and left the dorm.

Octavia was still laughing at the whining Lilith as they entered the Great Hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor table with the boys.

"What are you laughing at?" Sirius questioned, carefully watching Octavia.

He was worried, she had a very good mask on her but in the last couple of days he had seen the cracks and knew that whatever was said in Dumbledore's office had panicked her and she refused to talk about it, he didn't want her to push him away but he could only sit back and watch her crack and slowly break down so many times.

"Lilith complaining she was hungry, I compared her to you boys." Octavia smirked and Sirius barked out a laugh, the rest of the boys following shortly.

"I think you're as bad as us O," Remus spoke and when Octavia looked at him, he was smiling into his goblet.

Octavia picked up a piece of toast and threw it at him, muttering something about him being a world class prat.

"I'll meet you and James at Quidditch practise later," Sirius nodded at her, he wanted to question what she was doing but he also knew today was the day he was going to follow her and see what she was hiding from them.

"That was strange…" Peter muttered and Sirius looked at him. "She's being acting weird and normally you question what she's doing."

"Just leave it Pete, I'll see you all later." Sirius spoke before standing up and rushing out of the Great Hall hoping he can catch sight of Octavia before she disappeared, knowing full well that she knew the Castle better than any of them due to her better memory.

"Dumbledore gave you permission for these?" Madam Prince questioned Octavia, Octavia knew it sounded farfetched, how often did Dumbledore give out permission?

Octavia had finally decided to go to the library to check out the books Dumbledore had given her permission for, hoping that they would be helpful.

"Yes he did, I was requested to his office a couple of days ago but I haven't had the time to come and check the books out until now, so can I have them or not?"

"This is six books Miss Carrow, normally students are only allowed one or two at a time."

Octavia shrugged, "How often does Dumbledore give out permission? Surely given that it's from the Headmaster I can have the six books?"

"Very well wait here."

Octavia let out a breath of relief as Prince walked away, she was glad that the nature of the books wasn't questioned nor why she wanted them.

"Why did Dumbledore give you permission for so many books?" Octavia jumped at the sound of Sirius' voice but he didn't apologise, he continued talking. "That can't be the true nature of your visit to his office?"

Octavia turned and faced him, not entirely pleased with this knowing he had followed her. "Did you follow me here?" she hissed at him and he shrugged.

"What's with the books O, why did Dumbledore give you permission to them?" Sirius questioned again and she rolled her eyes.

Octavia let out a huff of annoyance before speaking. "You're like a dog with a bone you know that right?"

"Hey maybe that will be my Animagus form," Sirius tapped her on the shoulder and she just shook her head at him.

"Maybe that's what we should find next, books on Animagus forms and start trying to work out what we may get." Octavia responded and looked back just in time to see Prince returning with the books.

"That's them, they're huge."

"They're the books Dumbledore gave you permission for, although Unmasked Creatures is not to be taken from the library under any circumstances. You have permission to read through it but it has to be returned, I will continue to give it to you no questions asked until I'm told otherwise by Dumbledore."

"Got it, I will return Unmasked Creatures when I leave the library." Octavia flashed Prince a smile before grabbing the books and heading towards her favourite table in the back.

"Is that what you aren't telling me, Dumbledore confronted you about what we assume to believe, you being a Dreamer? Did he give you those books?"

"Why do you care Sirius? Why do you care so much about what Dumbledore wanted me in his office for? You've never bugged me this much about why a Professor has requested me but now, all of a sudden because it was Dumbledore you're on my case like a dog with a bone." Octavia snapped as she placed the books down on the table.

"I care because if it is about these Dreamer creatures I want to help, I want to know what has Voldemort so fascinated by you and why he wants you. They must be pretty damn powerful that he wants you, regardless of you refusing to do what he wants and the fact that we are considered blood traitors by our families." Sirius spoke, his voice coming out hoarse due to the anger he was holding in and Octavia lowered her gaze, refusing to look at him.

"And apparently I'm more powerful then what they usually are."

"What are you on about?"

"Dumbledore said that most Dreamers don't start seeing the future until they're older, the fact that I'm so young is a surprise even with most of my dreams being about death and destruction shocked him."

Sirius grabbed one of the books to help her read through, he wanted to do this for her because she was his best friend and he was worried about her future.

"We'll figure this out and the rest of our friends know, they will help us. Maybe you're only having your dreams because of the war that we think is coming, your dream the other night, yes you found out that I'm having a daughter at some stage in the future but you said that you and Moony were arguing about them being dead at the hands of Voldemort yes?" Sirius questioned and she looked up at him, thinking about it all.

"You think all of my dreams I've had so far, regardless of how trivial they seem are related back to this war and Voldemort?" Octavia stated and he nodded. "But my one about the map doesn't make sense, all it was was some kid walking down one of the corridors at Hogwarts with it."

"All you see is what is going on at that point in time yes? You know nothing of what's happened before that moment yes?" Octavia nodded in response. "Then how do you know that kid isn't using that map to find something or someone that is linked with Voldemort. If that's the case then wouldn't all your dreams be in some way or another linked to Voldemort, maybe him and our unsure future and war has caused you to start having the dreams earlier than other Dreamers have?"

"Alright fine, when you put it that way it makes sense but is our future going to be that bad if it's causing me to have these dreams so early? Are we really going to be facing a war when we graduate? Because Moony and I didn't look that old in that dream."

"I can't tell you that O, they're your dreams. Come on let's start reading some of these and see what is useful."

Octavia nodded before opening the first book, she wanted her answers and just hoped these would help.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I hope this chapter answered your question but if not, she is differently a Dreamer and not a Wandless. Wandless have been a number of times and I wanted to do something difference, hence Dreamer since I haven't read anything like it.**

 **Katie** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you are enjoying the relationships I'm creating, I'm having so much fun with them. I've made them bicker and fight because I know no relationship is perfect, as for what happens with them, I have most of it all figured out except one…Regulus. As for the engagement between Octavia and Regulus, I'm still working on it.**


	30. Christmas at Hogwarts

Chapter 29: Christmas at Hogwarts

"We need to talk," Octavia jumped at the sound of Amycus' voice sounding low and quiet in her ear. "Sorry," he apologised.

"I'll find you guys later," Octavia spoke to her friends before standing up and following Amycus out of the Great Hall.

"What did you want to talk about Amycus?" Octavia spoke when he lead them into an unused classroom, she figured now that she would have to make a visit to the kitchens. Normally when Amycus spoke to her they just stood off in a corridor, but hiding away in a room wasn't a good side.

"Sirius told me you want to stay here for Christmas, is that still true?"

"When did he tell you that?"

"Back in September, apparently you weren't settling down as well as you usually do after what happened this summer."

"Was that when you told him you were punished as well?" Octavia looked up at her brother just in time to see the tense jaw on him, something she had never seen before.

"You weren't meant to find out about that."

"Why didn't you tell me though?"

"It doesn't matter but look you spending Christmas here, I've tried all I can think of and it won't work I've only got one option left."

"What is it Am? Something tells me you have to run it by me otherwise we wouldn't be here."

"You're right, you stay back involves you telling our parents you're taking Muggle Studies."

Fear instantly ran through her body, she heard her parents during the summer about their thoughts of Sirius taking Muggle Studies, she feared how they would react when she came face to face with them.

"No way Am, that won't end well and you know it." Amycus placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know but it will work, please just hear me out. You and Sirius are the only ones amongst the families that are taking Muggle Studies, I'm suggesting for you two to stay back on Christmas you tell our parents that you and Sirius have to work on a project for that class and the books you need are in the library. It will work and you know it, our parents, his included, won't want those sorts of books in the house."

"But they'll punish me for taking that class and you know it."

"We'll work on a story, I will come up with something that will help soften the blow but if you want to stay away from them this year and stay here at Hogwarts this is the only way for it work."

"How could there be a possible way to soften the blow?"

"You know about the Dark Lord and his views, our parents wish you would follow Al and I one day. If we tell them that you were taking the class in hopes of learning more about Muggles to help strengthen his cause, I don't care if you believe his beliefs or not O, if you want to stay here for Christmas then you need to tell them this. I'm not saying the story we come up with will be able to completely bypass a punishment but it won't be as bad and you won't be labelled a blood traitor."

"I'm already labelled a blood traitor Am…" Octavia muttered.

"You're not, because if you are, I wouldn't be able to talk to you in public. You've been forced to make friends with the house you were sorted into, for now most people are just wary of you."

"No Am, they're convinced I am a blood traitor, I've heard them and I've heard Al, I'm a blood traitor Am and there is no way I'm telling our parents I'm taking Muggle Studies."

"If you want to stay here for Christmas you will, I'm only saying this one more time O. If you want to stay away from our parents this Christmas and actually celebrate it with your friends, then this is the _only_ way."

Amycus looked at Octavia and watched as her eyes welled up, he hated it, hated that his baby sister was this upset. It didn't matter if her face was calm and collected like she was raised to keep it, it was her eyes that gave it away, her eyes gave away the fear that she felt at this idea.

"You have a week until the Heads of House ask for the list of students who are staying back for Christmas, you have a week to decide if this is the option you are going to take." Amycus softly stroked her cheek but she pulled away from him and left, heading straight for the kitchens.

Octavia wasn't alone for long, Sirius eventually joined her just as the house elves were giving her a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

"What did Amycus talk to you about?" Sirius spoke as Octavia moved the plate to sit in between them, he was shocked that she was willingly sharing but then he looked at her. "What's wrong O? Why are you crying?"

"Amycus told me you went to him, to ask if there was a way for us to stay here for Christmas break."

"Is there?"

"It involves me telling my parents I'm taking Muggle Studies…"

"They'll punish you for that though, Amycus is insane." Sirius shook his head and when Octavia looked at him she knew he was angry, hell if she wasn't scared she would be angry as well.

"Amycus said it's the only way it will happen, claim we have an assignment for us over Christmas break for Muggle Studies. He thinks our parents' hatred against them will prevent us from being able to do it and they will relent to us staying at here."

"But they will punish you."

"I know this, Amycus also said he'll help me come up with a proper excuse in hopes of making the punishment less bearable."

"Aren't you worried?" Sirius questioned as he cupped her face.

"I'm terrified…" Octavia whispered, Sirius dropped his hands from her face and hugged his best friend in hopes of making her feel better.

He knew that if this was all Amycus could come up with then he was desperate, he said he would try and he did but this, this is an extreme option. Sirius wanted to be able to help Octavia but he didn't know if he could place her happiness over her safety and this was going to be a win/lose situation no matter what way it went.

Could Sirius handle it if Octavia was miserable for a while but punishment free? Or could he handle it if she was filled with joy at getting what she wanted but get punished the minute summer break starts for taking a class that her parents, along with all the families forbid their children from taking.

.oOo.

"Are any of you staying behind for Christmas Break?" McGonagall questioned one morning during breakfast.

Sirius looked at Octavia, he had voiced on multiple occasions over the past week that it was her choice as to whether or not they stayed behind.

"Yes I am," Octavia muttered before holding her hand out for the signup sheet.

"You're both staying behind?" James questioned as Octavia handed it over to Sirius.

"Sure am…"

"Hand it over," James stated and they all looked at him.

"You don't have to James, spend Christmas with your family."

"We can spend Christmas together, get to see what the Castle can be like. My parents will understand." James shrugged as if it was no big deal before snatching the sheet from Sirius and writing down his own name.

Lilith and Remus quickly jumped on board and wrote down their names as well, claiming that they were all friends and why wouldn't they want to spend Christmas with each other.

"Pete?" Lilith questioned, holding out the sheet.

"I would but I can't, my parents have organised us to fly out of the country to visit family. It's too late to back out."

"Fly?" Octavia questioned.

"Yeah isn't flying in one of those flying car thingys?" Sirius stated and Remus laughed.

"Aeroplane Sirius, it's called an Aeroplane. For someone who enjoys Muggle Studies you sure don't know a lot." Sirius scowled while everyone else laughed.

"So the five of you are staying here for the break?" McGonagall questioned with thin lips and they could tell she wasn't pleased with this idea. They all nodded their yes, "Very well." McGonagall grabbed the signup sheet from Lilith and continued her way down the table grabbing names.

"Well she didn't look happy, did she Sirius?" Octavia questioned with a smirk on her face and Sirius barked out a laugh.

"No she didn't but are you?"

"Incredibly." She smiled at Sirius and he was delight that she had made the decision and she was happy with it but he would be lying if he wasn't worried about the outcome of this decision.

"So how come you two are staying back? I thought your parents want you home like they do every other year?" Lilith questioned and Octavia shrugged.

"Rebellion?" Sirius responded knowing full well that they would only believe that for him and not Octavia.

"Did I hear correctly sister," Frank spoke as he slid into the seat beside Peter but looking at Lilith. "Are you staying here for Christmas?"

"What of it?" Lilith spoke snatching back the piece of bacon Frank had stolen.

"Nothing just that I'll get all the best presents." Frank stood up, "Mum will also lose it and you know it." He headed back to his original spot with his friends.

"Will your mum really lose it?" James questioned and Lilith shrugged.

"Who knows with that women," Lilith spoke and the others laughed.

.oOo.

"What are we doing?" Octavia hissed at James and Sirius.

The three of them were currently hiding under James' invisibility cloak heading towards the Slytherin common room, Octavia had no idea what the boys had in mind but she went along for the ride either way.

"Well tomorrow is the start of Christmas Break O and we thought we should send the Slytherin's off with a parting gift." Sirius spoke and a grin slid onto Octavia's face at the idea of messing with the Slytherin students.

"Well then smartass who knows the password?" Octavia questioned when they arrived at the wall that hid the Slytherin common room.

"Pureblood," James mutter and a scowl appeared on Sirius' face.

"Bloody snakes…" Sirius muttered and the three of them entered the Slytherin common room.

"Godric I forgot how green this place is," Octavia spoke as she looked around, she hasn't been in here in for ages and she completely forgot there was green everywhere but she supposed it makes sense the Gryffindor common room is mostly red.

"How could you forget something this disgusting, it makes me sick." They looked over at James and held back their laughs at the sight of him pretending to throw up.

"Let's just get this over with before someone wakes up and catches us." Sirius muttered darkly and it confused Octavia, she thought he was all for this.

"If only O can make an invisible barrier so no one can see us," said James.

Octavia grinned, "who knows what I'm capable of, all we know is I'm better than you." She stuck her tongue out before pulling the invisibility cloak off her head and heading up the first staircase.

Octavia entered one of the rooms and found Sirius standing there, not doing anything. "What is it?" she whispered and he pointed towards the bed, now noticing it was Regulus asleep in the bed.

"I can't do it."

"Then don't, we don't have time to do them all anyway, as long as we get mostly the third and fourth years we're fine and I have a gift for Makenna anyway." Octavia spoke as she dragged Sirius from the room knowing full well that he couldn't do anything to his brother.

"Why do you trust her?"

"Do we really have to have this conversation now, of all times?" she hissed at him and he shook his head before opening the next door.

"Come on we have to leave, now!" James hissed as he made a grab for Octavia's hand and in turn she grabbed Sirius' effectively pulling them out of the common room.

"What happened?" Octavia questioned once they were in the corridor outside the Slytherin common room and had put the invisibility cloak back over them.

"I may have sneezed and woke up one of the fifth year boys, so I ran for it and found you two."

"You are so generous in your act of finding us and preventing us from being caught," Octavia spoke, attempting to keep a straight face.

"Oh whatever, you were in my path. Come on let's get some sleep before we witness what happens in the morning." James spoke before pulling both along while Octavia tried to stifle her giggles.

"You know the Slytherin table is looking a little empty this morning," Remus spoke the following morning during breakfast, noticing just how tired James, Sirius and Octavia looked.

"Maybe they all vanished during the night and we have less snakes amongst us now," Sirius spoke with a smirk and Octavia laughed.

"What did you three do?" Lilith questioned, noticing the same thing Remus had moments before.

"Well we certainly didn't make them disappear, but we should have, that would have been so much better." Octavia grinned at them and they laughed.

"Come on seriously, what did you do?" Remus questioned with a raised eyebrow, watching the look that Sirius and James shared. "Come on…I thought we were friends." Remus whined slightly causing the boys to narrow their eyes while Octavia laughed knowing full well that they were all messing with each other.

"What makes you think we did something anyway?" Octavia questioned once more and Remus shook his head.

"Why wasn't I invited?" Peter complained and James patted him on the back.

"Because you are the only one going home, we didn't know what would happen if we got caught. You seemed thrilled at the idea of seeing your family, we didn't want to ruin that with the idea of you not being allowed to go home for what we did." Sirius explained and Peter nodded, seeming to understand what they did.

"You still haven't told us what you three did," Lilith questioned once more and they laughed for a moment anyway.

The three of them stopped laughing at the sight of Regulus walking towards them.

"See you didn't do him…" James whispered in Sirius' ear and he shrugged in response.

"You know I woke up to an interesting sight this morning, my dorm mates sparkly and bright eyed and I mean sparkly. Let's also not forget the state of the Slytherin common room but you know it wasn't just my dorm mates, there was a lot of odd numbered Slytherins all looking rather colourful in various shapes and forms." Regulus while glaring at Sirius.

"Looks like you got lucky brother," Sirius clapped him on the shoulder before standing up and walking away from the table.

Regulus looked at Octavia, she only shrugged in response and it caused Regulus to stand up and follow Sirius.

Octavia quickly stood up and followed the younger Black brother, "Don't Reg." she wrapped a hand around his arm.

"Why not O?"

"Because he's the reason you don't look like the rest of them." Octavia whispered and he let out a breath.

"I knew it was you and your friends but why would he not do it to me as well?"

"He's your brother Reg, regardless of what gets said I think he still loves you but with you being in that house is hard on him." Octavia spoke softly before letting go of his arm and walking off in search of Sirius.

Octavia couldn't find Sirius, she ended up giving up and going back to the Gryffindor common room and wait for him. It was in this moment that she wished they had finished the map and actually found a spell to make it work like she had seen in her dream.

Instead she pulled out one of the books on Dreamers she had been carrying around while the rest were buried in her trunk waiting for her to read.

One by one the Gryffindor common room slowly emptied out, she didn't even realise it was practically empty until someone ripped the book from her hands. She looked up with the idea of glaring at the person to find Sirius hovering over her.

"You missed saying goodbye to Pete you know."

"The git would rather go see his family then spend Christmas with us, Moony, Lilith and James all willingly gave up spending Christmas with their family to spend it here with us and we didn't even ask them too." Octavia attempted to reach over and grab the book back from Sirius but he just placed it on the table before he lifted her feet and took a seat on the couch.

"You don't have to be like that, you were the one that decided for us to spend Christmas here."

"You could have gone home," Octavia snapped at Sirius and he just shook his head.

"How the hell would that have worked considering we told our parents we were staying back to work on our Muggle Studies essay?" Sirius spoke and Octavia narrowed her eyes before reaching over and grabbing the book off the table. "Come on O, why are you mad at me?"

"Can we work on the map over Christmas Break? I can't see us having our usual curfew and we will be able to roam the Castle no questions asked." Octavia questioned quietly while resting her head against the couch facing Sirius.

"Why are you so caught up with the map? There is so much you want to do, the map, the meditation, you controlling your magic."

"The map seems like it has so many possibilities, didn't I tell you that I saw footprints on it and they were moving?"

"It was probably a prank thing O." Sirius shook his head, he didn't understand why she was so fascinated with the idea of the map but he enjoyed exploring every inch of the Castle in attempts to draw it.

"No I honestly believe it can help us find people, or avoid them if used in the right way."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her in disbelief, "oh really?"

"You don't believe me at all, do you, you prat?" Octavia questioned as she threw the book at him.

"Nope not really, come on the others are down in the Quidditch Pitch, come for a fly with us and we can focus on you and your strange obsessions later," Sirius pleaded with her and it didn't take much for her to cave to the request.

.oOo.

"Should we really be doing this without Pete?" Lilith questioned and Octavia shrugged in response without opening her eyes.

"Pete knows that meditation is required for the Animagus transformation, if he wants to complete it he will do it on his own at home." James responded.

They five Gryffindors currently had free run of the common room since they were the only ones that chose to stay back for Christmas break, everyone else had gone home. In fact including those five only 10 students max had stayed back at Hogwarts.

"I am curious to see how long it takes O to complete it, even what type of animal she will be." Sirius spoke and Octavia's eyes snapped opened to look at him, she was curious as to where he was going with this.

"Why is that Sirius?" Remus questioned and the rest of them looked at him.

"We found some information on these Dreamers that Burrows mentioned and we believe that O is one of them."

"Yes Sirius, we've heard all this but what about it and O?" Lilith argued and Sirius grinned.

"One of the bits of information we found stated that Dreamers understand Animagus transformations better than the average witch or wizard which leads me to believe that they can complete the transformation quicker than others."

"I'll believe it when I see it," James smirked at Octavia and she rolled her eyes before closing them and going back to her meditation.

Remus and Lilith were sitting on the couch overlooking the others sitting on the floor cross legged, the two of them were going through the Animagus' books that covered the topics of animals and their meanings behind them. James had actually been the one to suggest them grabbing books that covered the topic of Patronus' just in case a professor caught them with the books because being curious about learning how to cast a Patronus can be easily over looked compared to Animagus.

"Find anything interesting over there?" Sirius spoke, sounding completely bored and Octavia couldn't help but laugh softly causing him to shoot her a look but she missed it due to still having her eyes closed.

"A couple of animals we have completely ruled out because they sound nothing like you but a few have cross matching personalities." Remus responding before handing Sirius the parchment they had been writing notes on, noticing that Sirius had given up on the meditation aspect for the day.

"Most of these are land born animals?" Sirius questioned and Remus shrugged.

"I'm just assuming none of you will take the form of a water creature, if for example you turn into a dolphin or a whale how will you get around on land, it doesn't make sense to me so land animals it is." Lilith explained and Sirius nodded.

"Oh imagine if I turned into a Falcon or Hawk, the flying would be amazing." James exclaimed and Octavia opened her eyes.

"We would never see James again…" Octavia spoke sharing a look with Lilith before a sly grin appeared on her face. "Actually that would be amazing, I would never be bothered by him again."

James' response was to throw a cushion at her and they all laughed.

"All of this aside I think Sirius and Octavia would have the same animal form," Lilith spoke and Sirius looked slightly annoyed, they had quieten down on the jokes about Sirius and Octavia of late for whatever reason.

"You're only saying that because of the soul mate thing we found," Remus chuckled and Sirius annoyance increased.

"Well yes the book stated that soul mates have counterpart animals but it's not what I meant, I meant their personalities are very similar, couldn't they also have the same animal form?" Lilith explained and Sirius smiled before looking at Octavia.

"Lilith has a point though, we've seen both Octavia and Sirius be the first ones to jump at the chance to prank the other students or Filch, they are also fiercely loyal." Remus spoke and Sirius grinned at them.

"Don't forget their sense for adventure and competitive side, those two always have sort of bet going on." James joined in and Lilith agreed with him.

"You're all describing a dog…" Sirius trailed off before narrowing his eyes at Octavia remembering their conversation in the library.

"Told you, you would be a dog," Octavia stuck her tongue out at him but his look didn't falter.

"But they all think you will be the same as me," Sirius finally spoke, smirking at her.

"I think I will be an adorable dog, unlike you with your scruffy hair mutt." Octavia flicked her hair over her shoulder while Sirius glared at her and everyone else laughed.

.oOo.

Octavia woke up early on Christmas morning, a look at her watch indicated it was only 5am, she didn't see the point in waking Lilith up this early.

She might have chosen to spend the break at Hogwarts but to her it still felt weird to be away from her family on a day like today. It didn't matter if she didn't grow up celebrating Christmas like the rest of her friends did, she still spent the day with her family and most years, Sirius' family.

She ended up crawling into Sirius' bed, wanting some familiarity on a day like today as she starts to regret her decision to not go home and see her family.

"Merry Christmas O," Sirius mumbled as he felt her climb in beside her.

"Merry Christmas Sirius," Octavia spoke quietly back.

"What's wrong?" he questioned knowing full well that she was only in here because something was wrong.

"I know it was my choice that we stayed here but it feels weird not being able to see my family today."

"We will be spending today with family though O, don't worry about that." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. "Our friends are family," he only felt her nod against his chest.

When Remus woke up he knew good and well that the rest of the boys wouldn't be awake, his werewolf condition didn't give him much sleep and the closer it got to the Full Moon the less sleep he got. What he didn't expect was to see Lilith sitting on the spare bed.

"Lilith?" he questioned causing her to look over at him and give him a smile.

"She decided to leave me alone in the dorm," Lilith pointed to one of the beds on the other side of the room and when Remus looked over it there he found Sirius and Octavia cuddled up in his bed.

"Those two claim nothing is going on but yet things like that happen," Remus shook his head as he headed to the bathroom, flicking James on the forehead as payback for what he did the previous day.

"Hey!" James yelled out as he shot up in his bed full of anger.

Lilith just laughed at the scene, until she realised that Octavia had been knocked off Sirius' bed. Sirius was looking over the edge of the bed at her.

"O are you alright?" Sirius questioned and she nodded.

"I've fallen off a broom from higher up," Octavia responded as she stood up and looked at James. "Now you, why did you yell out like that?"

James smirked at her, not even phased by the glare on her face. "Remus flicked my head," he shrugged and Octavia shook her head before leaving the dorm.

"Why did you sleep in Sirius' bed again last night?" Lilith questioned when the two of them were in the common room away from the boys.

"I woke up this morning and it sunk in that I won't be seeing my family over Christmas break," Octavia spoke softly and that was when Lilith's curiosity spiked.

"Then why did you decide to stay here? I know the rest of us agreed to stay back with you, but why did you decide to stay here if you miss your family?" Lilith questioned and Octavia turned and looked at her.

Octavia wondered if she could trust her friends, even the girl who had grown to become her best friend over the last two and a half years, with the secret of her home life. Remus had kept his promise and not told anyone about what he knew but Octavia didn't want anyone else to worry about her, she knew her home life would be better if she just did as her parents requested of her.

In the end Octavia put on a smile deciding against telling Lilith the truth, "I wanted to spend a Christmas at Hogwarts and my parents would be too busy doing stuff with Alecto and Amycus' future in laws since they get married in the summer."

"Oh aren't you looking to another two weddings this summer?" Lilith teased and Octavia kept the smile, knowing that if it fell like that Lilith would question it, she knew that with their marriages meant they were also leaving, leaving her at home with her parents and that terrified her.

"Most definitely, another place for Sirius and I to go under the radar and get forgotten about." Octavia spoke and Lilith laughed.

"Come on let's go shower."

"What about presents? I actually brought you guys presents this year." Octavia spoke and Lilith's jaw fell opened.

Their first year at Hogwarts Sirius and Octavia didn't know about Christmas and the art of giving gifts so they hadn't done it and then last year it was too hard for them to attempt to exchange gifts so they decided against it but this year since Octavia had decided to stay at Hogwarts she thought it would be good to get her friends presents.

"But I didn't get you anything…" Lilith muttered and Octavia just stepped forward and hugged her.

"You being my friend and supporting me through everything you've found out about my family, is more than enough. You don't understand how grateful Sirius and I are to have found friends within this house, we had no idea how we would have been accepted being in here when everyone thinks we should have been in Slytherin with the rest of our families past and present." Octavia spoke before letting go of Lilith.

"I would never have judged you for your family, the fact that you were placed in Gryffindor away from them proves you are different to them." Lilith spoke and moments later they heard the sounds of dry reaching.

They both turned around and found James and Sirius hiding in the boys' staircase.

"You're just jealous I've got a better friend then you do," Octavia grinned at them.

Sirius stood up straight and walked over towards her, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Why would I be jealous when I have you?" Sirius pulled away and smiled at her before heading back to where James was standing and pulled him back upstairs.

Octavia shook her head as the boys disappeared, turning around to find a massive grin on Lilith's face. "Don't even think about…" Octavia warned knowing full well that the girl would mention something about a relationship between the two of them.

"What?" Lilith questioned innocently but Octavia didn't say anything before heading the girls' stairs.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Animagus transformations are still a couple of chapters away, please don't hate me…**


	31. Aspiring Futures

Chapter 30: Aspiring Futures

There was something that was always said about Voldemort, or the Dark Lord as his followers refer to him as, between the Death Eaters and they always claimed that he showed a sense of strength, pride and confidence in the way he spoke, walked and conducted everything, it oozed from him.

Peter never thought that he would make real friends at Hogwarts, he always heard from his parents that the friends they had they met after Hogwarts, in the real world. They claimed that the friends they apparently had at Hogwarts weren't real friends, they were a bunch of fakes, they wouldn't have their backs. His parents stated that he had to make it through his seven years at Hogwarts under the radar, he had to lie about his blood status claiming that if they knew he was a Pureblood they would try and be friends with him because of that factor.

So he lied, did nothing but lie when it came to his family, lied about who they were and what they did.

But what confused him was, why were the other four Purebloods in Gryffindor going around claiming they were Purebloods?

Peter had heard from his father that he had a very powerful friend out in the world, that he was doing good regardless of what the Ministry claimed he was doing. Peter believed whole heartedly everything his father told him, but he was becoming more and more worried about what would happen if he can't complete the only thing his father has requested of him while he's at Hogwarts.

Peter was stunned when the rest of his friends agreed to stay back at Hogwarts over Christmas break with Octavia and Sirius, he couldn't understand why fake friends would do something like that.

"How was your first term at Hogwarts son?" Peter looked at his father at the head of the dining room table.

"Fine, my grades are fine too father." Peter always lied and stated he didn't understand some of the work they were given in hopes that they would over look him and he wouldn't stand out amongst them.

He knew what was requested of him while at Hogwarts, he might not be able to convince the large number of Purebloods currently in Gryffindor to be on the side of right so early or convince Sirius and Octavia back to the side of right but he hopes with time, lies and enough persistence on his part they will eventually side with him.

"Good, good that is excellent news my son. What about yours friends, do you know if they have any idea as to what is going on?"

"No father and my apologies, I try hard but it seems as though Potter and Longbottom live sheltered lives under their parents while Black and Carrow hold many secrets between them."

"What about the werewolf?" Peter shuddered, he hated that he was living in the same dorm as a werewolf, hated that he was doing this stupid process in hope that it will help the werewolf but he had to do as his father requested, that will fail if he can't even keep friends in his year.

He knew that if he pushed out the werewolf he would also push out the Purebloods and he didn't want to be friends with the two mudbloods that remained in his year.

"Doesn't speak of what he may or may not know on the outside."

"Very well, what are these secrets Carrow and Black seem to be having?"

Peter stayed silent as he chewed his food, wondering if that was a mistake because he had no idea what these secrets could be. A part of him wondered if maybe they were on a mission from their parents as well and they requested to be in Gryffindor, he sure did, he begged the hat to put him in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin like the hat wanted.

He knew his mission would be wasteful in Slytherin since nearly every single one of them were already agreeing with the Dark Lord.

"I do not know father, I try to listen, honestly, but they won't let up. Certain things get said and I can see the looks they share, as if they are having a secret conversation between them."

Peter looked up at his father, afraid of what would happen especially considering he was deathly silent and he worried about the reaction. It wasn't until a slight nod of his head appeared that he knew nothing bad would come out of it.

Peter had seen it on way too many occasions, Sirius and Octavia would have a hushed conversation and as soon as one of them appeared, it would instantly end or one of them would mouth later. It was unnerving to him and he didn't like it, he didn't like that he could potentially disappoint his father because of their secrets.

"What about Carrow and her extra magically abilities, has she worked out that she is a Dreamer?" Peter choked on a piece of his food and received a sympathetic look from his mother who had stayed quiet up until this point.

"How did you know about that father?" Peter questioned wearily, unsure as to what would happen or even if he was meant to keep track of this as well.

"My powerful friend I told you about knows the truth about her, I'm assuming you know son?"

"Yes father I do, it came out after she had a conversation with Dumbledore one day. They were all talking about it as if I wasn't there, when they realised I was then they told me."

"Do you believe they don't trust you, that they were keeping this from you?"

"No father," Peter stuttered, unsure as to if they were or not. It made him wonder what would have happened if he wasn't in the room at the time, would they have told him.

"Very well, you are excused, you may go and continue with your meditation now."

Peter nodded before pushing away from the table, he knew he shouldn't have told his father what they were attempting to accomplish with the Animagus transformations but he was requested to report everything back home and that was included because it was linked with the werewolf.

He shuddered to think of what would happen if they were successful, would he really be forced to spend every full moon out with the werewolf? Why couldn't he have the courage to suck it up and claim that he didn't want to do it like Lilith had?

The hat was right when it said he didn't have the courage and bravery for Gryffindor…

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	32. Helping Hands

Chapter 31: Helping Hands

"Woah, who was that?" Octavia opened her eyes at the sound of James' voice and attempted to look at who he was talking about but all she found was Evan's walking back through the common room.

All the students were returning back to Hogwarts now after being away for Christmas break, Octavia and James were currently the only ones in the common room since they were on Filch's hit list after leaving a trail of mud and they were currently hiding out until he calmed down while Lilith and Remus went to the kitchens to get some food and Sirius was checking out an unmarked part of the sixth floor for their map.

"All I see is Evans, what are you on about?" Octavia questioned but James didn't respond, he continued to watch Evans. "James, hello earth to James?" Octavia flicked on the back of his head causing him to turn around and glare at her.

"What's your problem O?"

"My problem, what's yours? Evans is the same girl we've gone to Hogwarts with for the past two and a half years, the same girl who hates us, it's not like she switched bodies with anyone."

"You sure, she sure as hell looks different," James spoke before turning around again, once again looking at Evans but Octavia just flicked the back of his head again. "Damn it O, stop it."

"Stop what, you're a bloody moron. It's Evans," she spoke, slowly pronouncing Evans in case he didn't hear her the first time.

"No I heard you, but I've never realised it before, she's fit." James' comment caused Octavia's mouth to fall open.

It was in that moment that Sirius reappeared and Peter was with him, Sirius raised an eyebrow at Octavia while Peter didn't notice the scene. Octavia and James assumed that Sirius ran into Peter on his way back.

"What's going on here?" Sirius questioned as he took a seat beside Octavia on the couch.

"James here is finally noticing that Evans is a girl," Octavia rolled her eyes, more so at the act Sirius put on once again.

"Where do all these bloody girls keep coming from? I swear more and more turn up every day," Sirius over played and Octavia hit him over the arm.

"Easy, they're the ones with boobs. They're pretty easy to spot."

"Boobs?" Peter questioned, finally taking notice of the conversation and the others laughed causing him to blush.

"Oh Pete…" Lilith spoke softly as her and Remus joined the conversation but he just hung his head and the boys laughed even harder.

"So why did you claim James has finally noticed Evans is a girl?" Remus questioned once he stopped laughing.

Sirius stopped laughing at Remus' question and he looked at James, wondering what was going on here.

"James was staring at Evans, almost like he has a crush on her. Claimed that she looked different but honestly, she looks like the same annoying bookworm she was before Christmas." Octavia complained before reaching over to see what food Remus and Lilith brought back with them.

"She's not an annoying bookworm," James spoke, angrily and Octavia dropped the cookie she had in her head and stared at James.

"Oh god, we've lost him Sirius…" she complained, looking at him with wide eyes.

Sirius stood up and pulled James along with him, "come on mate, we've got stuff to do." Sirius dragged James out of the common room while the rest of the group started laughing again.

"I wondered if Sirius got that part of the sixth floor marked down?" Octavia questioned aloud and the rest shrugged before all helping themselves to the food Remus and Lilith had.

"You would have been able to go with had you and James not tracked mud through the Castle."

"That wasn't just us Moony, Sirius was there as well. He just thought it was hilarious to glue us to the floor, it took me a couple of moments to manage to undo his spell so we could take off but by that stage Filch had seen us." Octavia complained but Remus and Lilith didn't say anything, knowing full well if Sirius hadn't done it to them chances are either Octavia or James would have done something similar at one point.

.oOo.

Octavia and Lilith entered the common room after heading down the girls' staircase and looked around as it was deathly silent, they caught sight of James and Sirius standing in the middle looking like they housed the whole house's attention.

"What do you think happened?" Lilith questioned, not removing her gaze from the two boys.

"Knowing those two, anything?" Octavia responded. "Come on, let's go check it out." Octavia pulled on Lilith's arm heading to where the boys were still standing.

It wasn't until they got closer did they realising Sirius was trying not to laugh, incredibly hard at that.

"What did we miss?" Octavia questioned and when she looked at James he had a hand print mark on the side of his face. "Oh godric, what did we miss?" Octavia put her hand over her mouth in shock, unsure as to what exactly happened there.

"Well James here thought it would be a good idea to ask Evans out on a date for the next Hogsmeade weekend, forgetting of everything we'll pulled on Snivellus." Sirius explained before barking out a laugh, no longer being able to contain it.

"Shove off mate," James muttered before punching Sirius in the arm and walking off.

"You really missed a scene O, it was hilarious." Sirius grinned at her.

"You made your best friend mad, that wasn't a very nice thing Sirius." Octavia spoke and a smirk appeared on Sirius' face causing Lilith to just mutter something about seeing them at breakfast before walking off.

"Are you mad at me? What did I do?" Sirius questioned innocently while stepping closer to her.

"Yeah, you replaced me with James." Octavia responded without a pause and headed for the entrance.

"But you replaced me with Lilith."

"Yes but you replaced me first, I had no choice and I didn't think you would appreciate me picking Moony," she smiled at him and the grin on his face showed just how right she was.

He flung an arm around her shoulder as the two of them made their way towards breakfast. "So I haven't had the chance to ask but did you enjoy spending Christmas here at Hogwarts instead of home?"

Octavia looked at him with a soft smile on her face, "I did, thank you for going to Amycus all those months ago. As much as I missed having family with me when I first woke up Christmas morning, I was glad to have our friends and that they willingly gave up spending time with their own families to spend time with us."

"I told you, they're our family now O and they will always be here for us." Octavia nodded at Sirius and they both fell silent for a moment.

"Lilith said something on Christmas day about always being here for me and not judging me for anything that we haven't told them about our families, do you think she'll understand the abuse?"

"No, no one will understand the abuse. Moony doesn't even understand and he doesn't understand why we haven't gone to anyone about it, especially now knowing we can trust Dumbledore." Sirius spoke sternly.

"We haven't gone to anyone because we don't how far our parents' reach goes, because there is no way your parents don't know about it." Octavia spoke, her voice breaking and when Sirius looked at her he noticed that her eyes were glistening with tears.

"Just three more years O, just three more years and I will be 17. I will be able to pull us both away from our families." Sirius pulled her close and softly kissed the top of her head.

The two of them entered the Great Hall and Octavia looked over at the Slytherin table, the weekend had all the students return to Hogwarts and it was now Monday and the beginning of classes for the new term.

Octavia had been avoiding looking at her older brother and sister, unsure as to how Christmas break went at home without her. She was right when she told Lilith that her house would be full of plans for the weddings, maybe more so Alecto's compared to Amycus' but that was only because he wouldn't care.

She knew that Amycus supported her decision to stay behind 100% but she was unsure as to what Alecto thought, she thought her sister was finally coming around to her being in Gryffindor after the way things had been during the summer but there was one day right before her birthday that Alecto disappeared for it and when she returned, she wasn't the same.

"You know he won't tell on you." Sirius spoke noticing where she was looking.

"I'm not worried about him…come on I'm hungry" Octavia pulled Sirius towards the Gryffindor table, not sparing a second thought for her siblings.

Octavia left the Great Hall on her own claiming she would catch up with her friends at Care of Magical Creatures since she had to use the bathroom first.

"Amycus!" Octavia exclaimed as she stepped out of the girls' bathroom seeing him leaning against the wall.

"How was your break?" he questioned as he pushed himself off the wall.

"Well I would assume it was better than yours with all the wedding preparations," Octavia teased and couldn't help but laugh softly at the sight of her brother's slightly upturned lips.

"I have nothing to do with those preparations, just like you know Regulus will have nothing to do with yours."

"What if I don't marry Regulus?"

"It depends on the circumstances but if you refuse to marry him you will be disowned, you know this O where is it coming from?" Amycus questioned, noticing the faraway look on her face.

"Just curious, you know how I can be. Listen I have to get to class but as much as I'm thankful for what you did you still promised to help me with an explanation."

"I know and I will help you, go to class." Amycus shook his head as his younger sister stuck her tongue out at him before running off.

Amycus watched her run off, surprised at just how much she really had changed in the less than three years at Hogwarts. Before she started at Hogwarts he knew there was always something different about Sirius and Octavia, it was the way they responded around certain conversations, the way Octavia was around their grandmother before she had passed away and even the fact that despite their parent's wishes their grandmother had left everything to Octavia, something which Octavia still doesn't know about to this day.

He just wished there wasn't this war building on the outside, something that threatened their lives and the safety they thought they had of it. He knew what he was getting himself into and he just hoped that the four years he had ahead of Octavia between their graduations was enough for it to be put to an end because he didn't want to witness both of his sisters go through it, because if he was being honest he was already worried about Alecto.

He had no idea what happened to Alecto during the meeting that took place during the past summer, all he knew was that when she returned she wasn't herself and she hasn't been since. He knows she isn't under the Imperius Curse because he's seen the affects, he should know firsthand since it was his task for the Dark Lord but there was something different about her and he was worried.

Rumours amongst the seventh year Slytherins stated that she had spent more time talking about Bella this year, he just hoped that his sister wasn't idolizing the psychotic person he had grown to loathe.

Octavia disappeared around the corner and Amycus resisted the urge to rub his arm at where his Dark Mark was now sitting on his forearm.

He was glad Octavia wasn't home for Christmas because then she would have been present for another one of those rituals and he will try his hardest to make sure she never finds out the truth about his, regardless as to if she finds out about the mark or not.

.oOo.

"I need a favour," Octavia jumped at the sound of Regulus' voice and the fact that he stated he needed a favour. She looked up at him with a smirk on her face and he rolled his eyes as he sat down at the table with her. "You have changed so much being in Gryffindor."

"But I'm happy Reg, regardless of me no longer being the spineless girl my parents raised."

"I never said it was a good or bad thing, I just said you've changed O." Regulus gave her a smile.

"What do you want Reg, there is a reason why you looked for me, this table isn't exactly easy to find." Octavia leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You're right, it's not but Amycus told me about how this is your favourite table in the library, why is that?"

"It's away from the rest of them, most of the students in third year with me have long gotten past the spectacle that is Sirius and I being in Gryffindor but the other years still like to stare and I prefer studying in here in case I need another book. I found this table halfway through first year and have stuck with it since, my friends always know where to find me as well. Why did you go to Amycus?"

"I want to take Alecto's place as Seeker next year, I'm not stupid enough to ask her for help but Amycus has always been the more helpful of the two. Amycus said I should talk to you because he doesn't have the time between his own Quidditch practises and studying for his NEWTs."

"And what you are willingly coming to me for help, you want help from a Gryffindor?" Octavia teased and Regulus let out a laugh.

"I spoke to Amycus before the break if you must know, it's taken me this long to work out this is what I want, I want to play Quidditch."

"Why Reg? For years whenever Sirius and I played, you wouldn't join us, you would just sit on the side and watch or ignore us completely. You stood around the corner while we got in trouble for getting our clothes dirty from playing." Octavia questioned and watching as Regulus looked away from her.

"Regardless of Sirius being placed in Gryffindor and everything he does to defy our parents, they were proud when they found out he was on the Quidditch team, it's something that without even knowing he is taking after our father in more ways than one. Father was a Beater on the Quidditch team when he was at Hogwarts, even got an offer to play professionally but he passed on it because he had to begin working within the company."

"But why Seeker? There are three seventh years on the team, Lestrange is graduating as well and the Keeper position will be up for grabs as well as Amycus' Beater position." Octavia spoke, still in awe at what Regulus just said.

Octavia always thought Sirius' love for Quidditch was just another part of rebellion for him, they were never told about Orion playing Quidditch during his time in Hogwarts and his offer to play professionally.

"I don't have the height needed to play Keeper, Amycus even stated that I am much shorter than what Lestrange was when he started on the team."

"You don't know how tall you are going to be, Sirius is towering over me, he seems to keep growing."

"Regardless the position doesn't interest me and I can't be a Beater, it will just seem like I'm taking after Sirius." Octavia frowned, Regulus still refused to look at her but she knew Sirius well enough to see the similar signs in Regulus and there was something beneath the surface that was bothering him.

"That's why you want me to help you, you want to be a Seeker." Regulus nodded before finally looking at her.

"Will you?"

"Why aren't you and Sirius talking, why won't you talk to him but you agree to talk to me?" she questioned, knowing full well that it was a complete change of topic.

"You know why I'm talking to you O."

"No our future marriage has nothing to do with it, Amycus doesn't talk to his future wife, Sirius doesn't talk to Makenna. Why won't you talk to Sirius, why are you pulling away from him?"

"Will you help me or not?" He spoke through gritted teeth.

"I will," she responded knowing that Regulus won't answer her question.

Regulus didn't say anything and the two of them fell silent, Octavia went back to her homework.

Regulus eventually stood up to leave, "I'm not the one pulling away, it's him. He's pulling away from us but yet our parents are still proud of his placement on the Quidditch team. Sirius makes jokes that I'm the golden child but yet there is so much he doesn't see or hear."

Octavia didn't say anything nor did she look up, she didn't want to scare Regulus off because he opened up.

When she thought for sure that he was gone, she packed up her things in search of Sirius. She wouldn't tell him everything but she was curious to know if he knew about Orion playing Quidditch.

She was glad when she easily found Sirius sitting in the secluded room, also alone, but couldn't help but laugh at the train set he was playing with for Muggle Studies.

She walked over with a soft smile on her face and took a seat beside Sirius as he handed over a toy car for her to play with.

"I feel like I'm six years old again playing with toys like this," Sirius spoke causing Octavia to laugh.

"Who knew Muggle Studies involved us playing with toy cars," she placed the car on the table and leaned back.

She had chosen a different topic for her assignment while Sirius stuck with modes of transport, still fascinated by the idea of having a motorbike one day.

"Did you know Orion played Quidditch when he was at Hogwarts?" Octavia questioned, having no idea how Sirius would response.

Sirius' hand gripped the train tighter and his jaw tensed, "I did, I found out during the summer. It was partly why I didn't want the position when I first found out, he played Beater of all things." Sirius laughed darkly before standing up.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what? That I don't want to play Quidditch because it's something that my father enjoyed? That I enjoy playing but I don't want to take after him? Because I know you O, you would have convinced me it doesn't make a difference whether or not he played because I'm doing it for me. I know you so well that I knew how the conversation would play out, I convinced myself." Sirius threw the train across the room causing it to smash to pieces against the wall.

Octavia flinched at the action of the train flying across the room, past her head and it smashing against the wall. She shook her head trying to push aside bad memories before standing up and walking over to where he was standing with clenched fists.

"You're nothing like your father, you being in Gryffindor and not Slytherin proves that. Who cares if he played Quidditch and now you are, do we have to dig out the family trees and see how many played Quidditch when they were at Hogwarts?" she wrapped her hands around his as she spoke softly, hoping to calm him down.

She's always known he had a temper, never once thought that it would disappear with age and maturity but she trusted Sirius enough to know that no matter how angry he got, he would never hurt her.

Sirius took a deep breath before hugging her, "I'm sorry for startling you."

"It's alright, I know you will never hurt me."

"Never O…" Sirius stated and she nodded against his chest.

She was unsure as to how he would react if she tells him about helping Regulus with Quidditch, she just hoped if they had this one thing in common it might bring them back together.

.oOo.

"Where do you think you three are going?" Octavia, Sirius and James all froze at sound of Frank's voice.

They were currently on their way out of the common room, it was nearing curfew and the room was pretty full so they were hoping they could sneak out without getting seen by anyone.

They all turned around and looked at Frank with innocent smiles.

"Nothing," they said in unison but Frank just shook his head.

"Whatever it is don't, I do not need three of my players in detention with our match against Hufflepuff coming up." Frank warned them but it didn't unnerve them, Octavia looked at the others before stepping forward and flashing Frank an innocent looking smile.

"But we only land in detention if we get caught Frank," the smile didn't falter on her face and Frank raised an eyebrow at them all.

"I said don't do it or I will start looking for replacements," Frank threatened, the smile stayed on Octavia's face while her eyes narrowed and it was something that unnerved him.

"You will only find replacements if we land ourselves in detention," Octavia challenged and a smirk appeared on Sirius' face, realising what she was doing.

"Fine, if you three land yourselves in one detention between now and our match against Hufflepuff I will find replacements for all of you." Frank spoke while slightly shaking his head before going back to his original spot on the couch with his girlfriend Alice.

"Come on then," Octavia grinned at the boys' before dragging them out of the common room.

"You just gave Frank the ultimatum that he's been waiting for!" James exclaimed.

It was true, Frank hated that the three of them were always coming and going from detention since it made it harder to work practise around everyone's schedule and their detentions. They had heard him complain on more than one occasion when he found out they were in detention for once again playing up in class or pranking another student.

"We just have to make sure, we don't get caught." Octavia spoke before continuing on down the corridor leaving the boys to stand there looking like idiots. "You coming or do you want detention and to be kicked off the team." She called out over her shoulder causing the boys to come to their senses.

"So how did you come up with this potion so quickly O?" James questioned as they made their way towards their destination.

"I ordered it weeks ago and the potion has been sitting in my trunk, I was planning on waiting till the summer and dumping it in the water source before Alecto's wedding but when we overheard Frank the other day, well I couldn't help myself."

"Wait you were going to ruin your sister's wedding?" James spoke, sounding shocked and Sirius just rolled his eyes.

"She hates the idea of the arranged marriages, has been rebelling against them ever since I can remember. It doesn't matter if she gets along with Regulus, she doesn't like the idea of being told how her future will end up." Sirius explained.

"So how does this potion work and won't this get all houses?" James spoke and laughed when the sly grin appeared on Octavia's face.

"That's the point isn't it, we've been far too predictable when it comes to our pranks, it's either Filch or the Slytherin students. Why not hit everyone this time? And plus, we aren't meant to know the password to the Prefects bathroom are we?"

James and Sirius shared a look, knowing that Octavia had a point, as long as they made it back to the common room within the next 20 minutes before curfew was in place then they most likely won't receive a detention at all and still have their place on the Quidditch team.

They were all sitting in the Great Hall the following morning for breakfast, Remus and Lilith were well used to seeing the signs of the others slightly bouncing in their seats, a sure of sign of their excitement.

They both knew that today wasn't a Quidditch match day or even a Hogsmeade weekend so that can't be why they were excited. No, the only thing left was that they had pulled something the night before.

"Do I even want to ask?" Remus questioned, shaking his head slightly when three lots of grins appeared on his friends faces.

"Maybe we should leave before they drag us…" Lilith started talking but something she saw caught sight of caused her to stop talking and her mouth fall open. "Oh my god," she put her hand over her mouth, causing the rest of the group to look down the Gryffindor table.

At the end of the table was a very green looking Frank and he looked absolutely peeved about the whole situation, Octavia looked at the boys and mouth 'holy shit'.

"He knows we did something last night O," Sirius whispered, noticing the same thing.

"How the hell did he get in there? I thought it was only Prefects that used that bathroom." Octavia responded.

"Are you talking about the Prefects bathroom? You do realise Quidditch Captains get access to that as well." Lilith spoke, hearing the hushed words between Octavia and Sirius.

"Crap…Amycus," Octavia muttered before looking over at the Slytherin table, grateful when she saw that her brother wasn't painted a different colour.

"You got my brother?" Lilith spoke, realising what actually happened before she burst into a fit of giggles.

"We thought the Prefects bathroom was just that, Prefects." Sirius explained but all Lilith could do was nod as she continued laugh while the rest of them looked around the Great Hall talking noticing of who's skin as changed colour due to the potion they had placed in the water source to the Prefects bathroom.

Octavia nudged Sirius in the ribs as she noticed Frank walking towards where they were sitting at the table and they could tell he wasn't happy with them.

"What did you three do last night?" he spoke through his teeth and it caused Lilith to start laughing all over again.

"Nothing," Octavia spoke sweetly while batting her eyelashes, hoping to convince him it was the truth.

"Then why the hell is my skin green? I know you three left the common room before curfew, I know you three were up to something, what did you do?" he questioned again.

"But why is your skin green and not mine? I showered in Gryffindor Tower this morning, didn't you?" she questioned with a smile and Frank narrowed his eyes.

"The Prefects bathroom, that's why it's only a small number of people with different coloured skin."

"But Frank, we can't access the Prefects bathroom, we've heard from the older students that it has a password on it or were they wrong?" She explained and he just pointed a finger at them.

"How about this, you ran laps at the next practise and I won't give McGonagall the hint to start checking your mail?" he threatened and she looked at the boys, seeing the slight nods of their head.

"Deal. Here," Octavia handed over a small vial and Frank raised an eyebrow. "It's the reversal," she explained and he grabbed it before walking back down to his original seat.

"I thought they were for Alecto?" Sirius whispered in Octavia's ear and she looked over at the Slytherin table noting that her sister hadn't appeared yet.

"They only need one, I ordered a couple just in case but speaking of Al, I will be back." Octavia stood up and made her way over to where Amycus was sitting at the Slytherin table.

She smiled as he raised an eyebrow at her, she leaned down and whispered in his ear. "This is for Alecto, I'm assuming that is why she isn't out." She held out her hand and waited until Amycus wrapped his around her hand to pass over the vial.

"That was you and your friends?" he questioned quietly, shaking his head when she smiled at him. "I don't even want to know how you managed that but I will pass it on, I'm sure she will appreciate it."

The siblings smiled as each other before Octavia left and headed back to her own table.

"Wait, O." Regulus called out and Octavia turned to face him.

"Jeez I sure am popular this morning," she smirked at him.

"I don't want to know what you've been up to but we haven't made any plans for you start helping me."

"I know I'm sorry Reg, come find me in the library this afternoon after classes and we will organise time around our own schedules, I promise." Regulus nodded at her before turning and heading back to his seat.

"What did he want?" Sirius questioned as Octavia sat back down beside her.

She looked at him, unsure as to how he would respond to this next one. "He wants me to help him with Quidditch, he was to try out for the Seeker position next year."

Octavia looked at him when he didn't respond, but he was glaring at his plate with a tense jaw and she knew he wasn't happy about it.

She didn't say anything as she grabbed some of the blueberry waffles and placed them on his plate, hoping to decrease some of his anger.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**


	33. Airing Secrets

Chapter 32: Airing Secrets

"Tell me again why you are doing this?" Sirius grumbled as him and Octavia headed towards the Quidditch Pitch.

A week ago Sirius found out that Octavia had agreed to help Regulus with Quidditch, help him to stand a chance come the try outs for the Slytherin team next year. Sirius wasn't happy that she was willingly doing this, he didn't understand why she would agree to this and kept badgering her about what Regulus had on her.

"Because I want to help him, just because you can't seem to see eye to eye with Reg anymore doesn't mean I don't. You keep claiming that the moment you turn 17 you get everything, that you will disown your family but what happens if you don't get everything, if you have to wait? I have to marry him and the only way to make it as easy as possible is to still be friendly with him, have you thought about maybe being friendly with him so it's easier on me in the future?" Octavia snapped at him, sick of having this conversation once again.

She trusted Sirius, she really did but what worried her was what would happen if Sirius didn't inherit everything come his 17th birthday, what if he didn't get the family title until later? She would still be forced to marry Regulus.

Sirius made a grab for her wrist to prevent her from walking away from him, he frowned at her when he saw the anger in her eyes, hating whenever that was directed at him. "We run away, if I don't get the title come my 17th birthday, we run away, as simple as that." Sirius spoke softly and Octavia nodded.

She knew enough about the future to know that a war was coming, enough to know that come the moment of her graduation she will be set with a hard choice, go against what she believes and side with her family or go against her family and potentially lose them and just to stick with her own beliefs.

She heard enough during that summer in the woods that Voldemort despised muggles and muggleborns, that he wanted to bring the wizarding world out of hiding and gain control but Octavia didn't want that.

She might not get along with Evans, but she knew Evans was smart, incredibly smart. Evans was probably smarter than some of the Purebloods in Slytherin, hell in Charms Evans gave her competition and Octavia excelled at Charms, picking everything up as quickly as possible.

"Wait are you agreeing to us running away? Why can't we do that now?" Sirius spoke, he was shocked that she had agreed to this. At least once in the past they have both joked about running away but nothing ever came from it but now, she agreed to it without asking any questions.

"When you turn 17 just like you said, I've seen some of our future Sirius and it's going to bad. I know enough about Voldemort that we either side with our parents or we side against them and get disowned that way." Octavia spoke sternly, hoping Sirius would take her seriously about waiting until they were 17.

"Let's just get this over with," Sirius grumbled and Octavia laughed.

"You didn't have to come out here with me, I would have been just fine helping Reg because there is no way in hell I am letting you aim Bludgers at him."

"But O…" Sirius whined but she shot him a look and he smiled at her before running ahead and grabbing his broom.

Octavia couldn't help but shake her head at him, there are moments where Sirius can be completely serious, make one think he is much older than he actually is and then there are moments like these where you question if he really is 14.

"Why is he out here?" Octavia didn't turn around when she heard Regulus speak, she just continued to look ahead where Sirius was flying around, making loops of the goal posts.

"Do you have a problem with him being out here?"

"The prat probably wants to just aim his Bludgers at me," Regulus spoke bitterly and Octavia finally looked him with a frown on her face.

"I already told him the Bludgers are staying locked up, the most that will happen is him getting in the way but you have to be used to it. Come on, let's get on a broom and see how fast you can be."

.oOo.

"Is Sirius alright?" Frank questioned as he sat down beside Octavia in the stands of the Quidditch Pitch.

They had a last minute practise session before their match against Hufflepuff tomorrow and Sirius was currently aiming Bludgers at the rock that had been Transfigured and Octavia was currently focusing on them to remain floating in the air for him.

They knew it was risky for her to be doing wandless magic out in the open but she had her wand resting in her lap, looking like it was in her hand when it wasn't in case someone asked questions. This task was both training for Sirius and Octavia because she had to learn to perform the spells as a background thought and do other things since it was something that she had read in one of the books Dumbledore had given her permission for.

"Yeah, he's just worried he's going to stuff up like he did against Ravenclaw."

"I never thought of having Beater's practise like this, it prevents injuries against the other players."

"Sirius doesn't want to hurt us, he hates the idea of hurting his friends and refuses to do this with James and I are up there. He puts everything behind the force of his hits."

"Makes sense, don't let him be out here all night since we have a game tomorrow and he needs to be at full strength."

"Promise," Octavia gave him a smile as he up and left.

Octavia wasn't alone for long before James came and took a seat beside her, he looked at her and noticed the lines in her forehead indicating that this much magic was becoming too much for her.

"Stop O, if it's too much then stop, Sirius will understand."

"I'm fine James," Octavia noticed the look indicating that he didn't believe her. "Honestly I am, it's when he hits the rocks that it pushes against my magic. The Bludgers are trying to knock the rocks out of the air while I'm trying to keep them up there, it's a lot harder than floating things and just moving them around the room."

"We need you to start practising other charms, we've worked out that is why you are so good at Charms and it bugs Lily because it is the only class she isn't the top of."

"There's just so much going on though James," Octavia fell silent for a moment. "Oops, looks like I'm out."

James looked over to see that the rocks were no longer floating in the air, he let out a laugh seeing the look Sirius' face as the rocks were no longer where they were a mere seconds ago.

Octavia stood up and made her way closer to the edge and looked over where the rocks were sitting on the ground.

She hadn't told the boys she had been practising this one, she hadn't even practised it on objects that weren't flammable but here she was looking over the edge hoping she had more magic in her for this.

She couldn't help but be filled with joy at the sight of seeing the rocks on fire, all she had to do now was keep it under control so it didn't spread and then put it out. Even now she was still struggling to put the fire out every single time, but she had excelled at producing water from her wand as a back-up.

"You did it O!" Sirius yelled out the moment the fire disappeared, knowing full well it came from his strangely pyromaniac best friend.

Octavia looked up at him with a grin on her face, she had succeeded in managing to successfully perform two different spells.

"Well done O," James put an arm around her shoulder. "Now we just have to get you practising other spells."

"After our match tomorrow," she smiled at him but it quickly fell when everything became a little fuzzy around the edges. "I think I need to sit down."

Sirius noticing the action, quickly flew over to where James and Octavia were standing. "O are you alright?" he climbed over the railing and knelt in front of her.

"Yeah I think I just used too much magic in one go, I just need a minute."

"You sure?" he questioned and she nodded.

"Yes I was the same during the summer before second year when I was trying to learn how to levitate things, it just takes a bit. I've noticed the more wandless magic I do, the longer I can go without taking a break."

"Alright but for tonight, no more magic. Let's get you up to the tower for some rest before our game tomorrow."

Octavia nodded before standing up and leaning against Sirius, allowing him to help her up to the Castle.

.oOo.

"What is Sirius doing?" Lilith questioned as she handed Octavia a butterbeer.

They had won their match against Ravenclaw today and they were all currently sitting in the Gryffindor common room celebrating.

"I believe he is attempting to flirt with Marlene, we do have a Hogsmeade weekend coming up."

"You don't have a problem with that?"

"Nope because I have a date with Fredrick Williams in Ravenclaw," Octavia smiled into the bottle as Lilith's jaw fell open.

"But he's a fifth year! Why am I only hearing about this now?" Lilith exclaimed and Octavia shrugged.

There was a part of her that kept it a secret because she was unsure as to how everyone would react, she had two older siblings at Hogwarts one of which she knew was looking out for her and Sirius, but given his attitude right now with Marlene she assumed that he wouldn't care about her dating but then there was Regulus and she knew how protective and jealous he can be.

"Is someone jealous?" Octavia teased and laughed when Lilith grimly nodded.

"He is fine, I wish I had a date with Fredrick."

"Are you talking about Fredrick Williams?" both girls turned around and found Alice taking a seat with them.

Ever since Alice had started dating Frank, she had grown fond of the two younger girls, seeing them as the younger sisters she never had, or even siblings since Alice was an only child.

"Yes we are, why do you have some lovely information you are willing to share with us?" Lilith spoke and Alice shrugged before grabbing one of the butterbeers on the table.

"Depends, does Octavia like snogging on the first date?"

"Oh god, he's a pig." Octavia groaned and Lilith fell back on the couch in a fit of laughter.

"He can be a little handsy too if I recall, Gemma had a date with him at the beginning on the year and it's all she complained about. Good luck with him," Alice smiled sweetly at the two girls before sitting up and going in search of Frank.

"I can't even call her a bitch because she is like the nicest person ever." Octavia grumbled and Lilith laughed once more.

"Frank did say that Alice said she was almost sorted into Hufflepuff."

"I can see her being in Hufflepuff, it suits her but like me the hat must have seen something in her."

"What are you two girls talking about?" Remus spoke as he and Peter joined their conversation.

"Oh, O here has a date with Fredrick Williams next Hogsmeade weekend."

"Oh really now, why am I only hearing about this now." Remus spoke, narrowing his eyes at her and she laughed at him.

"Because I wasn't planning on telling you, where you planning on telling me that Sirius fancied Marlene?"

"Oh that, even I don't know what is going on there but if you have a date and Sirius has a date, James will most likely be complaining about his lack of date what am I meant to do?" Remus questioned.

Octavia looked at him before looking at Lilith, remembering her complaining about a lack of date moments before. "Take Lilith on a date, she did say she was jealous moments ago."

Remus just looked plain shocked and put out while Lilith turned on her.

"What the hell O," she hissed but Octavia just laughed before standing up and making her way over to where Sirius was still with Marlene.

"So what is going on over here?" Octavia spoke as she threw herself down in between the two of them, not caring about the dirty look Sirius gave her.

"You know Marlene and I were talking before you interrupted?" Sirius questioned.

Octavia's eyes went wide as she looked between the two, "no I didn't know that, I'm so sorry but you know Sirius, I was talking to Ian a couple of weeks back before you interrupted." The innocent look left her face as she stared at Sirius.

"Bugger off O…" Sirius warned her and Octavia crossed her arms, staying put.

Marlene let out a laugh before standing up, "I will go on the date with you Sirius, as long as you won't be bothered at all by it O?"

"God no, I honestly don't care that he was over here asking you on a date for the next Hogsmeade weekend, I was just getting pay back for him butting in to when Ian was trying to ask me."

"Very well, you better make next weekend worth it Sirius." Marlene smiled at him and they both saw the under lying threat in her voice and Octavia laughed.

"So Marlene hey?" she elbowed him and he shrugged.

"I figured since you're going with Fredrick Williams, I might ask someone."

"But James will be heartbroke- wait how did you know?" Octavia stopped midsentence, realising what just happened.

"Overheard some Ravenclaws in Care of Magical Creatures the other day talking about you accepting his date."

"Oh, why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I know what Amycus told you, I know what this whole dating thing means. You will do everything right to make sure your parents are happy and that includes no serious relationships, I don't have to worry you potentially being hurt because you won't let yourself fall for them and if you do you will walk away on your own." Sirius explained and Octavia nodded before looking over at where the rest of their friends were sitting, there was a question that was sitting in her mind ever since she agreed to the date but she hasn't had the chance to talk to Amycus yet, she hoped Sirius could ease her mind.

"What if they don't want me to date at all?" she questioned softly and Sirius' gaze snapped around to face her.

He looked at her, now realising what she meant by her question. She had gotten in trouble in the past for some of the most menial things.

"I can't tell you that one, I'm sorry O. I would love to say no, but you've been punished for not answering a question quick enough." Sirius frowned before patting her knee. "Come on, let's go celebrate with our friends," he stood up and held his hand out for her to grasp.

.oOo.

"I'll meet you down in the Great Hall," Sirius spoke to Marlene before walking over to where he spotted Octavia sitting in the corner.

She hadn't voiced her concerns since she first did with Sirius during the celebration party of their win against Hufflepuff but he didn't need her to speak of it to know that she was worried.

Sirius walked over and took a seat beside her, "you don't have to do this you know, you don't have to go on this date."

"I'm in Gryffindor for godric sakes and I'm bloody afraid of my parents."

"You have every right to be afraid of your parents though, it's all so random."

"Everyone has been saying that being in this house has changed me, that I'm slowly standing up for myself more and more. Maybe me dating will just be another stand against them."

"Well you are wearing muggle clothes," Sirius spoke and when Octavia looked at him she saw the smirk on his face.

"They're actually quite comfortable, I was surprised."

"Come on let's go and get down to the Great Hall before we get left behind," Sirius stood up and looked back at her.

"I wonder if there is a way to get off the grounds, I know we've found short cuts between floors but to get off the grounds, I wonder if it's possible."

"Well we know one way off the grounds, the tunnel under the Whomping Willow leads to the Shrieking Shack which is in Hogsmeade." Sirius spoke and watched as a grin appeared on her face and he shook his head now knowing this was going to be a mission of hers.

Octavia jumped up and headed for the entrance, "come on Sirius, we both have dates."

Sirius laughed for a moment as he watched her run for the entrance hole before disappearing and he quickly followed her.

"Are we going to be following them all day?" Marlene spoke as her and Sirius were walking down the path towards Hogsmeade, Octavia and Fredrick weren't that far ahead of them.

"What makes you say that, we are just walking there? We can do whatever you want once we get there."

"You're very protective over her, it's something I've noticed along with some things I've noticed when we're getting changed in the team room for Quidditch."

Sirius stopped walking and stood there staring at Marlene, unsure as to what she was getting at. A lot of people have noticed and stated that they've seen how protective Sirius is over Octavia but no one had never made the connection, Remus only knew because she had told him.

"What's the point Mar, she's my best friend of course I'm protective over her."

Marlene stepped closer to him and leaned over so she can whisper in his ear, "or maybe it's because it's her parents who have caused those scars."

Sirius stood a step back and watched her closely, "why would her parents hurt her?"

"Don't play stupid Sirius, there is a little unknown secret about my family and it is that my mother is a Shafiq, she was the last one to have the family name, it will die with her. You grew up in that world, imagine how her parents would have felt knowing that they had two daughters, one was a squib and the other was in Ravenclaw. My mother might not have the exact same scars but they are very similar, in similar places which would be easy enough to hide under clothing."

A look passed Sirius' face that caused Marlene to take a step back, she had never seen the look on his face even when he was angry, no this look she had only seen on some of the older Slytherins.

"This date is over McKinnon," Sirius' voice was cold and there was a deadly undertone that just caused Marlene to nod before she watched him walk away from her.

Sirius kept walking, going straight to Honeydukes knowing that he would find the rest of his friends there and he just hoped that Remus was alone for a minute or two. He didn't want to ruin Octavia's day because of something that Marlene might know, no he needed Remus' help to work this out first.

"We have a problem Moony," Sirius spoke stepping in beside Remus where he was standing in front of the chocolate selection.

"Marlene has already slapped you?" Remus teased but when he looked at Sirius he knew that the joke wasn't needed, something else has happened. "What happened?"

Sirius filled him in on the conversation he just had with Marlene, about the suspicion, about where her heritage lies, everything.

"But surely with her being in Gryffindor she's just like you and O?"

"Not necessarily, her mother married a McKinnon, they might not be big out there blood traitors like a Potter or a Longbottom but they're still on the list."

"What about her family then, the Shafiqs?"

"My family doesn't associate with them, they're friendlier with Crabbe and Goyle. Yes, I would have seen the two older Shafiq's around at parties but I can't go asking questions about them without raising suspicion."

"So you have no idea if she actually speaks to that part of her family or not?"

"Correct and with Marlene in Gryffindor and if she does speak to her family, it puts a spy right in the heart of us, everything will get back home. We always thought we were safe within our own common room."

"What about Amycus, can he find out? His close with Lestrange, surely now that Malfoy is part of your family aren't they all? Wouldn't Lestrange be able to find out?" Remus questioned and Sirius shook his head.

"Amycus can only do so much without raising suspicion but I do have another way, keep McKinnon away from O." Remus nodded and Sirius took off, hoping that Makenna was in the same hidden clearing she was last time.

"What do you know of the Shafiq family," Sirius ordered when he entered the entered the clearing finding Makenna standing there talking with her boyfriend Luke.

"Why do you want to know Sirius?" Makenna turned around and faced Sirius as Luke wrapped his arms around her.

"Let's just say a little issue may have arisen and it involves someone telling me they're from the Shafiq family and I need to know if we're in trouble in our own common room." Sirius noticed the change in posture that Makenna had before she shook her head.

"I know who you are speaking of and McKinnon shouldn't be a problem, Lord and Lady Shafiq disowned both of their children, they have no one to give their family title to when they pass. The family line will literally die with those two, in regards to how our families work anyway. They had two daughters, one ended up being a Squib and the other was sorted into Ravenclaw before falling in love with a Gryffindor. I'm sure you know how that love story played out."

"But were the daughters truly disowned, what side are the McKinnons really on?" Sirius questioned and didn't like it when it went silent between them all.

The Rosier family were well known for having their foot in everyone's business, they knew everything and it's why Sirius went to Makenna about Marlene in the first place but it didn't mean he truly trusted the girl just yet.

"It isn't as well known as it is with the Longbottoms or Potters but it does seem like they are setting themselves up to be on Dumbledore's side. A few generations back they were very in the middle, not taking one side much like the Greengrass family still is but it seems to be this current generation is moving towards the light, whether it be because it's what they believe or in spite of the parents who disowned their daughter."

"So can I trust her or not?" Sirius questioned again and Makenna raised an eyebrow.

"You don't even trust me when I tell you that you can, what makes you think you can trust Luke though? You've just said so much in front of him."

Sirius looked up at the boy in question and noticed the slight smirk on his face, "I asked around and everyone's said the same thing, he's a muggleborn. Most Slytherin's wouldn't give him the light of day, whatever he knows won't mean anything to any of them, except you."

"Look Sirius I've tried to convince you that you can trust, same as I know if I tell you that you can trust McKinnon, but you won't trust me anyway. Make your own decisions, talk to O and go from there. Tell O whatever it is that has you panicked and plus, do you honestly believe that a Gryffindor would side with us anyway?"

Sirius didn't say anything, he just turned and left in search of Octavia hoping that Remus was able to keep Marlene away from her.

"So I don't think I've mentioned how beautiful you look today," Fredrick spoke and a smile appeared on her face.

They were currently sitting in the Three Broomsticks pub in Hogsmeade having lunch and so far Octavia wasn't regretting her decision to go on this date after hearing what Alice said the week before during the celebration party.

"No you haven't but thank you, I'm glad I agreed to go on this date with you."

"Me too if I'm being honest," Fredrick responded.

"Well isn't that just the damn sweetest thing I've ever heard," Octavia let out a groan at the sound of her brother's voice, she looked over and found Amycus taking a seat at their table.

"I don't see what this has to do with you Carrow," Fredrick narrowed his eyes at Amycus.

Octavia was proud that the guy had guts but a complete idiot for not knowing what would happen.

"Look at that O, the guy thinks his brave."

"Am what are you doing here?" Octavia questioned, hoping he would get the underlying question.

"I know what I said during the summer O, but think about it, you're my baby sister would I really let you date a pompous asshole like this guy?" Amycus pointed his thumb at Fredrick and Octavia couldn't help but giggle at the sight of it all.

"He's your brother?" Fredrick's face paled as Octavia nodded.

"Your sister is a psychotic bitch," Fredrick hissed.

Octavia knew this wouldn't end well, before she even saw the look cross Amycus' face. Moments later there was screeching from chairs and tables as Amycus lifted Fredrick up and pinned against the wall with an arm across his neck.

"What the hell did you say about my sister?" Amycus hissed.

Octavia knew Fredrick was a dead man walking for talking badly about Alecto but she couldn't let Amycus do something stupid out in the public like this. She stood up and walked over and grabbed his free arm.

"Don't do this Am, all the talks you've had about protecting Al and I? You can't do that from Azkaban, you killing him for calling Al a psychotic bitch won't do any good. Stop Am, please." She pleaded with him and let Fredrick drop to the ground.

"You touch my sister and I won't hesitate next time," Amycus warned before leaving, pulling Octavia out with him.

"Am let me go," she hissed at him as he continued to drag her out of the pub.

"I've heard the things girls say about him O, there is no way I am going to let you finish a date with him, I know what I said about you dating and I will let it happen, just not with him." Amycus explained when they were far away from the pub.

"What's going on here?" Sirius spoke as he walked closer to the two of them, noticing the tight grip Amycus had on Octavia's arm.

"Oh nothing just doing my brotherly duty by making sure she doesn't date pompous assholes, I'm surprised you did."

"We have worse things to worry about then her dating that prat," Octavia turned and faced Sirius, shocked what he just said. He was fine this morning, what happened between now and then.

"What's going on Sirius?" she questioned softly.

"McKinnon knows about the abuse, she worked it out and then cornered me about it this morning," Amycus let go out of her arm and let her walk over to Sirius, knowing full well that the other boy will give her the comfort she wants and needs.

"How?" Amycus questioned and at first Sirius didn't say anything just hugged Octavia.

"She spotted the scars when they were all getting changed, she said her mum got the same abuse as a child, being a part of the Shafiq family."

Octavia knew the other girls would have spotted her scars but she just hoped they wouldn't think anything of and so far Isabella hasn't said anything to her and she was grateful but obviously Marlene thought differently.

"Don't worry about McKinnon for now, I think they're on the light side but I will find out what I can about the family so we know for sure." Amycus spoke as he walked past, gripping Octavia shoulders before continuing on.

"Were you going to tell me Marlene worked it out?"

"At some stage but not today, I didn't expect Amycus to crash your date like he did is all…" Octavia laughed and pulled away from him.

"Fredrick called Al a psychotic bitch."

Sirius let out a laugh, "but O, come on we know Alecto is a psychotic bitch."

"Oh I know, I've even heard Am mutter those words but we're family and therefore allowed to say that." Octavia spoke as Sirius placed an arm around her shoulder and they continued walking towards Main Street.

"Come on, let's go find our friends."

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes Sirius does need to learn to calm down doesn't he?**

 **Katie** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. O's Animagus, yes it will be interesting once it's revealed. I'm trying to keep the story as canon as possible so it's still a few chapters away.**


	34. Family Secrets

**A/N: Just a quick word to inform you all of something that may be a sensitive topic to some of my readers, suicide and self-harm is spoken about towards the end of this chapter.**

Chapter 33: Family Secrets

"Are you going to keep ignoring me as well?" Marlene spoke as she sat down next to Octavia on the couch in the common room.

"Why, who is ignoring you?" Octavia questioned, refusing to look at the other girl.

"Sirius and I'm pretty sure you know why as well, which explains why you won't look at me." Octavia finally turned and looked at Marlene, noticing the frown on her face. "I didn't mean to ruin our friendship, it's why I agreed to the date with Sirius knowing that us being in Hogsmeade will be the only time we will truly be alone without it being suspicious. I only wanted to help O, I've seen the scars on my mother and I know how they got there, to think that you went through that."

"Going to Sirius was the wrong move, if you had of said something to me it might have ended differently."

"I didn't know how things would go if I went to you first, how do you know you can trust me?" Marlene questioned and Octavia turned away, unsure as to how much she should tell Marlene.

Sirius had told Octavia what Makenna had said and they had heard from Amycus a couple of days ago and told him that Marlene's mother had well and truly been disowned, the parents act like they didn't have children.

"We have allies in other places, people we know we can trust or ones we are slowly beginning to trust but how can you help me with something like this? I can't leave my home nor go to someone about it because my parents have their hands in everyone's pockets and if they don't chances are there is someone they know who does."

"I didn't mean for you to leave your home or go to the Ministry but I meant in other ways-"

"What other ways are there Marlene? Surely you would assume that say if my parents did hurt me on a break they wouldn't let me return until I was full healed?" Octavia cut Marlene off.

"That's what happened last year wasn't it? Word was you return home for a weekend for a funeral but yet your brother and sister returned a few days later but you didn't, you returned a few days after them. That weekend confirmed it for me, noting that you hadn't returned for whatever reason. Surely your parents would realise that the Professors would notice something."

Octavia let out a laugh before shaking her head, "my parents think Dumbledore is an old coot, they're convinced he won't work anything else out."

"But surely?" Marlene questioned and Octavia shook her head again, knowing what the other girl was asking, hasn't anyone said anything to you?

"Look I honestly want to be able to trust you about this, but it would have been so much easier had you not said anything. There is nothing you could do to help, it's just easier knowing I don't have another set of eyes looking over their shoulder at me after every break or every time I return home." Octavia spoke before piling up her books and standing up.

"You say you can't leave, but why not? Surely James or Lilith's parents would take you in if they knew, I know my parents would as well."

Octavia didn't say anything, just headed up the boys' staircase knowing that they were all hiding out in there.

Sirius had been avoiding the common room because he had been avoiding Marlene, even watching the two of at Quidditch practise was weird because normally you would see the whole team talking amongst themselves but yet Sirius avoided the group because of her.

She entered the boy's dorm and walked over to where Sirius was sitting on his bed, she noticed he was reading one of the books Dreamers and decided to climb in beside him see what he was learning about her.

"Anything interesting?" she questioned and watched as Sirius turned back a few pages.

"Where's Lilith?"

"Choir practise I think."

"Still can't believe she's in that bloody thing."

"Yes well we have Quidditch, why can't she have something?"

Octavia felt Sirius shrug against her, "What about Pete and Moony?"

"Moony wants to join the Defence club but its fourth year and above only, no idea about Pete."

Octavia had no idea what Sirius was looking for in the book, he just kept going back and forth through the pages, obviously looking for something before he finally stopped.

"There, this book states that once Dreamers that specialise in Charms have managed to control air, fire and water then everything else begins to come easier to them. It's like they unlock something and everything clicks within them as to how everything works."

"I'm assuming air is my ability to levitate things and I've mastered fire but water seems to allude me." she grabbed the book from his hands, wanting to read this passage herself and Sirius shifted the two of them so they were both comfortable by wrapping an arm around her.

Octavia closed the book and noticed the three gold lines running along the pages, as if they were working as page markers, she run her finger along them. She opened the book and flicked through the sections realising something.

"The books in three sections, Transfiguration, Charms and Defence." Octavia spoke aloud.

Octavia's comment caught Remus' attention he looked up at them, "what do you mean three sections?"

"Dreamers tend to only master Charms, Transfiguration and Defence, more so Charms and Transfiguration. Dumbledore said there has only ever been one Dreamer on record who has mastered Defence completely because there are some Defence spells that would be classified as Charms. My defensive shield when I'm scared for example is a charm but used for defensive reasons."

"But why that book spilt into three sections and not all of them?" Remus got up and moved to sit on the edge of Sirius' bed.

"I'm assuming it's because of what the book covers, what I've read or saw when Sirius was flicking it covers the spells and not the Dreamers themselves." Octavia handed him the book so he could have his own look.

"She's right, I was reading through it and it does cover mainly spells or spell work but most of it isn't useful for me, O needs to read through it. But the information on Defensive spells is rather useful, especially if O can get control of them. We don't know for sure as to if she will be able to do them or not but there's something else O…" Sirius trailed off and she pulled away to look at him.

"What did you find?" she questioned wearily, unsure as to if it was good or bad.

"It states that no Dreamer on record has ever been able to produce a Patronus Charm by wand."

"But that's an incredibly complex charm as it is, most people can't produce it anyway, they're lucky if they can produce a mist." Remus cut in and Octavia shook her head.

"Regardless of whether or not it's complex it's something I believe we should learn, whether it be now, before we graduate or when we graduate."

"Is this about that war you and Sirius keep crapping on about?" James cut in, finally taking notice of what the three of them were talking about.

"Believe us or not James but we're from the families that are siding with Voldemort, whether it be now or three years from now, something is going to happen within our world." Sirius interjected and Octavia hit him with the book.

"You're making it sound so bad."

"Say's the girl who has seen the destruction." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Sirius!" Octavia exclaimed and it took a moment for him to realise what he just said.

"What are we missing?" Remus questioned, realising the interaction between the two meant that Octavia had seen something about their future.

"O?" James questioned when neither of them spoke.

"I'm not going to say who but in one of dreams it shows me that not all of us make it through the war…" Octavia spoke, hoping that they wouldn't question as to who would and wouldn't die.

"Then we change it, we change our future and make it so we all make it out alive. You've said that the futures you see aren't set in stone, why can't we change this one?" James stated and Octavia nodded, knowing she didn't want to go through the pain of losing James and Peter. The dream might have told her that Sirius betrayed them but it was never stated whether or not he was still around.

.oOo.

"So tell me again why we are standing out here in the cold?" James muttered and Octavia shot him a glare.

"Come off it James, you aren't even the one standing in the lake."

"That was your choice to stand in the lake barefoot O." Sirius shot back and Octavia continued to glare at the two boys standing on the dirt with smug looks on their faces.

A shiver ran through Octavia as she closed her eyes, she hated that she was willing to freeze to death for this to work. She had tried standing out here on the edge of the lake, hoping that it would help but nothing was working and it wasn't until she was in the shower that she felt something, almost like a connection between her and the water coming from the shower but she didn't want to try anything while in the shower or even in a room where one of the two girls who don't know the truth could walk in.

Octavia had even considering getting into the Prefects bathroom again but it seems as though they had changed the password after what happened last time they had access to it.

None of the professors knew exactly who did whatever they did to the water source but they knew it happened in that bathroom, so they emptied out the water put in fresh water and changed the password.

Octavia didn't even know how to begin with this, this was something she hadn't even managed to create accidently, it was all foreign but if the book she read the other day was correct then once she succeeded in this it was like everything else would click for her.

"Open your eyes O," she opened her eyes at the sound of Sirius' voice and was shocked at what the water was doing.

She turned around and looked behind her to notice the waves, the Black Lake never had waves unless they were being generated by the Giant Squid and moments before it was as calm as it. The only thing that gave indication that it was her doing this was the movement on the waves, they didn't crash against her, it was like there was a barrier protecting her from the waves she was causing.

She threw her hands up the air, wondering what it would cause and was shocked at what happened.

One minute she was standing there watching the water go up into the air and the next minute she was pulled under by some unknown force, making her think that maybe her pulling the water into the air also pulled her along with it.

"Are you alright?" Sirius spoke holding her up while she was coughing, trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah I'm fine, just didn't expect to pulled under the water while I threw it up is all but how cool was that!" she grinned at him and heard James laugh behind her.

"Come on let's get you up to the castle and warmed up, we know you can move the water but let's go back to you trying with a glass of water."

"The glass of water didn't work to begin with Sirius, it's why I decided to stand barefoot in the Black Lake in March knowing full I probably could lose a toe." Octavia snapped at Sirius before storming past both of them, flipping James the finger as she walked past and grabbed her shoes noticing that he had broken out in a full on laughing fit.

Octavia was still barefoot and still holding her shoes in her hands as she walked through the castle, she was used to the stares she received from other students, despite the fact that she still hated being the centre of attention, so she held her head high as she walked through the castle.

When she entered the common room she found Remus and Lilith off to the side, she watched them careful wondering if there was something going there between the two of them but Remus picked that moment to look up and spot her standing there. She smiled when he raised an eyebrow noticing the shoes in her hands and she wouldn't be surprised if there was a smell lingering around her from the lake.

After a much needed boiling hot shower Octavia made her way back down to the common room, shocked to see that Sirius and James hadn't joined them but it was then Octavia realised something, Peter wasn't around. He wasn't down with them by the lake and he obviously wasn't in the common room with Remus and Lilith like she thought.

"Do you know where Pete is?" she questioned as she joined them on a group of arm chairs.

"We thought he was with you," Remus replied and she shook her head. "That's odd, he's never disappeared without telling us before."

"What was with the lack of shoes?" Lilith questioned and Octavia let out a small laugh.

"So I thought maybe standing barefoot in the Black Lake would help."

"You could have gotten hypothermia or frostbite for godric sakes O." Lilith exclaimed but Octavia just grinned at her.

"Well I'm standing here, perfectly fine and I still have all 7 toes."

"7 toes?" Lilith questioned

"Yeah I have 7 toes, don't you?" Octavia tilted her head and looked at them both of them, noting how shocked and confused they were.

"Well no, we have 10 toes like normal people."

"That just sounds weird, why would someone need 10 toes? Want to see my 7?" she grinned at them and they shook their heads. "I'm just messing with you, I have 10 toes but there was something I discovered while I was in the lake that I haven't shared with Sirius and James yet."

"You are such a weird person sometimes Octavia Carrow," Lilith sat back on the chair and crossed her arms, analysing her best friend.

"What did you discover O?" Remus questioned and watched as a smile appeared on her face before she held out her hand. He raised an eyebrow as he grabbed her hand.

He sat there for a moment unsure as to what was happening but then he noticed the heat coming from her hand, until was getting hotter and hotter until it felt like it was burning him. He quickly pulled his hand away, noticing the small red marks on his palm but hers looked exactly the same as it did beforehand.

"What was that?" Remus questioned rubbing his hand, ignoring the look Octavia was giving.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to get too hot it's hard to judge what others feel. I can generate heat like crazy after being able to successfully master the fire element of my magical ability. I can still feel hot and cold it's only when I concentrate I can generate the heat, to me it's warming my body up while I'm assuming to other it's a burning sensation."

"So that's how you stayed warm in the lake?" Remus questioned and she nodded. "Sirius is going to love you once he realises you can do that and be his personal heater, he acts like a bloody sook when he's cold."

"You're acting like I don't know this Moony, why do you think I didn't tell them?" she grumbled and they both laughed.

"Look here they come and it seems like they have food," Lilith whispered and Octavia turned around to face the boys, she narrowed her eyes at them before turning back around and facing the others.

"Peace offering?" Octavia heard Sirius' voice and when she looked over at him she noticed the chocolate chip cookies.

She grabbed them knowing she wouldn't be able to stay mad at him anyway regardless of him offering cookies or not.

Octavia looked over at Remus a smirk on her face as Sirius squeezed in on the chair beside.

She hoped that she would be able to have better control over the heat generation with Sirius sitting beside her than when she was holding Remus' hand, she wanted to make him uncomfortable and not burn him to death.

She sat there as they all continued to talk about Quidditch, both within Hogwarts and outside when she noticed Sirius beginning to squirm against her.

"Is it hot in here?" he questioned and they all shared a look before shaking their heads in disagreement.

Octavia shared a knowing look with Remus and Lilith, knowing that they knew what she was doing before sneaking a look at Sirius beside her and she could tell he was starting to get rather hot and she grateful she wasn't burning him yet.

It wasn't until Sirius stood up and began fanning himself that Octavia smiled at him.

"Hang on," he spoke and they all looked at him, he raised an eyebrow at Octavia before he reached over and grabbed her arm, noticing how warm she was to touch. "How can you not feel that?"

"Feel what?" she questioned innocently as she attempted to lower the heat she was generating, making her skin cold to touch under Sirius' hand.

"It's you, you're doing it." He muttered while narrowing his eyes but she continued to smile at him.

"You can sit back down, I promise it is safe." She moved over and allowed him to sit back down.

"When did this happen?"

"I'm not too sure, I didn't notice it but before the Hufflepuff match it seemed as though something clicked within me in regards to the fire I can produce. It wasn't until today when I was standing in the lake that I knew what to do, I knew what to do to keep myself warm while standing in the cold water."

"But how?"

"That I'm not too sure and can't explain, it's like I focus on the heat within myself. I can't burn myself with it because when I was showing Moony my hand must have gotten too hot because it started to burn him." Octavia rested her head against Sirius' shoulder.

"Wait, where's Pete?" James questioned and Octavia couldn't help but laugh at how late to the party he was.

"We have no idea James, we're assuming he's around somewhere." Lilith explained and James nodded.

Peter never returned to the Gryffindor common room that day, he didn't even arrive for dinner but he was in his bed sound asleep the following morning when Remus woke up.

They all tried to question Peter as to where he was but he just said he was exploring the castle and had dinner in the kitchens, after that they all dropped knowing on more than one occasion they have all wanted their own time alone from each other.

.oOo.

Octavia dropped the letter on the table, she stared at it for a moment before looking at Sirius and then looking over at the Slytherin table in search of her brother and sister, wondering if they knew what their parents had planned for her this coming summer.

"O, what is in that letter?" Sirius questioned as he picked up the letter.

 _Octavia,_

 _We are highly disappointed in you, we hear you are taking Muggle Studies no matter what we said during the summer about our thoughts on Sirius taking the same class._

 _We have decided that normal punishment isn't suitable for this indiscretion, so instead we have taken a page out of our dear late Hattie._

 _You will spending the summer at Hattie's young ladies school of etiquette, I will be collecting you from Hogsmeade station and taking you straight to the school for the whole of your summer._

 _You have been granted only two days leave, the two days that consist of your brother and sister's wedding._

 _I will see you at the end of term._

 _Ophelia._

Sirius had to read the letter a couple of times before he grasped what was being said in the letter, he looked at Octavia, unsure as to what she was feeling. Her face was deathly calm and it was a look he had never seen on her, Alecto and Amycus on countless occasions but Octavia, never. It was always her eyes that gave her away but today, after reading this letter everything was calm about her and he didn't know how she was going to react.

"O?" he questioned softly but she didn't respond, all she did was pick up the letter and he watched as she walked over to where Amycus and Alecto are sitting at the Slytherin table.

"What's going on Sirius?" Remus questioned and Sirius looked his friends for a moment before looking back at Octavia.

"Something bad, something that may change her and we may lose her forever," he scrubbed his face with his hands and when he looked up he noticed her leaving the Great Hall.

"What's happening?" James questioned as Lilith got up and left the hall noticing that Sirius wasn't doing it.

"You remember her aunt Hattie? The one who died last year and she went home for her funeral?" they all nodded and Sirius took a deep breath. "She ran an etiquette school, all females from the families attend the school two days a week between the ages of 7 and 11. It is the parents' choice of whether or not the girls go back the summer before their fifth year, normally that is when they focus on marriage and what is expected of a notable family with a notable partner. Octavia hated those lessons and assumed that once she turned 11 that was it for her because Alecto didn't return for her summer away. My cousins Andromeda and Narcissa didn't attend their summer but Bella did, when she returned she was different and wasn't herself."

"Is Bella the only person you know who has done that summer away?" Sirius shook his head at Remus' question but didn't respond straight away.

"Sirius?" James questioned not liking the silence.

"There is a well-kept secret amongst the families, O and I don't know the full story we're unsure as to if we will ever get told but O had a cousin who did it and it may be partly why Alecto didn't do her summer."

"What happened?"

"She killed herself, she made it look like she got on the train to Hogwarts but she never made it there for her fifth year. She was found two weeks later dead in a muggle apartment in central London."

"How do you and O not know anything though?" Peter spoke, looking a little uncomfortable at the mention of suicide.

"We were four, we were just told she had died and that was that. We don't know what happened while she was away but we've heard things over the years like self-harm, depression or she was pushed to do it but we don't know the truth and anytime her name gets mentioned O's parents just go silent." Sirius spoke and he placed his face in his hands, he was worried about his best friend and had no idea how to fix this.

"Don't follow me, just stick with our plan for finishing the last couple of floors of the castle for today. I will send Lilith back to you and I will handle O," Sirius spoke as he stood up, having noticed that Amycus and Alecto had also left their table, he wanted to catch them on the way out.

"Sirius," Sirius heard Amycus speak behind him and he looked over his shoulder to find the twins standing there.

"You read the letter?" he questioned and they both nodded.

"I wasn't sent for my summer before fifth year after what happened to Bexley, I don't know why mother is agreeing now all of things, it's just a Muggle studies class." Alecto spoke.

Sirius nodded, "come on she will most likely be in the kitchens." Sirius began leading them towards the kitchen.

"How did you work how to get into the kitchens, we haven't even found the kitchens yet?" Amycus spoke earning a laugh from Sirius.

Sirius showed them how to open the portrait, figuring he could do one nice thing for them as a thanks for the small number of things they have done for Octavia. Regardless of all the pain Alecto has caused she saved Octavia's life last year, she helped her after their father ripped her back to shreds and Amycus has done so much in hopes of protecting her, protecting both of his sisters.

"Lilith go back to the rest of our friends," Sirius spoke noticing the interaction between the two, he thought Octavia would be close to snapping if Lilith pushed too far.

Lilith turned around and Sirius could tell she was shocked at what she was seeing, Sirius standing there with both Alecto and Amycus with him.

Sirius walked over to where Lilith was standing and when he looked back at the twins he noticed they hadn't moved, they were wearily looking at Lilith.

"I'll take care of O, I promise." Sirius spoke and Lilith nodded, finally leaving and it was then that the twins finally moved.

"O?" Alecto questioned and Octavia's head shot up at the sound.

"Why are they forcing me to go now? You didn't have to go, why me?" she questioned softly and the three of them walked over and sat down at the table with her.

"I don't know what to tell you," Alecto spoke as she placed her hands over Octavia's, keeping her face calm when Octavia flinched.

"Why now? Why am I being punished like this?" She pointed her finger at Amycus, "you promised you would help me, you would help me come up with a reason so I wasn't going to get punished.

"O, I didn't think it would happen like this. I never would have thought they would send you off to Hattie's etiquette school, Al didn't go for obvious reason or are you forgetting that we don't see Cora and Maxton anymore?" Amycus spoke and Octavia frowned, pulling her hand away from Alecto.

"Bexley died when I was four and I think the last time I saw Cora and Maxton I was six, why don't we see them anymore?" Octavia questioned and watched as Amycus and Alecto shared a look. "Tell me, I'm 13 and get treated like I do by our parents, I'm pretty sure I can handle it."

"They killed themselves as well O, they lasted two years before they couldn't handle the death of Bexley. Living in the woods like they were, they were shut off from everyone. They put wards around the house to prevent anyone from turning up, they shut themselves from everyone and let their grief get the better of them."

"Why wasn't I told any of this? Why did our parents just let me think we became estranged with them while you two get to know?" Octavia snapped at them and Sirius placed a hand on her leg and softly rubbed her thigh in attempts to calm her down.

"We're 17, we got told about some of the more darker family secrets during the Christmas break following our birthday. I'm sure you would have been told come your 17th birthday as well." Alecto spoke, earning a look from Amycus.

"So what, our parents thought it would be a good idea to ship me off for the summer to a school that essentially killed three of our family members for whatever reason?"

Amycus scrubbed his face with his hand before signalling one of the elves, "your usual mister Amycus?" the elf questioned and received a nod.

They were all silent for a moment while they waited to see what the elf was getting for Amycus, it wasn't long until the elf had place a bottle of butter beer in front of each them as well as something in front of them.

"What is that?" Octavia questioned.

"It's called pizza, one of last year's seventh year had an Italian background and got us hooked on the stuff and they explained to the elves how to make the pizza so we can request it, mind you we call the elves to our common room."

Both Sirius and Octavia leaned over and grabbed a slice of the pizza, they were amazed at the taste of it and grinned at Amycus.

"This is really good Am."

"I'm glad O but I honestly didn't expect our parents to do this, I thought that after what Bexley went through during her summer away that they decided to not send you both there and they didn't send Al but the fact that they are sending you this summer and not the following is what is a cause of worry as well. I know I promised you that I will help come up with a story as to why you were taking Muggle Studies but as I said, I didn't think they would do this."

Octavia nodded at Amycus, knowing that he was right but what she was thinking about now was the last time the four of them all sat together like this, like there was no rifts between them. It was her eleventh birthday, as per usual the Blacks were over and dinner had finished allowed all five children to escape to the backyard to enjoy the last of the sun and heat before four of them started at Hogwarts the following day.

Octavia knew what her summer would entail and she was now worried for what was going to happen and how she was going to be the beginning of the new term in September.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **In regards to the mentions of suicide and self-harm in this chapter, I do in no way think that it is something that should be covered up regardless of what I have written. I deeply believe that if someone has depression or any doubts about their value of life that they shouldn't hide it, they should speak up.**

 **I am running with the idea that Purebloods would not appreciate something like that attached to their family name, considering there has been mention of Squibs being disowned in the books.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It is but isn't bad that you are glad that their dates ended badly.**


	35. Fear for Summer

Chapter 34: Fear for Summer

It had been six weeks since that letter turned from Octavia's mother about what the plan was for her summer, what her punishment was for taking Muggle Studies and fear instantly set in for Octavia.

It was in that six weeks that they all saw a change in Octavia, she was no longer acting up in class, no longer in detention, was focusing harder than usual on her studies so she was ready for her exams.

"Class is dismissed, Miss Carrow if you could stay behind I would like a word?" Professor Smith spoke as the class packed up their things and began heading out.

Sirius reluctantly left the room, leaving Octavia alone.

"You wanted to speak with me professor?" Octavia spoke as she made her way towards the front of the classroom once everyone cleared out.

"Yes, now I don't mean to pry but I have noticed a change in you over the last couple of weeks, is there anything you would like to talk about? Remember I come from the same sort of families that you and Sirius do, surely there is nothing I won't understand." Smith spoke as she took a seat on top of her desk.

"Have you heard of Miss Hattie Burke's Etiquette School for Young Ladies?" Octavia questioned and couldn't help but frown at the look that crossed Smith's face.

"Yes I unfortunately had to attend the same schooling I'm sure you did from ages 7 – 11 as well as the summer before my fifth year, but what does that have to do with anything as you are only a third year?"

"I'm spending the summer there as punishment for taking Muggle Studies. What is so bad about the summer before fifth year at the school?"

"I heard about Hattie's passing, I doubt that the same things will happen and it's been a long time since I attended that school."

Octavia didn't like that smith was avoiding the question, or even avoiding talking about the school in general. "You still didn't tell me about how bad the summer was."

"You shouldn't worry about it, I'm sure it will be fine. I'm sure you are hungry, why don't you head off to the Great Hall for lunch."

Octavia didn't say anything, just collected her things and left the room but not before looking over her shoulder at Smith, there was something off about her ever since Octavia mentioned where she was spending her summer.

"What did Smith want?" Octavia jumped at the sound of Sirius voice and placed a hand on her chest.

"Bloody hell Sirius." Octavia, noting the small smirk on his face.

"It's just too easy O."

"Who knows, maybe once I complete the Animagus transformation I won't be as easy to scare anymore."

Sirius laughed and threw an arm around her shoulder, "Nope I think you're going to be this tiny useless little bird."

She responded by hitting him across the chest and pulling away from him, "says the mutt."

"Still with the dog jokes," he shook his head, before stepping back in beside her, becoming serious again. "But in all seriousness what did Smith want?"

"She asked what has caused the change in my behaviour and when I told her about the etiquette school there was a look that crossed her face for a moment. Sirius, she attended the school for that summer before her fifth year, she looked worried for a moment but yet she tried to reassure me that surely it will be different, that it's changed since her time and that Hattie was dead."

"Maybe she was right, maybe things will be fine and plus you have two days off because of the weddings. Aren't the weddings like a month apart?" Sirius spoke, worried when Octavia didn't say anything as she stepped into the Great Hall.

"How was Muggle Studies?" Remus questioned being the first one to spot Sirius and Octavia join them at the table.

"Fine," Octavia stated calmly before reaching over and grabbing some of the soup sitting in the middle of the table, ignoring the look Sirius was giving her.

"That look right there tells me something else happened," Lilith piped in, pointing her spoon at Sirius.

Octavia pushed her bowl away and stood up, "you know what, I'm not actually hungry."

"O…" James called after her as she walked away from Sirius shook his head.

"Don't, just let her be this whole etiquette school is really getting to her." Sirius spoke and the rest of the group continued on with their lunch.

Octavia was missing from their afternoon classes, they were all worried but Sirius just kept reminding them that she will be fine and just needs time alone and that if they went looking for her they were risking pushing her away even more, she will turn up again when she's ready to face them.

Sirius entered his dorm once classes were finished with the idea of dumping his bag and getting in a fly before making a start on the massive essay they had be given in Transfiguration but all his plans changed the moment he saw Octavia sound asleep on his bed.

He walked over and brushed the hair out of her face and watched as she began to stir. "Why do we have to wait till we are 17, why can't we leave now?" Octavia mumbled and Sirius frowned.

"You're the one that wanted to wait till 17, if we wait till I'm 17 then I get everything if not we will have more gold in our vaults before we leave. If we leave beforehand we will struggle."

"I don't want to go home this summer," she spoke as she buried her face against the pillow.

"Come for a fly with me?" Sirius questioned and she shook her head.

He continued to stand there leaning against the post of James' bed watching her with worry, it wasn't until her breathing evened out that he realised she had fallen back asleep. There was nothing he could do, he didn't know how to change what her parents had planned for her for the summer and if he did he would do it in a heartbeat.

"What took so long?" James questioned when Sirius finally emerged from their dorm.

"Nothing," Sirius muttered and the two of them began making their way down towards the Quidditch Pitch to grab their brooms from the storage cupboard.

"Hypothetically, would your parents take me in for the summer?" Sirius spoke once they were both outside on the grounds and James looked at him like he was crazy.

"Depends, would you blow my house up?" James questioned with a smirk.

"Do you want me to blow your house up?" Sirius shot back and James laughed.

"No but why are you asking this?"

"Hypotheticals," Sirius shrugged. "Honestly though, would your parents take me in for the summer?"

"Probably but what about O?" James questioned and when Sirius fell silent that's when he realised, this wasn't a hypothetical. "Mate at home it's just me and my parents, sometimes it gets a little quiet. They always make comments about me having mates over and sometimes I have had Moony and Lilith over, Peter always claims he has other plans with his family, but for obvious reasons I've never asked you and O."

Sirius didn't say anything, just grabbed his broom and took off to the sky, with another idea forming in his mind.

.oOo.

The rest of term past by easy enough, they all managed to make it through exams thinking they were simple enough.

The group of friends had found that Octavia eventually returned back to her usual self, they don't know what happened that day when she disappeared during lunch and didn't return until after dinner. No one questioned where she was and no one questioned what she was thinking in regards to her spending the summer in the etiquette school because they were concerned about how she was going to react.

They had slipped back into their usual routine of pranking the Slytherin's and messing around in class which landed them all in detention, they were all even shocked when Lilith had joined them on a couple of occasions in detention.

"You'll look after my broom again James?" Octavia questioned and James nodded.

They were all on the train heading home for the summer but they were all cautious of asking what everyone's plans are for the summer because of Octavia so instead they stuck to a neutral topic, Quidditch.

"I can't honestly believe you let Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup, Frank is going to have the biggest head all summer." Lilith complained and the boys laughed.

"Come on, surely you are pleased that we have kept it away from Slytherin again?" James spoke with Sirius pitching in in agreement.

"I would rather if we managed to win the House Cup." She frowned at them and crossed her arms over her chest as James, Sirius and Octavia shared a look.

Smirks appeared on all three of their faces, "won't happen while we are still here." Octavia spoke and Lilith shook her head.

"I swear you three have to grow up eventually," Remus piped in.

"Why where is the fun in growing up? There are way too many responsibilities of being an adult, you have bills, a job, laundry, cooking, chores…" James started but was cut off by both Remus and Lilith.

"You don't have chores?" the chimed in together.

"No…" spoke James, Sirius and Octavia all at once and everyone looked at Peter as well, wondering if he did or didn't have chores.

"I have chores as well," Peter finally spoke and they nodded.

"Well Lilith I'm guessing you don't have a house elf?" James questioned.

"Of course I do but it doesn't excuse the fact that I have to clean my room and clean up after Millie, my pet Kneazle."

"You have a Kneazle? Why don't you bring her to Hogwarts?" Octavia questioned in shock, this was the first time she had heard anything about a pet Kneazle.

"Because she's not really mine, it's the families pet but she's also old and set in her ways, she wouldn't like being at Hogwarts."

"Hang on I have a question, Frank has an owl, why don't you have an animal?" Remus questioned.

"I get one this summer, I had pet goldfish when I was younger that was all my responsibility but they kept dying, me looking after Millie during the breaks proved I've grown up enough to look after a pet, whether it be an owl, cat, or Kneazle."

"Do you know what you are going to get?" Octavia questioned Lilith causing Sirius to get up and switch seats.

It wasn't until they were half way through the train ride, waiting for the trolley lady so they can get some food when Peter sat up straight, an important thought in his mind.

"Ohh…" Peter spoke causing them all to place their attention on him. "Didn't you say your parents were going to pick you straight up from Hogsmeade O?" his question earned him an elbow in the ribs from Remus who was sitting beside him.

"They were going to but I think Amycus or Alecto sent something home because I received another letter a few days later stating that they will pick me up from Kings Cross instead." Octavia spoke before turning her attention back out the window.

"So who thinks we will have a new Defence professor come September?" Sirius questioned, hoping to divert the attention back off Octavia.

The train slowly pulled into the station and Sirius had to place his hand on Octavia's knees to stop her from bouncing them due to nerves.

"We will speak over summer, just like last year." Remus spoke as he gave Octavia a hug.

They all said their goodbyes before leaving the compartment, they all agreed at the end of first year that it was easier for them to say goodbye before they got off the train. Sirius and Octavia explained how their parents aren't exactly enthused with their friendships, the others agreed not wanting to make their home lives more difficult then they needed to be.

"Come on, it's time to face the music but Remus was right, you have your parchment we can still talk. We know how those summers work from all of Hattie's boring talks over dinner, the girls have their own room." Sirius spoke, hoping to make Octavia feel better about the whole thing.

"As long as they don't go through my things…"

"O, it's a blank piece of parchment. You're going straight there from here, you can claim it was left over from the school year."

"We'll see what happens, I have a couple of weeks until Alecto's wedding and then a month until Amycus' and then a couple of weeks until the end of summer," Octavia spoke before standing up to leave the compartment.

"Everything will be alright, I will be there for you at Alecto's wedding and hopefully we have the chance to talk." Octavia nodded before stepping off the train and heading to where her mother was standing, not even getting another chance to speak to Sirius before she disappeared from the station.

"Welcome to Miss Hattie's School of Etiquette for Young Ladies," Octavia heard a shrill voice when they arrived, she was not looking forward to this. "Ah Mrs Carrow, it is lovely to see you again and this must be Octavia. It is a pleasure that you will be joining us this summer."

Octavia plastered on a smile and looked over at where the voice was coming from, "the pleasure is all mine." Octavia spoke, remembering how she was taught to act when she was younger.

"I will see you in a couple of weeks when I come to pick you up for Alecto's wedding," Octavia was shocked when her mother leant down to give her a hug, it only lasted a second but it was something that never happened.

She looked at her mother when she pulled away and noticed the strange look in her eyes but it was then that she remembered the story of her cousin Bexley. This place changed her, this placed tore a family apart and this place caused Octavia's family to lose three people. It really made her question as to who made this decision.

"Now my name is Miss Madeline and I am the head teacher here since your dear Aunt Hattie passed away, I am to be referred to as such. If you follow me I will show you to your room." Octavia made a grab for her trunk and followed Madeline upstairs.

.oOo.

Sirius entered the study where he knew his parents like to spend their days, he was hoping that they will let him take off for the summer as long as he returned for the two weddings this summer and he would, he didn't want to leave Octavia alone at them.

"Sirius what can we do for you?" Orion spoke when he noticed Sirius enter the room.

"I was hoping I can spend the summer at a friend's house?"

"But the Carrow twins have their weddings this summer."

"I know this father and I promise to return for them, I will even return for Octavia's birthday since we always have dinner with the Carrows before we return to Hogwarts. Even if anything else comes up during the summer I will return, even if it is something as simple as a dinner." Sirius hoped that putting in the last statement would make his parents more agreeable to this option, he knew they wouldn't ask where he was going because they knew they wouldn't like the answer with him being in Gryffindor they knew who he was most likely friends with.

"No," Walburga stated harshly before Orion even had the chance to respond.

"You heard your mother," Orion when Sirius opened his mouth to try a different route.

Sirius turned and left the study and began finalizing plan in his head, he knew there was a possibility that his parents would say no but he wanted out of the house this summer, he couldn't sit around there all day again not knowing what was happening with Octavia while he was stuck at home having to deal with his parents.

He left the house and ventured out into muggle London, something his parents advised against him and his brother doing, in search of what he needed.

As he was walking down the street, something caught his eye.

"Can I help you there boy?" Sirius turned around to face an older gentlemen who had just left the garage.

"I was just curious about the bike, the sign says it's for sale, how much?" Sirius questioned looking back over at the motorbike.

"Aren't you a little young my boy?"

"I didn't realise it was illegal to ask questions," Sirius snapped back and the old guy let out a laugh.

"Just so you know the bike doesn't run, it needs a little fixing up but I don't have the spare cash for parts." Sirius was a little disappointed at that, ever since Remus had explained what a motorbike was he had wanted one, to know what it was like to ride one.

"How about this my boy, if you pay for the bike and parts I will help you fix it up. You seem like a decent young man." Sirius smirked at the man, knowing it could be considered far from the truth.

"I like the sound of that deal but just so you know I live at a boarding school for most of the year and is cash alright?" Sirius questioned, thankful that he was taking Muggle Studies and knew some of the more common terms amongst otherwise this guy might have raised an eyebrow at a few things.

"Cash is fine with me, I have a business to run during the weeks so I can only help you on the weekends, come back this weekend with the money and we can get started." Sirius was told the price and he instantly agreed, not having any clue as to if it was a good deal or not and left in search of his original destination.

After Sirius found what he was looking for, going to Diagon Alley to exchange his gold for muggle currency before going back to the shop he found. He grabbed enough gold to cover what he wanted as well as the money the guy asked for the bike in case he didn't have the chance to get back to Gringotts before then.

He had never used a taxi before but figured he wouldn't be too hard, he had the addresses he needed to get to and figured the driver would do the rest, but by the looks he received maybe it wasn't something a 14 year old did on their own but either way the drivers took him when he offered to pay them, seemed overly thrilled when he threw the money at them and didn't wait for change.

After a long day out he finally made it back home with his purchases, glad he hadn't run into any of his family members or that wretched elf that his parents insisted on keeping around before he made it up to his room so he could get to work on plan B.

Days had passed before anything was said about what he had done, he was hoping that it would come about a lot quicker than it was happening and he was starting to get antsy.

He was currently hiding out on this little balcony that had been charmed way back when to make it look like it was overlooking the woods instead of the inner city look that London gives. He had two pieces of parchment laid out in front of him but he had only written on one of them.

He picked up the glowing one and read the message.

 _O – You available?_

Octavia had created a piece of parchment intended just for the two of them, they never saw the use of it before this summer because if they needed to talk they could just turn up at each other's house but this summer they were forced apart again and Octavia wanted the safety net just in case.

 _S – Yes, I'm actually waiting for things to blow up here._

 _O – What did you do Sirius?_

 _S – I may have placed some things on my wall that my parents won't approve of when they notice it but how are things for you?_

 _O – Fine I guess, it's only been a couple of days and not much has happened since the girls are still turning up and strangely enough, I'm not the only one that isn't fifteen here._

 _S – I wonder why that is, everyone we have heard of that has attended that school for a summer period had always been fifteen or will turn fifteen at some point._

 _O – I have no idea, I haven't had the chance to talk to any of the other girls that aren't fifteen yet. There is a part of me that is hoping that they are being punished as well but my chances are slim I suppose, it almost seems like some of these girls spend their summers here every year it's all very click like, almost like Hogwarts with their houses._

 _S – You'll be alright O, I'm sure you will make friends soon enough, who wouldn't like you?"_

 _O – Evans and Blake…_

 _S – Are from a different world to us, chances are these girls all understand what it is like growing up in our families, they will have at least one parent from the families or their parents are trying to be accepted by the families and are doing everything the same as them, this school included._

 _O – Hopefully, so what have you planned to annoy your parents with this time? Is it going to backfire and prevent you from attending Al's wedding?_

 _S – Doubtful considering when I asked if I could spend the summer at friends, promising to return home for both Alecto and Amycus' weddings as well as for your birthday they still said no._

 _O – So now you have planned something to piss them off in hopes they will just tell you to bugger off already._

 _S – I see your eyes rolling from here._

 _O – Very funny, look I have to go it's time for lunch and I think I finally have orientation this afternoon._

 _S – You will be fine don't stress and I will see you at Alecto's wedding, just remember that because I honestly don't believe I can do something to piss them off that much._

 _O – I hope so because I honestly believe I will only make it through the summer if I know I will be seeing you soon._

 _S – Make friends O, it will help the time pass faster._

Sirius placed the parchment that was communication between him and Octavia back on the ground and looked at the other one, wondering why James hasn't said anything in response yet. He needed to hear from him soon otherwise everything will backfire.

"BOY!" Sirius heard his mother yell and boy was she angry, "Get down here!" he climbed back in through the window and headed downstairs in search of Walburga.

"Yes mother?"

"Kreacher has just informed me of the foul things up on display in your room."

"Why is Regulus allowed to display his house pride by hanging Slytherin banners up in his room but I'm not allowed to hang Gryffindor banners?" Sirius questioned knowing it was just adding fuel to the fire.

"No I am not talking about the idiotic Gryffindor banners you seem to constantly have on display in your room, no I am talking about the foul half naked female muggle posters you thought was appropriate to put on display in there." Sirius could see the tick beginning to form in his mother's forehead indicating she was incredibly annoyed.

"But it's my bedroom, I was under the assumption to do as I please in my bedroom mother."

"Not under my house my boy." Walburga snapped and this was the reaction he wanted but he had to keep the smirk off his face, knowing that is going too far. "Don't think we haven't noticed you disappearing for hours on end during the day Sirius, we don't even want to begin to think what you have be getting up to but if you want to go and see your blood traitor friends, fine but you better return when we need you to, to keep up family appearances."

"Yes mother," Sirius spoke and turned heading back up the stairs.

"And take down those foul pictures!" He heard his mother yell from the other room as he took the stairs two at a time.

Sirius quickly threw what he needed into his trunk for the next few days knowing he will have to return for the first wedding before dragging it to the floo and heading to the Leaky Cauldron, hoping more than anything James will reply soon.

 _J – What's going on? The message is gone but the alert was going off._

Sirius was glad he was only having to sit at the pub for 10 minutes before James finally responded.

 _S – Does your offer to spend the summer at yours still stand?_

 _J – Yeah of course it does, why?_

 _S – How do I access your floo?_

 _J – What, why?_

 _S – Because I'm curious…why the hell else would I want it?_

 _J – Of course, sorry. Potter Manor._

Sirius quickly placed the parchment back in his trunk before heading back over to the floo, throwing a Galleon at the bar tender for not kicking him out and flooed to James'.

When Sirius stepped through on the other end he was actually a little surprised, he thought only the families his family associated with liked to flaunt their money but this house, or Manor more correctly, clearly showed that the Potters had money and they weren't trying to hide it.

"Hello, you must be Sirius, it is so nice to have finally met you." Sirius was startled as an older women rushed forward to great him. When she pulled away she must have noticed the look on Sirius' face, "Sorry, my name is Euphemia, I'm James' mother and he has told me so much about you, Octavia as well."

"It's nice to meet you and I'm grateful for the invitation to stay here," Sirius smiled at her, remembering his manners.

Euphemia smiled in response, "of course any friends of James, come I believe my son is hiding in his room."

Sirius followed Euphemia upstairs, taking note of everything that was out on display, despite the fact that the furniture and other pieces out of display that showed that the Potters had money it was very different to the houses Sirius was used to seeing as he grew up. His house along with the many others only ever had one family portrait that was always redone every couple of years that was situated in various rooms, but this house, this house had multiple photos of the family covering the walls.

"We had just finished lunch when James informed me that you were arriving, are you hungry Sirius?"

"No thank you, I ate before I arrived."

"Very well, James' bedroom is that door over there and again it was lovely to meet you." Euphemia gave Sirius another smile and placed a soft hand on Sirius' shoulder as she walked past him.

Sirius walked over and opened the door that Euphemia pointed to and found James lounging about on his bed, he quickly sat up at seeing the sight of Sirius.

"Mate what is going on, I get these messages from you and when I didn't get a response I jumped up and run downstairs to tell them you were coming to stay a couple of days. Mind you they were thrilled that you finally accepted an invitation since I refused to tell them why I couldn't ask you, they know what type of families you come from but wouldn't believe that your parents would refuse you from coming over."

"Well they did originally when I asked." James' mouth fell opened and Sirius rolled his eyes, it wasn't that shocking that every now and then he wouldn't rebel against his parents' wishes.

"Wait, you actually asked your parents and not take off?"

"Me taking off won't end well at all, I did enough to piss them off so they would let me leave the house. I just have to return home when needed." Sirius walked over and flopped down on the bed beside James.

"How bad would it end?" James questioned but Sirius didn't say anything in response to his question.

"Heard from the others?"

"My parents actually invited them all over for dinner last night, turns out they have been talking at the station when it comes to picking us up."

"I bet that conversation doesn't include mine or O's parents."

"You would be correct."

"How was the dinner that I missed out on?" Sirius mocked whined and James just laughed before launching into what happened during dinner the night before.

.oOo.

"Why hello there stranger," Sirius spoke as he stepped in beside Octavia.

It was the day of Alecto's wedding, her wedding was first since her soon to be husband has an intern ship to attend to within the Ministry. Sirius and Octavia barely knew the guy since he attended Durmstrung for his magical education instead of Hogwarts but he was still around during the breaks.

"Sirius it's good to see you." Octavia faced him with a small smile on her face.

"How have your first two weeks been?"

"They've been fine, I'm unsure as to what exactly it is everyone is so scared of at the moment but most of what we have been going over is more of a recap of everything we learnt when we were younger. I believe when I return tomorrow the new stuff begins."

"Well that's something, maybe they will make a women out of you yet." He smirked at her and she shook her head.

"You keep forgetting that I am in fact a girl Sirius."

"That dress helps prove you are a girl," Octavia turned in shocked and faced him completely, feeling unsure about the way his eyes raked over her body.

"Sirius stop, we'll get in trouble." She hissed at him and his eyes went back up at her face.

"Sorry," he mumbled his apology.

"It's fine, how has your week been at the Potters." Octavia and watched as Sirius looked back out on the backyard where the wedding was set up.

"You don't want to know, it'll make you annoyed you are stuck at the school."

"Too right, how the bloody hell did your parents agree to that?" Octavia questioned but Sirius could hear the anger in her voice.

"I may have put some things up on my walls that I knew would anger them and in turn just let me do what I want." Octavia shook her head at him, she still hated that Sirius could do what he wanted and he wouldn't be punished.

She always wondered how far Walburga and Orion would let him go before they disowned him, there was a small part of her that always hated her best friend because no matter what he did to anger his parents they never turned on him like hers did.

"Come on you two, the wedding is about to start." They both turned to face Amycus who had come and interrupted their conversation.

Sirius nodded before leaving the two siblings alone and Octavia turned to face her brother.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine I think, it hasn't been too bad. As much as I hate saying this I would rather be at home and deal with the physical punishment instead of at that school with fear of what could happen. Did you know mother hugged me goodbye?"

Amycus raised the glass in his hand and took a sip before taking a deep breathe, "I found something out a few days ago, our grandparents were the ones that suggested you attend the school."

Octavia's whole body tensed up at the mention of their grandparents. "Which ones Am?" she questioned wearily.

"Which ones do you think O?" he responded and Octavia grabbed the glass from him knowing full well it was Fire Whiskey and she would most likely get in trouble but this bad news.

She drank what was left, ignoring the burning sensation and handed the glass back, "Our grandparents, our paternal grandparents. The ones who used first used the Cruciatus Curse on me when I was six were the ones who suggested I should attend that bloody school. The ones who didn't care that Bexley was dead and in turn Maxon and Cora as well. I know about our parents being somehow related so even though technically Maxon and Cora on our maternal side of the family but aren't they all related."

Amycus nodded and Octavia threw her hands up in the air. "They pushed for Al as well but because she was in Slytherin, doing everything that was requested of her, she was so eager to become a Death Eater, she whole heartedly believed what the Dark Lord was talking about at the parties."

"But because I'm in Gryffindor, play Quidditch, take Muggle Studies and everything else I get punished for they gave in to them?" Amycus nodded at her question, she bit her tongue to hold in her screams of frustration. "And now I have to spend all day playing nice with them, just great." Octavia muttered before walking off, knowing stomping and throwing a tantrum like a two year old would just cause more issues.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Hibiki Loke** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you're enjoying the story, I didn't even realise that there may be similar aspects between this story and What Happens that do follow the story of Castor and Vega, but now that you have mentioned it, I do see the similarities.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Oh that place will be a lot of fun, Octavia will have lots and lots of fun and not miss her friends at all (replies sarcastically).**


	36. Fourth Year - Concerns for Fourth Year

Chapter 35: Concerns for Fourth Year

Sirius didn't know how he managed to get the summer he wanted but now he was in search of Octavia,

Sirius knew that he was lucky getting the summer he wanted considering his best friend was stuck at an etiquette school but right now he worried about Octavia more than anything, he needed to check on her so he had left Regulus and his parents the minute they arrived at the platform since he needed to find her.

She was acting strange at dinner last night but he doesn't know if that was because both of their parents were around or if her summer had made that much of a difference to her.

If it was her summer that had made a difference to her he wouldn't even know what happened, when he saw her at Alecto's wedding she was fine, a little nervous for what was in store and even though she developed a foul mood, he had found out it was because she found out who was behind the idea of the etiquette school in the first place.

But when it came to Amycus' wedding the two of them didn't get a moment alone to speak and whenever he looked over at her, she had her mask in place hiding what she was truly feeling.

Just as he was about to try searching for her on the train, he noticed the familiar bright red hair arrive in the designated Apparition area with Dinky. He walked over and gave her a smile.

"Mister Sirius, how was your summer?" Dinky greeted Sirius.

"It was good Dinky, how have you been?"

"Good, but I have to head back. Have a good year Miss Tavia." Dinky disappeared and Sirius looked at his best friend, he might have seen her last night but before that it was a long gap in between visits.

"Come on, let's get on the train and find our friends?" Sirius questioned and noticed the look that went through her eyes. "O?"

"No, I just want to get changed and then sit in a quiet compartment. I will see our friends at the Sorting." Octavia walked away and Sirius stood there, unsure as to what to do.

In the end Sirius followed Octavia, knowing that she needed him more than their friends. He entered the compartment just as she was fixing her cloak, he was surprised at how quickly she had gotten changed.

"Are you alright O?" he questioned as she looked out the window.

"It was just a very long summer and my two free days for Amycus and Alecto's wedding wasn't enough of a break. I just want the train ride to collect my thoughts before I'm shoved back into the population of Hogwarts." Her voice broke as she spoke and when Sirius looked at her he noticed the stray tear run down her cheek.

He reached over to wipe it away but was shocked when she jerked her head away from his hand, she's never done that before. "Should I be worried?" he questioned but didn't receive a response from Octavia.

They sat in silence for who knows how long, it was even beginning to bore Sirius but he didn't want to leave her in case she decided she wanted to talk. Instead he took this moment to continue on with the meditation that he was still needing to do since he still hasn't had a single dream containing animals like Octavia said she read about in the books.

The silence between them was broken by someone opening the compartment door, Sirius opened his eyes and looked at Octavia before looking at the now open door seeing their friends.

"There you two are, where have you been?" James spoke but out of the corner of his eye Sirius noticed Octavia's whole body tense up, he immediately knew something was wrong.

"Come on, let's speak out here." Sirius stood up and all but shoved them out into the corridor.

"What's wrong with O?" Lilith questioned and Sirius looked back in through the window.

"I honestly don't know, we haven't had the chance to talk about her summer yet and right now she just wants to be left alone." Sirius spoke not taking his eyes off his best friend, he even caught sight of the sun glistening off her cheeks indicating she was crying.

"You said she was fine at Alecto's wedding," James spoke and Sirius finally turned around.

"Yes and she was but at Amycus' wedding I didn't have the chance to speak to her alone and the same goes for last night at dinner but something was off about her last night and I was just waiting for a moment for her to speak about what happened during her summer." Sirius looked at his friends, he could tell they were all worried about Octavia.

They might all be worried about Octavia but they also knew that they didn't understand fully how their home lives worked no matter how much they tried, it was why they listened to both Sirius and Octavia when it came to the other. It didn't matter if they had both found best friends with in Lilith and James, there was just some things that those two didn't understand, regardless of their own Pureblood families.

"Come on guys, let's go back. We'll see her at the feast," Lilith spoke, urging the boys back down the train.

Lilith might not know anything about the etiquette school Octavia spent her summer at, but one question aimed at her grandmother and add in the story of Bexley, Lilith was worried.

Sirius walked back in and took a seat, closing his eyes going back to his meditation.

"I know why Bexley didn't want to return for her fifth year, I can understand why she did what she did. If you didn't appear when you did I have no idea if I would have gotten on the train, maybe Dinky would have followed me onto the train I don't know." Sirius' eyes snapped opened hearing her voice, completely shocked at what she just said.

He hated seeing her like this, her eyes filled to the brim with tears but he didn't want to reach over and touch her with fear that she will jerk away from him again.

"What happened O? Why wouldn't you want to return to Hogwarts? You love Hogwarts."

"Bexley was sorted into Ravenclaw, I'm not the first Carrow who hasn't been sorted into Slytherin. They kept it from us, another family dark secret and she was friends with a Muggleborn, apparently extremely close but after what they do, how they treat their students there for the summer she feared what would happen when she returned, if she would be the same girl. Before you ask, all that was in the suicide note I read, mother gave it to me when she visited between Alecto and Amycus' wedding."

Sirius stared at her, wondering where she was planning on going with this. He was worried that maybe she was contemplating suicide as well, would he have to spend the next however many weeks, months, keeping a close eye on her.

"What happened O, what did they do to you?"

The tears run down her cheeks as she continued to look out the window, worrying him even more.

"They feed us Veritaserum so we can only speak the truth, they ask us questions and if they don't like the answer they torture us. Depending on the degree of how much they hate our answer depends on how much pain they give us. The fact that I share a dorm with a mud…muggleborn was bad, when they heard I was friends with a werewolf they really didn't like that."

"Were you really going to say mudblood?" Sirius questioned and she nodded in response.

"There was so much they didn't like, last night I was so distracted with how the year was going to go that I was paranoid. I'm afraid I'm different and my friends won't like me anymore." Octavia finally looked at Sirius and he shook his head.

"No way, our friends care for you. They came in because they missed you and out in the corridor they were worried about you but they knew I knew how to handle it so they left me to deal with you."

"Can I have a hug now?" Sirius let out a laugh at the strangeness of the question before moving to sit beside her and he wrapped his arms around her. "They didn't like our physical contact and I'm worried it is going to get passed on to our parents, you know what will happen once they hear that bit of information." She mumbled into the crook of his neck.

"It'll be alright, I don't honestly believe they are capable of changing the person you are, I believe it's more a fear they install in you, something similar to what your parents have done. You can still be who you have been for the last three years, nothing will change." Sirius spoke as he softly rubbed her back.

They sat like that in silence for a few moments until Octavia pulled away and wiped away at her cheeks and it was then Sirius noticed, the ruined make up.

"Are you wearing make-up?" he questioned and she laughed before standing up and looking through her trunk.

"Another thing they made us doing every day, we had to be 100% presentable, make up included, it was like we were attending a freaking wedding every day." She pulled out the small hand mirror she had placed in there and wiped away at the running mascara, waiting until she could go to a bathroom and wash the make-up off completely.

"Come on, let's go find our friends, everything will be fine." Octavia nodded and followed Sirius out of the compartment.

"Oh I forgot to tell you, I think I've done enough meditation. My dreams are filled with animals, dogs, lions, wolves, cats, they've all been four legged animals." Sirius looked over his shoulder at her and was glad to finally see a smile on her face.

"I'm glad, we'll order the ingredients and make your potion so you can start the next step." Sirius spoke and led her down the train looking for the compartment that housed their friends.

The rest of the train ride seemed easy enough, there were moments where Sirius could tell Octavia wasn't comfortable but she had a smile on her face for most of the ride and she enjoyed hearing about the adventures they all got up to without her, despite the fact that she hated she wasn't with them.

The train pulled into Hogsmeade station and they all left the train and joined the line waiting for the carriages, "how are you feeling?" Sirius whispered in her ear.

"Better thank you, I'm glad you forced me to sit with our friends."

"Anytime," Sirius squeezed her hand just as it was their time to climb into a carriage.

"Ah Miss Carrow there you are, I was wondering if we could have a word." The group of friends looked over to where the voice came from and saw Professor Smith standing there.

"But the Sorting Ceremony?" Octavia questioned.

"I will get one of the elves to bring us dinner."

"Very well," Octavia spoke and watched as her friends walked off but she grabbed Sirius' hand to prevent him from leaving.

Smith noticing the action spoke up, "Mr Black is more than welcome to join us since it is in regards to Muggle Studies."

"We'll let you both know who the new Defence professor is." Peter spoke and they all headed into the Great Hall.

Sirius and Octavia followed Smith towards her office, they both entered to see a spread of food spread out on the table and they shared a look.

"Something tells me this isn't actually to do with Muggle Studies."

"That would be correct Sirius, I was actually wanting to talk to Octavia about her summer but since she prevented you from walking away I'm assuming you know some of it. Now tell me Octavia how was it?" Smith questioned as they all took a seat around the table and helped themselves to the food.

"Why didn't you tell me about the torture?" Octavia questioned and Smith leaned back in her seat.

"In all honesty I was hoping that had stopped, I didn't want to tell you so you would fear something that may not come all summer."

"Then why did you ask me to join you tonight, why not wait till tomorrow or when we had our first class?" Octavia questioned, sneaking a look at Sirius.

She was curious as to why Smith requested her tonight, there was something off about the whole thing and she hoped Smith would open up.

"I remember what it was like being in the Great Hall the first night back at Hogwarts, I was edge having to sit around so many after what happened. I've told you that my husband is a muggleborn, and that we met at Hogwarts, we met in Muggle Studies funnily enough and I had grown fond of him. We hadn't started dating yet with fear of what my parents would think, I know we were allowed to date but with a muggleborn, that wouldn't end well. For weeks he would sit next to me in class and I was on edge, he eventually broke down the walls and I told him what happened during my summer." Smith spoke and Octavia caught her rubbing her wrist.

Octavia instantly rubbed her own, wondering if Smith had the same burn mark there that she did.

"How did you manage to get back on the train, if it wasn't for Sirius spotting me I have no idea if I would have got on the train?"

"I honestly have no idea, but talk to your friends Octavia even if it is just Sirius. You have to break down the walls that they forced you to build, it will be hard but it is needed if you want to get past what they did and not many girls do. I can see it in the Slytherin students, I can pick which girls spend the summer before fifth year at that school and some don't make it, they lose themselves, much like your cousin Bellatrix Sirius."

"Did you know my cousin Bexley?"

"No I didn't, she was a student before I became a professor here. I took time off after my graduation, I spent time with my husband, I learnt about the Muggle world and made a life for myself within it. I ran into Dumbledore during a visit to Hogsmeade and he told me about the opening and suggested that I would be an excellent professor because of my upbringing." Smith spoke and Sirius nodded before placing his plate down on the table.

"How did your husband break down your walls?" Sirius questioned, hoping to have an easier way into helping his best friend.

"That I can't tell you, it varies person to person. My husband, obviously cared for me and wanted me to be who I was before that summer. You two obviously care for each other, whether it's what I had with my husband or just friendly, you have to find what works for you." Smith explained and they both nodded. "I have to make some sort of an appearance down in the Great Hall tonight, you are both welcome to continue eating in here or head back to the Gryffindor common room, you are welcome to go downstairs but I suggest stay away from there tonight. The password to your common room is Fireball." Smith gave them both small smiles before she got up and left the room, leaving them alone.

Sirius got up and moved so he was kneeling in front of Octavia, "we will get past this, you managed to get past your parents abuse, you found work arounds or made sure they didn't find out what you were getting up to. You never once let what they think change who you are, for years our parents were talking about their views on werewolves but yet you so easily accepted Moony. What was the schools view on werewolves?"

"They hated them," she spoke softly.

"Figures," Sirius scoffed. "How do you feel about Moony now?"

"He's still the same person, he has no control over what happens to him." Sirius smiled at her.

"Exactly, they haven't changed your views of Moony so they can't change anything else, you don't have to let them change anything about you." Octavia nodded as Sirius' arms went around her, he could feel her body tense for a couple of seconds before she relaxed against him.

"Do they know about you being a Dreamer?" he questioned and she shook his head against her, "that's good, that's something."

The rest of the group of friends were sitting in the Great Hall, occasionally looking towards the door in hopes that Sirius and Octavia would arrive and join them at the table. It wasn't until the sorting was over and Professor Smith appeared that Remus realised something.

"What do you think is taking Sirius and O?" Peter questioned and Remus looked at him.

"I don't think they will be joining us tonight…" He stated, causing James and Lilith to look at him as well.

"What makes you think that?" Lilith questioned.

"I honestly don't believe that they have something to talk about with Smith in regards to Muggle Studies, they both told us that Smith is from one of the same families as them. Something tells me that she knows what Octavia did for her summer break and understands, better than we would. Smith has most likely given them permission to skip the sorting and organised food for them elsewhere." Remus explained and James looked up to the professors table.

"How bad do you think O's summer was Moony?" James questioned.

"We heard the stories about O's cousin and how she killed herself, O is here so that is something."

"We've all told them both they can tell us anything but yet they still have secrets amongst the two of them, I don't think we will hear how truly bad her summer was." Lilith spoke sounding more upset then she looked and Remus gave her hand a squeeze.

.oOo.

"What are you doing?" Octavia jumped at the sound of Regulus' voice, she hated that both Black brothers were good at sneaking around.

"Just looking for something, what are you doing in the library, it's not a place where you see too many Slytherins these days." Octavia spoke while turning around to face him, she was actually in the library looking for the book that contained the next potion for the Animagus transformation process. She was annoyed with herself for not making a copy of it when she had the book.

They had only been back at Hogwarts for a week but she still unable to find the book she needed yet.

"I was looking for you actually."

Octavia smirked at him and walked over to where her bag was placed on the table behind her, "why is it that every time I find you in the library you are in fact looking for me?"

"Quidditch try outs are next week…"

"And you're hoping I will help you one last time before then?"

"That's the plan," Regulus grinned at her and she let out a laugh.

"You free now? We can go down now?" Regulus nodded at Octavia's questioned and the two of them left the library heading towards the Quidditch Pitch hoping no one was out there.

"How bad was it?"

Octavia turned and looked at him in confusion, they had mostly stayed silent the whole way down and Regulus didn't speak until they were outside.

"What are you on about?" she questioned, not liking the look on his face.

"You forget how often our parents have dinner, they spoke a bit about your summer at the etiquette school."

"What makes you think it was bad?" she questioned instead, she wanted to know more about what was spoken about during the dinners but she was unsure as to if he would actually tell her.

"I may be younger than you and Sirius but I still remember Bella returning from that school, our parents talked about someone named Bexley and how the school affected her, but the thing that gives it away the most is your eyes. No matter how calm and neutral your face appears because of the etiquette training we both had growing up, your eyes always give away what you are truly feeling and right now they are so different to what they were before the summer began." Regulus spoke and Octavia was shocked at what he said, she turned her head so she wasn't looking at him anymore.

"Come on," she ordered.

She knew she was always closer to Sirius because they had more in common, it didn't matter if she was meant to marry Regulus one day, she had always gotten along with Sirius better. What she didn't expect was how well Regulus actually knew her, she cared for the younger boy, she actually didn't mind his company but she wouldn't be able to tell you too much about him. The only reason she could read his facial expressions and body language was because some of it was the same ones she saw on Sirius.

"I'm sorry if I crossed a line," Regulus spoke softly and Octavia's steps froze, she had never heard his voice that soft. There was always an air of authority to his voice when he spoke, the same one her brother had.

"You didn't cross a line, I just never realised you knew me that well is all."

"My brother isn't the only one that cares about you O, regardless of us having to marry come my graduation I do care about you, I do hope that our marriage can be friendlier then some of other ones we have seen." Octavia nodded before she started walking again.

"I have a feeling we will get along better than what Sirius and Makenna will."

"I don't know, there are rumours floating around Slytherin that she has been seen kissing him." Regulus spoke and she could hear the teasing tone in his voice.

"And every time she does he wants to bite her head off."

Regulus let out a laugh causing Octavia to smile, "Sirius always hated being told what to do."

"Come on, lets actually get some work done instead of gossiping about Sirius."

As soon as Octavia stepped foot into the secluded room she shared with her friends hoping they were in there, Sirius instantly jumped up from the couch and rushed over so he was standing in front of her.

"Where have you been?" he questioned but there was something about the tone of his voice that made her suggest that maybe he already knew the answer to it.

"Oh you know, I just thought I'd head down to Hogsmeade for the afternoon, visit Honeydukes, Zonko's grab some butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks." She spoke, stepping past him entering the room allowing her to notice who else was in the room.

"Where was our invite? Wait how did you get down there?" Peter spoke up and James laughed before patting him on the back and whispering something in his ear.

Sirius grabbed her wrist to prevent her from walking away from him. "Don't mess with me O, I know you were with him. I thought the Quidditch sessions stopped." He growled out and she just rolled her eyes.

"Honestly what is your problem? What is so wrong with me spending time with Regulus considering we are meant to get married one day, or do you have some brilliant scheme that will prevent that from happening? That will prevent both of us from having to get married?" Octavia snapped at him before ripping her arm from his grasp.

"What the hell do you think I plan on doing the moment I gain my inheritance? Just sit back and enjoy the money? No I plan on cancelling both of our marriages, giving both of us the lives you've wanted your whole life!" Sirius yelled and that was when the rest of their friends looked up at the two of them.

They were used to arguments breaking out between the two of them but for them both to be yelling, it couldn't be a good sign.

"What about your brother? Do you honestly not care about him at all? Just because he enjoys being a part of that life doesn't mean he will be happy if you cancel our marriage, if you cancel it you and I both know he will be isolated from them all. He won't be able to find another wife because majority of the acceptable families that have girls our age are already taken."

"And there you are thinking that I actually care about him, I don't care about him, I don't care about our families, I don't care about any of them. The only one care about from those god forsaken families is you!" Sirius yelled at her.

Octavia didn't say anything, she just raised her hand and slapped him before storming off.

Sirius stood there with a hand on the side of his face that Octavia slapped in complete and utter shock, he slowly turned and faced his friends and they were all sitting there with their mouths opened at what just happened.

Lilith was the first one to recover and she stood up quickly rushing out of the room in search of Octavia knowing that Sirius was the last person she would want to speak to.

"Has she ever hit you before?" Remus questioned as Sirius took a seat on the couch.

"I've never seen her slap anyone, I've never known her to become physical when she's angry." Sirius spoke, still in disbelief.

"Why was she so angry? You've stated before that you don't care for your family, why did she get so angry this time?" Peter questioned and Sirius stood up, heading over to the entrance.

"Maybe you should leave her alone mate, let Lilith deal with her this time." James spoke and they all watched as Sirius ran his hands through his hair before he gripped it.

"Sirius?" James questioned, standing up and making his way over to where Sirius was standing.

Sirius didn't say anything just walked over to where the goblets the house elves had brought to them were sitting, picked them up and threw them against the wall.

Remus waved his wand and fixed the goblets before turning to face Sirius, he didn't get the chance to say anything before Sirius turned and left the room.

"Well what the bloody hell do we do now?" James questioned, Peter and Remus shared a look before shrugging in response.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Do you still want to break the rules after hearing just some of what she went through?**

 **Dreams and Pixie Dust thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Ah yes, the Marauders fourth year at Hogwarts, there are some interesting things set in store for them, pay attention.**


	37. The Final Step

Chapter 36: The Final Step

Remus entered his dorm room after his Ancient Runes class had finished to find Octavia sitting in there bent over a cauldron, focusing on her potion. He knew what potion she would be making, he didn't have to even attempt to guess because he knew it would be the final potion for her Animagus process.

What shocked him was that she was making the potion in his dorm room where Sirius could just as easily walk in and see her.

"What are you doing?" Remus questioned but she didn't even look up to face.

"Making a potion, what does it look like?" she finally looked up at him with a smirk on her face.

"Depends, what does the potion do?" he questioned as he walked over and took a seat beside her on the floor.

"Making Sirius go bald?" She spoke while battling her eyelashes at him, hoping to seem as innocent as possible.

"You two haven't spoken in almost two weeks, I don't think that is enough time for you to start doing mean things to him."

"You sure, I did already slap him." She muttered before looking back down at the cauldron, she looked over at the book to see if she was ready for the next step.

"You and I both know that you feel bad for that but yet you refuse to go and apologise because you're still angry at what he was saying." He spoke before handing over the next ingredient for her.

"Thank you," she gave him a smile before squeezing it in her hand allowing the juice to run into the mixture.

"Lilith and I had Ancient Runes while James and Peter had Divination, where is Sirius?"

"Who knows," Octavia shrugged before sitting back against the bed since the potion had to sit for a bit now. "What are you trying to get out of me? I know you know what the potion truly is."

"Your right, I do know it's the next step for your Animagus transformation but what I don't get is why you are sitting up here doing it while Sirius could walk in at any moment."

Octavia looked at him for a moment before closing the book and placing it in her bag, "he already came in and spotted me, he took one look at me before turning and leaving not saying anything."

"Are you okay with that?" Remus questioned softly and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to take a shower, can you watch this for 20 minutes and then place it in vials for me?" she questioned and Remus nodded.

Octavia waited until she was in locked away in the bathroom of her dorm before she let the tears fall, even when she entered her dorm she ignored Lilith and kept going to the bathroom.

She was hurt by Sirius' action earlier, he didn't even say anything to her just dumped his bag before leaving the room, didn't even give her a second a look. She wasn't hurt that he was ignoring her, she was hurt that he didn't attempt to talk to her, didn't even give her a look as he walked through the room.

"Are you alright?" Octavia groaned at the sound Lilith's voice, all she wanted was a moment alone.

"I thought I locked the door, why can't I have two minutes alone?" she questioned but it was silent for a few moments.

"Why won't you apologise?"

Octavia scoffed before she started laughing, "me apologise? Did you not hear the things he was saying?"

"Yes I did but they are no different to the things he's said before, well technically I've never heard him speak about cancelling both of your marriages but we've all heard him state that he doesn't care for his family or yours. You slapped him O, you need to apologise for that." Octavia turned around and stuck her head out from behind the curtain to look at Lilith.

"That was my family he was talking about, I don't care if he hates his own family but I love mine, I love my brother and sister. Now leave me the hell alone," Octavia hissed the last part hoping the other girl would leave, locking the door behind her.

But Lilith didn't leave, Octavia just pulled her head back into the shower, hoping the sound of the water will drown out Lilith's voice. "If you want your best friend back you will have to apologise."

"I have you, why would I need him."

"Because despite you telling me that everything is fine I know you have secrets, secrets that you share with Sirius about your home life."

Octavia didn't say anything, just waited until she heard the door open and close as the tears ran down her cheek.

Little did she know Lilith sat out on the bathroom floor leaning against the door in hopes that something else would get said.

"I thought Octavia was making the potion?" Sirius spoke, noticing Remus siting over the cauldron that he saw Octavia sitting at earlier.

"She was but then she left almost in tears, when are you going to apologise?" Remus spoke, not looking up at Sirius.

"She slapped me, I think I deserve the apology."

"Are you telling me that she hates her family just as much as you hate yours?" Remus raised an eyebrow as Sirius walked over and laid down on his own bed.

"No…" Sirius grumbled before scrubbing his face with his hand, he knew partly why she was mad at him but he meant what he said, he didn't really care for either of their families.

His own brother barely says two words to him while they are at home during breaks, at Hogwarts his brother ignores him completely. He hated that Alecto had turned on Octavia like she did and Amycus was always swaying back and forth but there was a part of him that didn't really trust the eldest Carrow, regardless of what Octavia thought about him.

"I get it, well partly. I understand why you hate that she still loves her family, remember I know about the abuse and I cannot begin to fathom as to why she refuses to severe ties with them. I'm beginning to understand why you two refuse to tell anyone about the abuse but you just spent all summer at James', surely you know that his parents will take you both in for the breaks."

"And she will refuse to be a burden…" Sirius spoke out as he saw Remus appear in his vision.

"Here, I don't know how long it will last since O took the book but I'm assuming there is one for each of you."

Sirius grabbed the vial and placed it on his bedside table, "I guess the book was correct about Dreamers being able to complete the transformation faster, she got her animal dreams at the beginning of summer but yet James, Pete and I are nowhere near close." Sirius snapped and moments later he received a pillow in the face. "Thanks mate."

"Your welcome, just go talk to her." Remus spoke, managing to catch the pillow that Sirius threw at him in return.

"Talk to who?" they both looked over at the doorway and found Octavia standing there with Lilith, Sirius frowned at the sight of Octavia, it was obvious she had been crying.

"Don't we have that study group Moony?" Lilith spoke and moments later the two of them were gone from the room.

"Bloody prats," Octavia muttered before walking over and picking up the vial, looking at it. "Wonder if this one tastes as bad as the other one…"

"Wouldn't know, I can't take mine yet. Listen O…" Octavia turned and looked at her best friend.

"No I get it, I understand why you hate my family but I don't understand why you won't give Regulus the time of day anymore. I do apologise for slapping you but I love my family, especially Al and Am."

"I know, I hate that you love them and keep letting them back in after what they do."

"They're my family Sirius…" Sirius stood up and walked over so he could hug her, grateful when she automatically wrapped her arms around him.

"Does this have anything to do with what your summer was like?" he softly kissed the top of her head.

"I don't know, I know I always loved my family before that school, I know at the school they would torture us to reinforce the fact that we shouldn't turn our backs on our family but I don't know how much it affected me."

"It'll be alright, Smith stated we had to break down the walls they created for you and we will, just one step at a time. Now take your potion," Sirius pulled away and laughed at the look on her face, it was obvious she wasn't happy about having to take the potion first and alone.

"If Moony poisoned this…" she grumbled and Sirius laughed again.

"He wouldn't have poisoned it, now if he had access to Veritasearum then maybe he would have slipped some of that in."

Octavia's face lit up and he raised an eyebrow, "do you think we could brew some of that and get the elves to put it in the Snake's pumpkin juice?"

"Now O, I believe that is above our ability."

"Can we buy some?"

"Doubtful, they will see it and confiscate it, now drink the stupid thing." Sirius spoke placing the vial in her hand before walking over and taking a seat on his bed.

Octavia pulled the cork out and took a sniff of it, frowning when there was no smell but then she thought that maybe it wouldn't have a taste. She drank the whole vial, remembering how much she needed to take.

"So what does it taste like?" Sirius questioned after noticing that she didn't contort her face in disgust like last time.

"Strangely enough, meat. Not like one particular meat but just a meaty taste."

"That is strange, wonder if it has anything to with your animal?"

"So my animal eats meat and that only narrows it down to basically every animal I keep seeing in my dreams." Octavia grumbled, not happy with the lack of information from this potion.

"At least you've had your dreams, do you remember how long you have to wait before you can start attempting to transform?"

"I think it was a couple of days waiting for the potion to settle in or make its mark on my body, I'm not too sure, I will have to check the book."

Sirius nodded as she walked over and took seat on his bed, grabbing the book on the end noticing it was one of the books on Dreamers. There was a lot of the information in the books that they were unsure of, they had permanently checked the books out the library and were usually left in the boys dorm apart from one that Octavia generally had hidden in her trunk.

"I still can't believe you slapped me," Sirius spoke in disbelief and Octavia looked up at him before back down at the book.

"You'll live you big baby," she teased and he snatched the book from her hands. "Hey what did you do that for?"

"You do know that's not one of the books from the library that Dumbledore gave you permission for?" Sirius handed the book back over and Octavia took a good look at it, he was right.

The one that made Octavia think it was one of the books they already had was that the title was similar but it wasn't until she was flicking through quickly reading some things that popped up she realised she hadn't read any of this before.

"Where did you get it?" She questioned awe, she just assumed that the only books she would be able to find on Dreamers were the ones that Dumbledore gave her access to.

"Flourish and Blotts, I was in there getting my books for the year and I was looking at the section of magical creatures, I found a couple but only grabbed one knowing that if I purchased a few someone might start asking questions." Octavia gave him a smile before she moved up the bed and sat beside him.

"Thank you, it means a lot to me."

"I told you last year, I will help you with this because I want to know why Voldemort wants you so bad."

"I won't do that to my friends, I won't do what he wants." She muttered darkly and it worried Sirius, he truly hated not knowing everything that happened during her summer, it was like second year all over again.

"I know," Sirius wraps an arm around her shoulder and pulls her close as she opened the book to begin reading it.

.oOo.

Remus was on the hunt for his friends, he knew where Lilith was since he saw her sitting with Marlene and her friends but it was the rest of them he was looking for.

He had a feeling they were up to something although he wasn't 100% sure since it was Sirius and Octavia he saw having a hushed conversation, but he also knew that if those two were pulling a prank of sorts James wouldn't be far behind.

He was walking down a corridor when he heard a noise, he stopped and looking around not seeing anything, even this corridor was portrait free so it couldn't have been one of them.

He took a couple of steps forward when he heard it again, he scratched the back of his neck wondering what was going on. The full moon was in a little under a week so he knew that his senses were at an all-time high but the noise he could hear could be anything.

He took another couple of steps forward and that was when he could smell it, the same smell that always lingered around Octavia because of her perfume. He knew then it was his friends making the noise and chances are they were under the invisibility cloak that James owned.

He walked forward, following the smell before he reached out and pulled on the cloak revealing four of his friends.

"How did all four of you fit under that?" He questioned and Octavia laughed before stepping forward and looping her arm through his.

"Well technically we didn't, it didn't cover the back of us very well. Come we have something to show you."

If it wasn't for the reason as to why Remus went looking for his friends in the first place, the glint in Octavia's eyes was enough to know they have just pulled something. "What have you four been up to?"

"Well we may have done something that will send Filch on a war path aiming for the Slytherins," she smirked at Remus and he shook his head as they rounded the corner.

There was mud, paint and foam bubbles, basically a whole lot of mess covering this part of the corridor but what shocked Remus was the cloaks on the floor that obviously belonged to a Slytherin student.

"If they find out it was you who did this they won't be happy."

"Oh come on Moony, you have to admit this is pretty funny."

"Maybe a little but I believe Filch is coming so we should go before he spots us standing here, we both know he won't believe us when we say it wasn't us since you, James and Sirius are well known for causing mayhem." Remus spoke and Octavia nodded as they turned around and headed back down the corridor.

They both noticed that Sirius, James and Peter had taken off leaving the two of them to get back on their own and they found it easy enough since Filch was too busy yelling and screaming in the distance.

"I thought we were further away from that corridor," Octavia spoke in awe of being able to hear Filch.

"We are, how can you hear him?" Remus spoke and Octavia shrugged. "What if it's the potion finally kicking in, didn't you say one of the books stated you gain abilities from your animal?"

"Yes _one_ book, others stated that we gained nothing."

"Maybe it depends on the animal, you've gained a heighten sense of hearing, maybe whatever animal you can turn into has better hearing then a human."

"What like a werewolf?" she smirked at him.

"Maybe, aren't all the animals you've been dreaming about some form of predators? They need an increased hearing ability to be able to hunt their prey, maybe you're going to be a predator as well."

"Maybe I guess we will just have to see what happens when the others take their potions, I took mine three days ago. I wonder if this means I can begin trying to transform?"

"One would assume yes, but I really do wish you would wait for the others. If they take too long then yes go for it but give them a little bit longer to try and catch up."

"I will, come on let's head back to the common room and see if the others are back there yet." Octavia spoke and pulled Remus further down the corridor.

"It's a bet," they heard Sirius' voice as they entered the common room, they shared a look before the rounded the corner to see what Sirius was on about.

They spotted Sirius and James shaking hands, "What is going on here?" Octavia questioned, placing her hands on her hips when they both turned and faced her with a grin in their faces.

"Those two made a bet to see who can get their dreams first," Peter spoke and Octavia nodded.

"Of course they did, let me guess you are involved as well and what does the winner get?" Octavia spoke and Peter nodded, stating that he was involved in the bet.

"Well it's more the loser has to take their potion first," Sirius stated and Octavia laughed.

"Are you two seriously worried about the potion? I told you it's fine and it taste like meat." She rolled her eyes and heard Remus laugh behind her.

She turned and looked at Remus but something caught her attention, she turned her head hearing the hushed voices of a conversation happening but all of her friends were silent, looking at her.

The voices were becoming too much, more and more were becoming audible and she was no longer able to detect who was speaking and work out who was saying what.

"Moony," Octavia spoke softly while placing her hands over her ears.

"Moony what's going on?" Sirius questioned but Remus didn't even glance in his direction.

Instead Remus stepped closer to Octavia and placed his hands over hers, "just focus on my voice, you can drown the others out by focusing on mine." His voice was low and soft, hoping to not make things worse for her.

He remembered what it was like when he was first bitten, first having to venture into town with his mother, hearing all the things he shouldn't have been hearing and at first it was overwhelming but he learnt how to control it and he was able to use it to his advantage.

"Why won't it stop?" she questioned, squeezing her eyes shut.

"You just have to tune them out, I promise it will get better with time, just focus on my voice and the others will become a background noise."

"What's going on?" James questioned this time and Remus flicked his eyes at their direction, keeping his hands on Octavia's.

"Remember how that one book stated that you could gain abilities?" Remus spoke, hoping the others would work out the code to his words.

"But she hasn't yet, it doesn't make sense," Sirius responded after looking at the pained expression look on Octavia's face.

"No but the drink she had, she said it helps the body start to change, this is just the beginning." Remus explained and watched as Sirius and James shared a look, he could tell they were now thinking what they could possibly get once they take their potion.

Octavia slowly removed her hands, "thank you, it will get better?" she questioned, having been able to focus on their conversation.

"It will, you're much older than I was so you may get better at focusing quicker than I did. For me right now, their conversations as just a background buzz, overtime I learn to focus on hearing the conversations of who I'm looking at."

"You alright O?" Sirius questioned and she nodded.

"I just want to head to the kitchens," Octavia spoke before pulling away from the boys, ignoring the looks they were giving her.

.oOo.

Lilith entered the secret room knowing her friends will be there waiting for her and she found something quite amusing.

It seemed as though Octavia was sound asleep on the couch, Remus and Peter were playing wizard chess, or more so Remus was trying to help the other boy understand the game while it was James and Sirius that shocked her.

James and Sirius were still sitting in the exact same position they were in an hour ago when she left for choir rehearsal, she couldn't believe they willingly chose to sit like that for that long, they weren't known for sitting still for too long with even classes being a struggle some days.

"Are they seriously still going at it?" She questioned as she walked over to where Remus and Peter were sitting.

"Yes they are, apparently they have a bet going between them as to who will get to take their potion next." Octavia spoke and moments later her head appeared above the back of the couch giving Lilith a smile.

"Sounds like them," Lilith rolled her eyes before giving Peter a questioning look. "Why aren't you included in this bet?"

"I am, just couldn't take sitting still for much longer, so I asked Moony for help with wizard chess since James and Sirius always beat me," a frown appeared on his face while Octavia let out a laugh.

"I don't know why, but that kid understands that game way to well. It's like he can work out what you are going to do next, it's probably the only thing he is good at," Octavia smirked at them but it quickly turned into a glare when a cushion hit her square in the back of the head.

She instantly turned around to aim the glare at him.

"I can hear you, you know?" Sirius spoke, his voice low letting them know he was annoyed at what she was saying.

The rest of the group was worried, unsure as to how things would go between the two of them after what happened earlier in the term. As per usual between the two of them once they spoke things were fine, it's just that they were both stubborn and hated being the first to speak, or even apologise first.

"That was the point Sirius, now I'm going for a fly, are you coming or are you going to keep meditating?" She questioned but didn't even receive an answer before the two boys jumped up and ran out of the room causing her to laugh and follow them.

"You still worried that things aren't fine between Sirius and O?" Remus spoke causing Lilith to shake her head.

"No I honestly believe they are past whatever caused them to stop speaking when she slapped him but there's something not right there, like we aren't being told everything."

"I think whatever happened at that etiquette school is being kept from us. You sure your grandmother won't tell you what she knows?" Remus questioned and Lilith shook her head.

"She keeps refusing, stating that I'm not going so she doesn't see the point in telling me but whatever it is bad, I could see it on her face when she spoke."

"You don't think they would hurt O do you?" Peter questioned looking up at them both.

"Don't be absurd Pete, do you honestly think O's parents would send her somewhere where she could potentially get hurt, better question would yours?" Remus spoke, hoping that was certainly the case regardless of what they may or may not do to her at home.

Octavia was sitting there on her broom laughing as James was laying on the ground in agony after attempting to pull off some stunt.

"How's your hearing going?" Sirius questioned as he appeared beside her, she looked over at him and grinned.

"Well if I really focus on James I can hear him complaining about bloody girls and their ability to find anything hilarious because I was laughing at him."

"Yes but I was also laughing at him, the prat thought it would be a brilliant idea to attempt something that is usually reserved for Seekers," Sirius noticed the sly smile on her face, "Don't even think about attempting to try it."

"I won't…this year anyway but as for my hearing, I'm slowly managing. I have to focus harder in classes to focus on what the professors are talking about instead of what our classmates are whispering about."

"Moony stated you'll be able to manage it with time, you were just overwhelmed that first time. As anything else started appearing for you yet?"

"Nope, just the advanced hearing. How are your dreams going?" Octavia questioned, laughing when a scowl appeared on Sirius' face.

The two of them had always been competitive, the fact that she was a Dreamer and that had given her an edge with her Animagus transformation process didn't help dissuade Sirius with attempting to catch up to her so they were on a level playing field.

"You will get there, let's go make sure James hasn't broken any bones." Octavia flew off to where James was still laying on the ground but Sirius didn't move, he just watched the two of them.

He couldn't tell if she was lying about her advanced hearing improving or not, but there was something off about her. Whether or not it was to do with the annoyance of it sounding like everyone was talking in her ear at once or something to do with her summer, he was unsure but he couldn't question her because right now she was attempting to brush her summer off whenever he questioned her.

.oOo.

Octavia stood there grinning at James and Sirius as they took their final potion for their Animagus transformation, she was eager to see what theirs tasted like and if their animal helped determine the taste.

She tried to question as to why they just didn't attempt to produce a Patronus in help of determining what their animals would be but Remus claimed it might take too long and they had enough going as it was between the Animagus transformations, helping Octavia with her magic, homework/classes and then their own clubs or teams.

James and Sirius shared a look still unsure as to if they believed Octavia when she stated that hers had a meaty taste to it, they couldn't understand how it had the meaty taste without putting anything could resemble that taste in the first place.

James went first having lost the bet he had with Sirius about who could get their dreams first, it might have only been a day but it was a loss.

It took 5 days after the bet was made for Sirius to begin having his animal dreams and Remus had convinced them to wait 4 days before they took their potion just in case the hype of waiting for the dreams made them appear.

"O you lied, it doesn't taste like meat!" James exclaimed once he had swallowed his potion and Octavia looked at Sirius hoping he would drink his next.

When he didn't, she spoke. "What does it taste like then Jamesy?" She grinned at him while he glared at her.

It was a couple of days ago that Sirius finally got around to telling her of the nickname that James' mother uses for him, he himself found it hilarious the first time he had heard James' mother using it, it also ended up with him receiving a punch in the arm.

"I'm going to kill you Sirius," James growled but Sirius just shrugged before drinking his own potion.

"James what the hell are you on about mate, it does have a meaty taste to it?"

"I told you!" Octavia spoke triumphantly.

"It tasted like I was eating a bloody salad," James grumbled causing both Sirius and Octavia to laugh.

"Maybe the taste does have something to do with the animal, Sirius and Octavia tasted meat so therefore they could be carnivores while you tasted something resembling a salad meaning an herbivore?" Remus explained and the three of them shared a look.

"Forget the taste, I want to know what extra abilities I will receive." Sirius had a grin on his face as he spoke causing Octavia to laugh out loud.

None of them noticed Peter, standing towards the back not really seen by them all since James and Sirius housed all of them attentions due to the potion they took and what abilities they thought they would receive with a couple of days' time like Octavia did.

Octavia being her annoying self, told them that maybe they wouldn't receive any extra abilities from their animals, maybe it was just her because she was a Dreamer. She stuck her tongue out before letting out a squeal when Sirius launched at her.

.oOo.

"What is that smell?" Octavia scrunched her face up when she entered the boys' dorm, she looked over at Remus knowing that if she could smell it so could he.

"I can't smell anything O," Sirius interjected but she didn't respond, just continued to look at Remus.

"I can't smell anything right now, it's a new moon and no extra abilities at the moment but check Sirius' bed," he pointed towards and Octavia stepped closing, having to stop and put a hand over her nose.

"Bloody hell Sirius, that is disgusting."

"What I can't smell anything?"

"Seriously Moony, how do you put up with this every month?" she complained, Remus just shrugged and she looked at Sirius. "You better figure out what that smell is," she threatened and he looked at her for a moment before a scowl appeared.

"You got two abilities!"

"Again, I'm better than you." She teased before turning and leaving, not before threatening him to figure out what that smell was.

Sirius, a little worried about what she could be planning quickly jumped under his bed in search of what could be causing the smell.

A mouldy Pumpkin Pasty, that the elves must have missed.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	38. Completion

Chapter 37: Completion

Octavia placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter, not only would she most likely gain Professor Binns attention since they were currently sitting in History of Magic but she would also gain the attention of Snape and Evans who were sitting in front of them.

Octavia was sitting at a table with James, Sirius and Remus but it was Sirius and James who were carefully throwing things at the back of Snape's head hoping they would attach to his greasy hair while Remus was trying to hide the smile on his face, showing that he was actually finding this funny.

"Here," Remus whispered while passing Octavia a note, she quickly looked at it, again having to bite her lip to prevent the laughs from escaping.

 _Wash me._

She slid it over to Sirius, he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth before showing James, who ended doing the same action. She then watched as they both attempted to get it to stick to the back of his head.

She turned around when she felt a kick at the back of her chair and found Lilith looking at her questionably, Octavia pulled out her parchment before writing on it.

 _O – Moony wrote 'wash me' on a piece of parchment and now they are trying to attach it to the back of Snivellus._

 _L – Moony you didn't…_

 _R – I couldn't help it, it was too good._

 _S – It's bloody hilarious!_

 _L – That is so mean._

 _J – Oh come on, even you have to admit that he is a greasy git._

 _L – Just because I admit it, doesn't mean I will find what you guys are doing funny. James what will Evans think?_

There was no response and when Octavia looked over at James, she wasn't entirely surprised. James looked like he just realised his mistake, his mouth was gaping, his eyes wide. Octavia heard a soft laugh coming from behind her making her think Lilith found the whole thing hilarious, but it only lasted for a moment before James went back to throwing things at Snape.

As soon as Binns dismissed the class the six friends quickly rushed out, not wanting to be on the end of another one of Evans rants about 'supposably bullying' her best friend.

But they couldn't get very far since they shared a house and class schedule with her and Charms was next for them with the Ravenclaws.

Octavia entered the classroom and quickly rushed forward to claim the spare seat next to a couple of Ravenclaws that her and Sirius had befriend in Muggle Studies.

"Ah, I don't think so, we are all going down for this." Sirius spoke while wrapping his fingers around her wrist, narrowing his eyes when she pouted at him while batting her eyelashes.

"I agree, come on O." James chimed in, saving Sirius from caving to her.

She continued to pout at them as they dragged her towards a table before forcing her to sit down with them while Remus, Peter and Lilith sat further away, knowing full well that Evans would only blame those three.

What shocked them was when Evans sat down at the table with them instead of sitting next to Blake like she normally does.

"Are you all that unhappy with your own lies you have to pick on everyone else?" Evans snapped clearly annoyed.

Flitwick hadn't arrived yet but he had a habit of leaving the classroom door opened allowing them to enter as they arrived, the Ravenclaws not one for wanting to miss out on Evans to yell at the group all eagerly turned around and watched the scene with curious eyes.

Octavia, not liking this amount of attention, sunk in her seat a little hoping Evans would stop soon so everyone would stop putting their focus on her.

"How about this Evans, Snape showers more often and we may consider leaving him alone." Sirius spoke causing Octavia's head to turn around so fast she may have received whiplash, all because he said Snape instead of Snivellus.

"Seriously? You pick on him because you think he doesn't shower enough, you don't share a dorm with him so therefore you don't know how often he showers."

"And what you do?" Sirius spoke suggestively and Evan's faced instantly flamed bright red.

"Well with the way you act, one would think you do." Evans snapped, shutting Sirius up before she got up and took her usual seat beside Blake.

"Do you honestly think something is going on between Lily and Snivellus?" James questioned, Octavia looked over at him noticing how heartbroken he looked at what Sirius said, she couldn't help but laugh at him and Sirius joined in moments later.

Flitwick arrived moments later, instantly stopping Sirius and Octavia's laughs as they all started listening to his explanation and demonstration of their next charm.

It wasn't until they were in the middle of the class that Octavia noticed it, noticed the small action of Sirius placing his hands over his ears. She looked around the room, everyone was talking amongst themselves since Flitwick had set them off on their own to perform the designated charm.

"Sirius?" she spoke softly while placing a hand on his shoulder, knowing what he was going through.

She remembered how over whelming it felt when all of a sudden she could everything all at once but not be able to make sense of it all.

The group had already discuss that there is a very high possibility that Sirius and Octavia may in fact turn into the same animal, they both had very similar personalities, they both tasted the same thing when they took their final potion, their dreams contained the same animals and now that Sirius had also gained the advanced hearing that Octavia seemed to have from the potion as well.

"How do you put up with this?" he mumbled in return, Octavia shared a look with James over Sirius before she softly rubbed his back.

"It's like Moony stated, it gets better, I promise. Like Moony said just focus on our voices, ignore the rest and focus on us." she spoke softly and watched as he nodded, not lifting his head up off the desk.

"Mr Black are you alright?" Flitwick questioned, noticing what was happening between the three of them.

"He just has a headache but class he is almost finished so he will be alright," Octavia responded with a small smile, Flitwick nodded before walking over to where one of the Ravenclaws called for his attention.

As soon as Flitwick dismissed them Sirius shoved his things in his bag and left, not waiting for his friends. Octavia chased after him, knowing how he felt with the overwhelming feeling of having to deal with hearing so much at once.

She followed him the whole way out to the Quidditch Pitch, unsure as to what would happen if she spoke trying to stop him but once they were in the Pitch with no one else around she knew he was finally at ease.

"Feeling better?" she questioned and he nodded, closing his eyes and placing his fingers on his temples.

"Any tips on how to get to sleep tonight because that is going to drive me mad."

"Close the curtains and cast a silencing charm around your bed, it will be deathly silent but you would rather the deathly silence compared to hearing every single sound in the dorm. I now feel for Moony and how he deals with this all the time."

"But he doesn't have it all the time does, it's just the week surrounding the Full Moon?"

"He said he has it all the time but the closer to the Full Moon the more heightened his sense are." She explained, unsure as to why a smirk appeared on his face.

"You know James is going to lose his shit that he hasn't had any abilities arrive yet."

"He might not though, we just have to wait on Pete now."

"Surely he won't take too long,"

"We know why I had the couple of months ahead of you all but we believe that is because I'm a Dreamer. Now that you and James have had yours surely Pete will be right around the corner." Octavia spoke but didn't receive a response from Sirius, instead he dropped his bag and headed over to grab their brooms. He wordlessly handed Octavia hers before he took off into the sky.

.oOo.

"Is it just me or did James' playing ability seem to increase over night?" Sirius questioned as he and Octavia floated off to the side watching the Chasers run through the latest drill that Frank had come up with.

"No, I'm thinking the same thing." She spoke, she placed her gaze on James as she watched him, watched him seamlessly weave through the other two Chasers and be able to dodge the lone Bludger that Frank was hitting around the Pitch. "You don't think…" she didn't finish her sentence hoping he would catch on to what she was saying because none of them had any idea as to what the Ministry would think of four 14 year olds illegally becoming Animagus.

"Bloody lucky bugger," Sirius muttered and Octavia laughed.

"It works in our favour, we're a team."

"Let's see how long it takes for him to catch on before we say something, we'll get the others to keep it from him as well."

"Alright everyone over here!" Frank called out as Sirius finished speaking, not giving Octavia the chance to respond to what he said but she still agreed with his comment either way.

Practise had finished the Gryffindor team trudged their way up to the common room, Frank had put them through the ropes hoping to win against Hufflepuff next week in the first game of the year.

"You are all such babies, I swear." Lilith laughed as James, Sirius and Octavia made their way over the couches where they were and climbed into the spare couch.

"You can't call us babies until you go through one of your brothers gruelling practises," Sirius complained as he shivered against Octavia.

Octavia noticing that he was cold leaned closer into him as he wrapped an arm around her, focusing on increasing the amount of heat generating from her body with hope of warning Sirius up.

"I'm going to take a hot shower since you won't share," James complained and Octavia just smiled at him as he got up and left.

"What was that about?" Remus questioned.

"I'm keeping Sirius warm but James is upset I'm not sharing my heating abilities." Octavia explained and Remus lightly laughed.

"Oh speaking of abilities, don't tell James this because we are waiting to see how long it takes for him to catch on but we do think he has gained something from whatever animal he will turn into. It helps improve his Quidditch."

"What do you mean?" Peter questioned.

"Well I'm assuming since he is a Chaser the only thing I could have was maybe an agile ability he gained from them. He spoke of the animals he saw and it makes sense looking back at them." Lilith spoke earning a nod from Sirius and Octavia.

"Speaking of animals, I finally had my dreams." Peter spoke proudly and they all gave him a round of congratulations and patting him on the back.

"What animals?" Octavia questioned and Peter instantly averted his gaze and began shifting in his seat.

"Come on they can't be that bad, O and I dreamt of dogs, cats, wolves, lions, cheetahs, hyenas, leopards, bears, tigers…"

"We get it Sirius," Remus cut him off. "We all know that O and Sirius dreamt of animals that are classified as predators, along with what they tasted and what abilities they have gained because of the potion."

"Hey I wouldn't exactly call dogs and cats predators, aren't they mostly considered pets amongst muggles?" Octavia cut in and Remus rolled his eyes.

"They still hunt though O, cats like to hunt mice and dogs like to hunt birds. They might get fed their meals but at the end of the day if they see those animals they hunt with the aim to kill." Remus explained and Octavia shared a look with Sirius.

"What about James though, he claimed he tasted a salad." Peter spoke and Remus looked around, wondering as to if anyone was actually paying attention to them.

"Regardless of the fact that he tasted what he claims is a salad, some of the animals he saw do eat meat."

"Like what?" he questioned.

"Foxes and cheetahs mostly but the rest of them don't eat meat, like horses, swans, peacocks, rabbits and deer." Remus spoke, trying very hard to ignore the faces that Octavia was pulling due to boredom, but he could only last so long. "Just leave if you're that bored O," he turned around snapped at her but all she did was smile sweetly.

"All the animals I've seen have been small, rats, mice, snakes, hamsters, Guinea pigs, rabbits, lizards and turtles." Peter spoke with a frown and Octavia smiled at him.

"Awe, maybe you will be a cute little bunny rabbit." She cooed earning a glare from Peter before he got up and stormed up the boys' staircase.

"Seriously O?" Remus snapped before following Peter up the same staircase.

"Woops…" Octavia spoke before snuggling deeper into Sirius, feeling utterly comfortable, warm and cosy curled up with him on the couch.

"Pete is a big boy, he'll be alright and who knows, maybe you will be a cute little fox." Sirius mocked, before pulling her close enjoying the warmth she was giving him.

.oOo.

"I'm glad to see that Sirius and Marlene have finally put aside whatever happened between the two of them last year." Frank spoke as he took a seat beside Octavia who was sitting by herself on one of the couches.

They had their match against Hufflepuff earlier and managed to win by 250 points, now they were all celebrating in the common room for another win.

The whole of Gryffindor house was excited for the Quidditch Cup since there was a very high chance that they would win it again since the team hadn't changed, in fact the team isn't due for a change for another year and that was when Frank and Isabella graduate, it was also when the Quidditch captain badge was up for grabs and everyone was eager to see who would in fact receive it.

Octavia looked over at where Sirius and Marlene were sitting and laughing, the scene looking very much like the one it was the previous year after the match against Ravenclaw where he had asked her on a date for the next Hogsmeade weekend.

"Rumour has it that their first date ended with Marlene slapping him," she smirked into her butter beer receiving a laugh in response from Frank.

Octavia knows the real reason as to why their first date didn't go well, but someone overheard Remus making the joke about her slapping it and it spread like wild fire. The small number of people who knew the truth, hadn't done anything to squash the rumour, let it spread hoping they wouldn't question as to what really happened.

"Marlene must have had a good reason for slapping him."

"Yes well even I don't know that one but Sirius was beyond pissed that she had slapped him but he realised that he had to put everything aside because they are on the same Quidditch team."

"Good because the last thing I need is for two of my players not get along, it's bad enough when you and Sirius go through your non-talking moments."

Octavia let out a small laugh before, looking over where Lilith and Remus were sitting. "You can't honestly tell me you don't have those moments with Lilith, regardless of much you fight, what you fight about or how long you go without speaking, you will always be there for her no matter what because she is family."

"But Sirius isn't related to you?"

"He might not be but I do consider him family, we grew up together, shared play pens as toddlers, had weekly dinners together with both of our families." Octavia spoke softly before giving Frank another small smile as she got up and walked over to where James was sitting, once again Peter was nowhere in sight.

"Are you spotting what I'm spotting?" she questioned, taking notice of his line of sight.

"I am but you and I both know he won't go for it, he will claim that he will just be a burden and put her in danger." James explained and she nodded, even though he couldn't see it.

They were both looking at where Remus and Lilith seemed to be rather cosy in one of the overly large armchairs. They weren't exactly large enough for two people but it was always something Octavia and Sirius enjoyed sharing, they didn't care about getting close but aside from those two it was usually only the couples of Gryffindor that shared those chairs, or girls.

"Or we could be wrong?" Octavia spoke and James turned his head to look at her.

"That is a very high possibility but come on, have you ever seen Moony like that with another girl? I've seen both you and Lilith hug him on a number of occasions but that right there," Remus pointed at them, keeping his eye sight on Octavia. "I've never seen him do that, yes I've seen you and Sirius do that on a number of occasions but you all know where we stand on that." James smirked at her and she just rolled her eyes.

Octavia wasn't entirely bothered by the fact that they are all convinced that one day something is going to happen between the two of them, in fact there was a part of her that wanted to tell them about the kiss that happened between them last year but she also knew that it would bother Sirius if the group of friends found out.

"But you know what's going to happen if we mention anything? It'll most likely push them apart, regardless of all the jokes you all have about Sirius and I we both know that we can never date because our parents will never approve of it and in return they will prevent us from seeing each other during the breaks."

"You just have to tell Sirius not to say anything, we all know if someone is going to say an unrequired comment it will be one of you two." James spoke, giving her a pointed look.

Remus had filled James in what happened after Quidditch practise the other week when Peter was speaking of the animals he was dreaming off, James wasn't entirely happy with the comment that Octavia said as well.

"Speaking of me saying inappropriate things, has Pete taken his potion yet?"

"Yeah, he took it last night said it had a salad taste to it as well. I wonder what animal he will become." James spoke and Octavia grinned at him.

"Well I still think he will be a cute little bunny rabbit." James shook his head but she just laughed. "A couple of days and then we will see if he gains any qualities from the animal he may become."

"I haven't shown anything, he might not." James complained and Octavia jumped up noticing that Marlene finally left Sirius' side.

"Maybe you're just that unlucky," she teased before running off.

.oOo.

It was a hard task but the group of friends minus Lilith, because she claimed she wasn't as bone headed as them to attempt to sneak into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night, had made their way down to the Forbidden Forest.

They hadn't ventured too far in, just enough that they were hidden from the view of Hagrid's hut but also far enough in that if they do succeed in completing the transformation and they made noises as animals Hagrid wouldn't think anything of it coming from the forest.

Remus was sitting there on the ground reading a book, trying to keep awake while four of his friends sat there cross legged on the ground.

This was the part of the transformation where they really didn't know how to complete it because no book stated how the transformation was done, just that they had to will their body to change.

It had been a month since the match against Hufflepuff, a month since Peter had taken his potion and a month where they had been coming out to the Forbidden Forest every few nights for a couple of hours to attempt this transformation and some of them were getting annoyed at how long it was taking.

Remus looked up, with the idea of telling them all it was time to head back in when he noticed it.

"Bloody hell…" his voice rang out in the deathly silence and they all opened their eyes.

It was then they heard the howl that was too close for comfort, they weren't scared because of the fact that Remus didn't look terrified, he just looked shocked and thrilled at the same time giving them the idea that the howl was actually one of them.

James noticed Sirius and Peter still sitting beside him making him realise that it was in fact Octavia that had completed the transformation first.

"Of course the bloody girl will get it first," James muttered to himself but none of them had yet turned around, they hadn't even looked at the animal form that Octavia had taken, before they could even turn around they noticed Remus, he was staring at her in complete and utter shock, him being thrilled at the realisation of what Octavia had turned into.

"Moony what's wrong?" Sirius questioned but he didn't respond, he just pointed at where they knew Octavia to be, they slowly turned around and they too were shocked at the results.

Octavia let out a whine, she was confused. The boys were confused, when they had read the meanings behind animals they had her pegged for a dog like they thought Sirius will be. Their personalities were practically identical, they had heard the noise and assumed it was a dog. None of them had seen actual dogs in all of their lives and were unsure on how exactly they were meant to sound but they didn't expect this, they didn't expect Octavia Carrow to have a wolf as her animagus form.

"O you're a wolf…" Sirius was the first one able to speak and she growled in response at him, not being able to believe it.

"It makes sense you guys, think about it. Yes to us O and Sirius are incredibly similar but what about around strangers? Sirius doesn't have a problem with people he doesn't know but O, she goes all quiet and shy. It's not until you get to know her and she lets her walls down that you see the real her, remember we read about wolves in that same book."

"Okay then why doesn't she look like the same wolves in our book then?" Peter questioned as Sirius slowly walked towards the wolf, he was being cautious.

They had seen McGonagall in her cat form but they were unsure as to how much control the person had over the first couple of transformations and the last thing they needed was for an uncontrolled wolf to attack someone on school grounds.

"I'm not the one that's good with animals that's O but I would assume the breed she is meant to take form of would be common where there is snow, her white coat allows her to blend in with the snow."

"Great and O just loves hide and seek," Sirius groaned when he was standing beside the wolf, they all admired her coat, it was truly beautiful and was white like snow.

Just as Sirius reached out to pet O's head she growled playfully before running away.

"God I hope that was a playful growl," Peter shudder at the thought of being attacked by out of control wolf.

"It's O, she won't hurt us will she?" James questioned and they all looked at Sirius, he was watching O run around the clearing where they were hiding from their professors.

"God no, remember when the new batch of first years were questioning Moony's scars and she instantly turned around said that we were hiding a rabid rabbit in our dorm. This is Octavia Carrow we are talking about, she won't hurt us. Maybe get us in trouble with her constant howling but she won't hurt us." Sirius replied, still watching where O had stopped running and began howling.

"O come back here, it's time for us to go back inside!" Remus yelled and the wolf instantly turned its head and faced them before running towards them, the wolf barrelled Sirius over and licked his face. It was moments later that the wolf turned back into Octavia.

"You're disgusting O," he complained before wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Come on let's go back up and get some sleep, it's getting late." Remus spoke as he held a hand out for Octavia, helping her up and leaving Sirius to get up on his own.

"Snow…" they all turned around and looked at Peter who had just spoken.

"Sorry?" Octavia questioned, unsure as to why he said snow, they admit it was starting to get cold out but they had started practising a heating charm to keep them warm but there also wasn't any snow out yet.

"You fur coat is as white as snow, why can't we call you Snow like we call Moony, Moony?" they all starred at him, unsure as to where he came up with something like that.

"Peter you are brilliant," Octavia spoke with a large smile on her face before walking over and kissing his cheek causing the poor boy to blush.

10 days after Octavia managed to complete her transform James and Sirius followed suit, also engaging in another bet but this was something where none of the others knew what the winner got.

Octavia stood there next to Remus, watching James and Sirius in their animal forms, they were acting odd.

Sirius had turned, much to Octavia's delight, a large black shaggy dog. She literally burst into a fit of laughter at the sight of the dog standing there, he growled in return but it didn't bother her. She had been making dog jokes aimed in his direction for well over a year now and she thought it was hilarious that she had picked it.

Whereas James and turned into stunning stag, Octavia thought the creature was absolutely beautiful and it now made sense as to why he became more agile, it was something that stags were good at.

Looking at the two animals she could see which one had which nickname in the dream she had about the future where they were mentioned, she could clearly tell why Sirius was nicknamed Padfoot and James had Prongs. She didn't want to say anything about the nicknames in case it changed the future, what if something changes because of it and it worried her.

"We have to be getting back in otherwise we will get barely any sleep," Remus spoke and Octavia nodded as she stepped closer to them, Peter hadn't come out with them tonight because he was sick and the last thing he needed was to be out in the cold.

"What if they can't turn back?" she spoke as Sirius laid down on the ground looking up at her.

"But you managed it Snow," they had all clearly caught on to the nickname Snow just as easily as they did with Moony.

Lilith had said she was curious about the nickname but she was waiting until they had all turned into animals and then she wanted to try and guess as to what animals they had all turned into.

"I can't explain how I did, I think it's connected to my magic because I just knew how to do it. Those two have to work it out, they have to will their body to turn back into their human bodies." Octavia reached out and softly petted the top of Sirius' head, softly laughing when his tail started to wag.

"Isn't there a spell to turn them back?"

"Yeah there is but the book stated it can be painful because you are forcing their body to change against their will, I'm not going to willingly cause them pain unless we have to." Octavia stood up and turned back to face Remus, his response didn't even get in before Octavia was knocked to the ground by Sirius.

"Seriously, you three want to stay out and play all night?" Remus spoke but his answer was in the form of Octavia turning into her Animagus form. "Fine, do whatever you want, I'm going to bed." Remus waved at them as he turned and headed back towards the Castle.

The three of them ended up staying out all night, playing in the forest amazed at the parts they had never seen before. It wasn't until the sun was starting to rise that Octavia turned back to herself, feeling incredibly exhausted.

"Okay this is insane, it can't be that hard to turn back. Just focus on your body and do the reverse of what you did to change into the animal." She explained as she sat on the ground leaning against a tree.

It took a bit but eventually James was no longer a stag and he was standing in front of her, she gave him a tired smile before looking at Sirius.

"Are you even trying mate?" James spoke, earning a growl from him in response.

Sirius eventually turned back as well, "okay so maybe I was having too much fun as a dog." He chimed and Octavia laughed as he helped her stand up.

"Moony is going to be mad we were out here all night though."

"Well we have to get used to it if we are going to spend the night of the Full Moon out here every month." James explained and Octavia nodded, yawning.

Two weeks was how long it took for Peter to follow after them, turning into a rat himself being somewhat pleased that he hadn't turned into as Octavia always put 'a cute fluffy bunny rabbit.'

But unlike with James and Sirius, Peter was unable to turn back into himself instead they had to force him back into himself by use of the spell that was mentioned in the books.

Just by looking at Peter they could all tell that he was uncomfortable by having to be forced back into his human body but there was nothing they could do. If they hadn't forced him back they were unsure as how to begin to even explain where Peter was while he spent time attempting to turn back himself, they had classes the following morning and Peter needed to be in attendance.

"You'll get better at it with time," James spoke as they all headed back up to the Gryffindor common room to get some sleep.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more. There we have it, they are all now Animagi and everyone now knows what Octavia's form will be. I only read on one website that stated how wolves were considered to more private animals while liking their sense of adventure, to me that describes the way I am attempting to portray Octavia.**


	39. Questioning Actions

Chapter 38: Questioning Actions

Octavia and Lilith were sitting side by side smiling at the clearly annoyed Sirius and James. Lilith was attempting to guess what their animal forms were but yet she chose to annoy them instead of making actual guesses.

"Really a bloody unicorn?" James complained and Octavia laughed.

"Hey I would prefer a unicorn over a cat," Lilith responded, earning a glare from Sirius.

"Alright, stop messing with the boys Lilith and make actual guesses."

"Oh come on Moony, can't you totally see James as a unicorn?" Lilith smiled up at Remus who was shaking his head. "Alright fine, fine. I'm guessing that both Snow and Sirius were dogs?" Lilith spoke, watching as a grin appeared on Sirius' face.

"Well Sirius is dog but I'm not…" Octavia spoke and Lilith instantly flicked her gaze over to her best friend.

"No way, we all pegged you two to have the same form." Lilith was completely shocked but Octavia just shrugged.

"Next guess?"

"I actually don't have any, I literally thought both Sirius and Snow were going to be dogs. But if Snow gets called Snow, she must have a coat that is white like snow, which rules out lions, tigers, cheetahs basically any animal that isn't known to have a white coat but she isn't a dog, so maybe a wolf or a cat. I don't see her as a cat though mainly because she is nothing like McGonagall, so I'm going with wolf."

"That would be correct," Octavia spoke with a smile and Lilith grinned before looking at James and Peter wondering what animals they could be.

"Okay, honestly I have no clue just tell me."

"Stag."

"Rat." James and Peter spoke and Lilith grinned at them.

"I can't honestly believe you four accomplished this, this is an amazing feat of magic. Animagus are so rare because most witches or wizards can't accomplish it."

"That's because we're perfect," Sirius spoke proudly and they all laughed.

"Alright, so what markings do you all have?" they all stared at Lilith. "What, the books stated that there are markings on the animals that help people identify you in your Animagus form."

The boys all looked at Octavia, as if she should have known that. "Oh come on, I miss one thing in a book and it's the end of the world. I remembered how to complete the transformation that should be more than enough for you all." She snapped at them.

"Come on, I will help you. Surely you aren't that big that you'll fill the room up." Lilith spoke and watched as they all transformed.

Lilith and Remus walked around the room taking in the animals, laughing at the sight of Octavia and Sirius wrestling.

"Peter and Sirius are hard, I can't pick it but James you can see the outline of his glasses while Snow has no fur on her front left leg where her scar would be. They all also have their own eye colouring, but I don't know if that can be classified as marking no matter how rare Sirius and Snow's eye colour is." Lilith spoke and Sirius transformed back into himself before walking inspecting Octavia's left leg.

Octavia growled at him as he lifted up her leg.

"Don't be rude Snow," he snapped at her, tightening the grip on her leg. "They're right Snow, there's a bald spot on your leg."

Octavia nipped at his hand, allowing her to pull her leg free. She transformed back and left the room, having no idea where she was going.

"Snow please stop," she stopped at the sound of Sirius' voice, turning and facing him.

"Why is it I always have that stupid scar to remind me of what happened that summer? I was honestly hoping that with the transformation I will be able to get rid of that scar, at least for the time I am in the form of an animal but instead now, there is a freaking bald spot on my leg indicating that is where the scar is." Her voice broke and Sirius instantly stepped forward to hug her but she pushed him away. "Don't," she snapped at him before turning back around and heading back down the corridor.

Sirius let her go this time knowing that she was pushing him away because of what happened during her summer, just like she jerked away from him on the train when he went to wipe away her tears.

.oOo.

"Tell me again why we aren't spending time with the boys?" Lilith spoke and Octavia just continued to look ahead, not looking at her.

It was another Hogsmeade weekend, Sirius originally had plans with Marlene for the day but last minute she had to stay back and finish an essay she had forgotten about so the four boys were off doing whatever they wanted while Lilith and Octavia were having a girls days.

"What's going on? You storm off after I point out the bald spot on your leg, Sirius follows you but then he comes in looking like he was completely worried about you."

"It's just Sirius being Sirius, does it really matter?" Octavia finally responded, knowing she couldn't explain what was going on fully.

"Is this going to be you two not talking again for ages? You haven't been sitting next to each other in classes or meals."

"I just wanted some girl time Lilith, is that so hard to understand?" Octavia spoke and Lilith finally looked at her with a smirk on her face.

"Can we go shopping?"

Octavia let out a laugh, "yes we can go shopping."

A grin appeared on Lilith's face as she grabbed Octavia's arm and dragged her down the stretch of shops before heading into the one she was looking for.

"Is that your brother?" Lilith questioned Octavia.

Octavia turned in shock and saw Amycus storming past the window, heading down Main Street of Hogsmeade. "Here," she threw the robes in her hands at Lilith before rushing outside chasing after him.

"Am!" Octavia called out but Amycus didn't stop, he just continued walking.

She had to chase after him and grab a hold of his arm to get his attention, "you need to leave O, this doesn't concern you." He growled at her, his anger disappearing when she flinched taking a step back from him.

"Just go back to your friends, I will come find you later."

"Am, what's going on?"

"Nothing you should worry about, just let me go and I will come find you later, I promise." He kissed her cheek before pulling his arm from her grasp and continuing down the path.

"What is Amycus doing here?" Sirius spoke stepping in beside her, she looked over at him and he frowned noticing the tears building up in her eyes.

"I think he's in," her voice was soft and low as she spoke, there was tears slowly running down her cheeks.

"We knew Alecto was, he has stated he was following her. It was only a matter of time." He placed his hand on her forearm, knowing that was the most they could in a place like this.

"I just wish he didn't, I wish he tried harder to go against them and I wish he didn't feel like he had to protect Al."

"I know but we know he is doing what he thinks is right, he is protecting her and leaving me to protect you. You know I can't do that while you refuse to talk to me." She looked over at Sirius, hating that she was causing him pain by something like this.

"I'm not refusing to talk to you, it's just hard. Remember they didn't like the physical contact between us and I know I've been good so far but I just slipped back, I just wanted to spend more time with Lilith and Marlene and not have to worry about what they claimed to be unrequired physical contact."

"I understand, I just wish you would talk to me more about this stuff."

Octavia pulled her arm away from and brushed her hair out of her face that the wind had blown in the way.

"Maybe later, I'm going to go back to Lilith. Keep an eye out for Am for me?" Octavia spoke giving him a small smile before heading back to the shop where she left Lilith.

She run into Lilith on her way out, "here," she handed a bag over to Octavia. "I had no idea if you wanted them all or not so I just brought them all."

"You didn't have to do that, here at least let me give you some galleons." Octavia went digging through her pocket looking for the gold but Lilith placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Don't Snow, just think of it as an early Christmas present. Remember I'm from a sacred family as well and regardless of us being blood traitors we are loaded just like yours and money isn't an issue." Octavia nodded.

In the past Octavia and Sirius had always been the ones to pay for the owl ordered stuff they required for their pranks because their parents weren't too concerned as to what they spent their allowance on. Octavia had not once been told off for spending the gold on what she wanted, there have been a few things in the past where she got given a curious glance at but never once in trouble.

The only time she knew she would have been in trouble was for the broom, she knew if her parents thought she was still playing then they would have checked to see if any gold went towards any Quidditch related businesses.

"Thank you, that means a lot. Now I have to find you an amazing Christmas present before we all head home for Christmas break." Octavia grinned at him.

"Well if you're offering then is a stunning bracelet that I have been dying to get but my parents claim it's too expensive." Lilith smirked, wondering how far Octavia's generous side would go.

"Lead the way," she waved her hand down the street and the smirk fell.

"I was joking…"

"Well then say it's from Sirius as well, he will have no idea what to get you and when I tell him that it was a joint present he will throw Galleons at me."

"Then what the bloody hell am I going to get Sirius?" Lilith grumbled and Octavia laughed.

"I'm sure I can help with that, he has become fascinated with Muggle things since we started that class. I'm terrified one day he is going to buy one of those motorbike things, he is going to get himself killed on that thing."

"How much more damage could a bike do compared to someone falling off a broom during Quidditch?"

"Well doing Quidditch there are usually a large number of people in the stands, whereas who knows where he could be on the bike."

"Alright, don't worry about something that hasn't happened yet. I will show you that bracelet, come on." Lilith looped her arm through Octavia's and led her towards the shop where the bracelet was on display.

"What is my dear sister blowing her money on today?" Octavia turned her head and found Amycus leaning against the display case.

"Depends are you going to tell our parents I'm buying Christmas presents?" she questioned, looking over her shoulder at Lilith talking with the worker.

"Probably not, I'm guessing hers?"

"She has a name you know," Octavia narrowed her eyes and watched as Amycus let out a sigh.

"Fine, is the Christmas present for Lilith?"

Octavia's eyes went wide with shock, she didn't expect him to know her first name. Amycus laughed before turning around and looking in the display case.

"What, didn't expect me to know your friends actual names. Let me take a guess here, you mostly hang around with James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Lilith Longbottom but since joining the Quidditch team you have also become close with Marlene McKinnion. You also have a small number of friends in the other houses but nothing compared to the first four plus Sirius."

"Okay so I didn't expect you know the full names of my friends, the only reason I know yours is because they spent so many summers at our house. Why are you here at Hogsmeade? You can't honestly be checking up on me to make sure I'm not dating more pompous assholes." Amycus smirked at Octavia while she shook her head, knowing they were both remembering what happened last year when she had her first date.

"I'm your older brother, I look out for you and that includes me knowing who you spend your time with. Now is there anything you would like for Christmas?"

"You don't have to Am, I know you don't feel comfortable about it and I wouldn't want you to get in trouble again, my friends and I exchange gifts before break begins. You can just save up until my birthday." She grinned at him.

"Very well, you have a few months to think of what you want. Listen I have to head off, you haven't spoken to Al lately?"

"No, should I have of? Should I be worried about her?" Octavia responded, hoping to read the emotions on her brother's face but he was too good at concealing them

"She's fine, there is nothing to worry about. She just mentioned how she was going to send you an owl about something, maybe she just wants to check up on you after your summer. Speaking of which how are you?"

"Well I'm at Hogwarts aren't I?" Octavia earned a nod from Amycus.

"If I don't see you before Christmas break I will see you then, I don't know how much I will be around but I will be there for dinner on Christmas day." Octavia gave him a smile before he leaned over and softly kissed her cheek. "Before I forget again, if for some reason someone questions you about anything on the outside, you know nothing okay?" she nodded, unsure as to what he meant.

Octavia felt a presence beside her once Amycus was gone, turning her head she found Lilith standing there.

"The worker just needs you to pay and then we are done," Octavia smiled at Lilith, grateful that she didn't ask anything about the conversation with her brother.

She handed the Galleons over and the worker handed over the bracelet Lilith wanted and the two girls left the store, spotting Sirius and Amycus having a hushed conversation.

"What do you think is going on there?" Lilith questioned but Octavia didn't respond, just walked over to where they were standing.

Octavia locked eyes with Amycus, noticed the shake of his head. "Just remember what I said Sirius," Amycus spoke before walking away.

She looked over Sirius, wondering if it was a repeat conversation of second year or if this was something new, and if it was new she just hoped he would tell her what was said.

"What did Amycus mean?" Lilith questioned and Octavia noticed the look in Sirius' eyes.

"Nothing, Amycus is convinced I'm making a move on Snow here. Come on, let's go meet with the others for lunch."

Octavia laughed as a large smile appeared on Lilith's face, either because of the mention of food or the fact that they were having with the boys but when she looked over at Sirius, he mouthed later, her laughter instantly stopped.

Dread filled her, unsure as to what could have been spoken about between Sirius and Amycus but either way, she could see something was wrong by the look in his eyes.

For the rest of the day Octavia kept a fake smile plastered to her face in hopes of convincing her friends she was fine, she knew Sirius saw right through it but he promised to talk to her later.

"Ah Sirius there you are I was hoping I could have a word." Makenna spoke cutting off the conversation they were having.

The group of friends shared a look, unsure as to what to think but Sirius shrugged before standing up and follow Makenna out of the pub.

As soon as they were gone they all turned and faced Octavia. "What makes you think I have any idea as to what is happening there? Remember I spent my summer at that etiquette school, I barely saw Sirius and Makenna together, the only time I did was at the weddings but my parents kept me so busy I couldn't do much, I barely saw Regulus." Octavia explained, they all nodded and went back to their food but before a minute had even passed James stood up and ran out after them.

"Is it even a safe thing for James to go and spy on them?" Remus questioned and she shrugged.

"I have no clue, what is the worst thing they are talking about? Makenna wanting to have the wedding on some beach somewhere?"

"Isn't their wedding like three years away?" Peter questioned.

"Sh," she placed a finger over her lips. "Don't tell Sirius but I think Makenna is planning on having the wedding of Christmas break his seventh year, something about not waiting even longer or something." Octavia smirked as Peter's mouth fell opened.

"She's messing with you Pete, be nice Snow." Remus warned her but she grinned at him.

"Hey Snow…" James spoke quickly and she looked over to find him still looking out the window.

"What's up James?" she questioned but when James didn't respond, she quickly got up and rushed over to the window to look, just in time to see Sirius storm off and the look on Makenna's face was enough to know some bad happened.

"I'm guessing this one is you?" James questioned and she nodded before heading outside.

"Kenna?" Octavia spoke softly and the other turned around.

"I didn't mean it, I just thought he should know."

"What did you tell him?" Octavia questioned but Makenna didn't speak at first, she looked over her shoulder at something.

"I have to go, I'm sure Sirius will tell you everything." Makenna turned to leave but Octavia wouldn't let her, she reached out and grabbed her arm. "Seriously O let me go, I'm all for helping you and Sirius with whatever crazy scheme you have going on but I still have to keep up appearances within my own house. Please let me go, Sirius will tell you everything."

Octavia nodded and let go of her arm, letting her go before she followed where she saw Sirius go, hoping she was able to catch him before he did something stupid.

She finally found Sirius, he was pacing in a clearing muttering to himself in Spanish. It surprised her, she hasn't heard him speak of the language since they began at Hogwarts, she always thought he hated the fact that he had to learn another language.

"Sirius?" she questioned but he didn't notice her, she walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder causing him to shake her off.

She stood there unsure as to what to do while Sirius continued to pace and mutter to himself, she was trying to rack her brain for the last time he was like, the last time when she wasn't able to get through to him, it was then she noticed the clenched fists.

She walked over and wrapped her hands around his, knowing that if he didn't stop or calm down soon that his fists would end up pulling on his hair. "Please don't shut me out, please talk to me."

"What did Amycus say to you earlier?" Sirius finally spoke after what felt like the longest period of uncomfortable silence between them, he carefully moved his hands around so he had laced his fingers through hers, not wanting to lose the warmth and comfort coming from her.

"We were talking about Christmas break and him shocking me that he knew our friends actual names, oh and he asked if I had heard from Al. What did he say to you?"

"Asked if I knew if you had heard from Alecto, he wanted to make sure you weren't lying to him and he reminded me to keep an eye on you, there's more to it but that was the basics."

"But I haven't heard from Al, why would he be so worried about whether or not I've heard from her."

"That's what Makenna told me," Sirius spoke cautiously, unsure as to how she would react.

"What's wrong with Al? Why is Am so concerned about whether or not I've heard from her, what did Makenna tell you?" she spoke, her eyes going wide with fear of what could be happening on the outside to her siblings.

She knew about the war that the Ministry was attempting to hide from the public, she wasn't stupid or ignorant, she also knew both of her siblings were involved and that's what scared her the most, not the outcome of the war just the chance she may lose one or both of her siblings.

"Hey I'm sure she's fine," he softly rubbed small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. "Amycus would have told us if something had happened to your sister, Makenna told me that Al was out on a mission and something went wrong, her mask had partially come off and they spotted the red hair. She's in hiding but no one has heard from her, no one knows where she is either. That's why I believe Amycus was here, talking to some of the seventh years that were friends with Alecto, it's why Makenna knew, she thought I should know because all they know is the Death Eater had red hair. How many people do you know amongst the families that have red hair?"

"Just me and Al…" Sirius nodded.

"Come on, let's go back to Hogwarts and go to the Owlry, you can send Alecto a letter but right something that would seem harmless if your letters are being checked. A lot of people saw Amycus here, just say in the letter that Amycus mentioned she wanted to talk to you but you got in first, just make it as basic as that." Octavia nodded and pulled her hands away from his and wrapped them around herself, shivering, unsure as to if it was from the cold or not.

They didn't get the chance to get as far as the Owly because McGonagall had noticed them walking across the grounds first.

"Miss Carrow I need you to come with me," McGonagall spoke and Octavia shared a look with Sirius.

"May I ask why?"

"Just something that needs to be settled in Dumbledore's office, unless you would like to admit to anything to me right now," Octavia flashed McGonagall an innocent looking smile, she knew what McGonagall was attempting to do but she wouldn't fall for it.

"I have nothing to admit to, I admit I may talk too much during class or turn up late on the odd occasion but other than that I'm a model student, my grades even prove it."

"You'll get caught out one day, both of you." She looked over at Sirius who didn't even try to hide the cocky grin that was currently on his face.

"For whatever for professor?" Sirius questioned and McGonagall just pressed her lips into a thin line.

"Come now Miss Carrow, Mr Black I suggest you head inside before I find some reason to give you another detention." Octavia followed McGonagall back inside of the Castle with a small smile on her face at what Sirius was doing.

Octavia was silent the whole towards Dumbledore's office, dread filling her with every step. She was unsure as to what would happen, they honestly couldn't blame her, could they? She is a 14 year old girl that is still at Hogwarts, that has been at Hogwarts since September.

When they entered she saw that there was a stranger with Dumbledore, she had no idea as to who the other male was and what this had to do with her and her request to Dumbledore's office.

"About time," the stranger complained and Octavia's whole body tensed up as she walked over and took a seat, noting that McGonagall had left her alone with them.

"You wanted to see me Professor Dumbledore?" Octavia spoke attempting to keep her voice calm and neutral.

"Yes of course, there is no need for alarm we just needed to verify where you were a couple of weeks ago."

"Can I ask why? I'm a student at Hogwarts, there is no way for us to get off the grounds without permission and I would assume that you authorize all the students' permission to leave the grounds." Octavia questioned, sneaking a look at the stranger noting the angered look on his face.

"Miss Carrow this is Bartemius Crouch, he is the head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He claims that a witness has stepped forward about an incident that has happened saying that the attacker has a similar shade of hair to you."

"Again I'm a student at Hogwarts, I haven't left the grounds apart from the approved Hogsmeade visits. If you are questioning me because of the colour of my hair, why aren't you questioning Lily Evans because we have the same hair colour?" Octavia questioned and Dumbledore looked over at Bartemius.

"She has a point Barty, why did you request her here to question her?"

"This particular event took place on a Saturday, early afternoon. What were you doing on November 2nd?"

"That was the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch Match, I caught the Snitch earning us the win. Now are there anymore ridicules questions because I would like to enjoy the rest of my weekend with my friends, if you wish I can get Evans to come up here so you can question her next?"

"What about your sister, when was the last time you heard from Alecto?"

"My birthday at the end of the summer, I was actually on my way to send her an owl when McGonagall stopped me. I ran into Amycus in Hogsmeade, stated how she wanted to talk to me about something so I was going to send her an owl. Is there something wrong with contacting my family? I didn't realise the house differences between Slytherin and Gryffindor extend out of Hogwarts."

"Watch it girl or I could arrest you right and drag you down to the Ministry to further the questioning."

"And do what, you know who I am and who my family is. They will hear word you dragging me down there before you even get me in the room."

"Now, now Miss Carrow I do believe your warnings aren't needed. Barty I let you question her because we are friends but I was at that match, I saw her playing and catch the snitch and there is nothing wrong with her keeping in contact with her family regardless of what you believe. Miss Carrow you may leave." Dumbledore spoke and Octavia instantly stood up and left the room, not stopping until she was out in the corridor, her body shaking with fear.

She had no idea where that came from, she has never spoken up like that before. In the past she has just stayed quiet and answering questions as simple as possible, not lay silent threats out like that. She didn't even know if those threats would stand, if her parents would protect her from something like this.

She had no idea what her sister has gotten herself into but she was worried, she just wanted to hear from her or someone that claimed her sister was fine. Regardless of their differences in the past, she didn't want to lose her sister in this war.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more, even if it is something as simple as you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **lizy2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. They would have become Animagi eventually, I was originally going to leave it until fifth year like it was in the books but I made Octavia different for a reason and it affects her ability to complete the transformation faster and in turn hit James and Sirius' competitive side in the process.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I did tell you that one of your guesses was correct, I'm glad the two chapters made you laugh.**


	40. Precautious for the Future

Chapter 39: Precautions for the Future

Sirius entered the Astronomy Tower and found Octavia standing on the edge leaning against the rail, he was worried.

All year, ever since they returned and he had heard what her summer was like he was terrified that maybe she will end up like Bexley and that terrified him.

He had been watching her all year, watching the small signs of her discomfort under the well-constructed mask she had up. There were moments when he thought the mask would completely fall and she would break down, show the signs that she wasn't truly over what happened during her summer like she claimed she attempting to do.

But seeing this right now, he was worried what would have happened had he not looked for her, or not found her in time.

"I'm not planning on pitching myself off if that's what you're thinking about." Octavia spoke and Sirius stepped forward and stood beside her.

"Why are you crying Snow?" he spoke noticing the tears running down her cheeks.

She didn't respond at first, just wiped away the tears.

"It's becoming too much, I thought I could handle being at Hogwarts but sharing a room with a muggle born and someone who is practically a muggle born as well, having Moony as such a close friend, sharing classes with the people we do, associate with the people we do and the fact I'm taking both Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures, well it just all became too much. I just wanted to come up here away from everyone, away from the other students and be somewhere it's quiet and calm and forget about everyone else." Sirius took a step closer to her but she just took one back. "Don't, a hug from you is the last thing I need right now. I promise I will stand here and talk with you for however long it takes for you to decide I'm not going to do anything stupid but please no hug."

Sirius nodded, not happy with what she was saying but yet did as she requested and walked over to sit against the wall. "Can you at least sit on the ground as well?" he questioned, glad when she nodded and walked over to sit across from him.

"Have you heard from Alecto yet?" he questioned and watched as she shook her head, another batch of tears building up in her eyes. "I'm sure she will turn up at some stage."

"I hope so…" he watched as she averted gaze back out across the grounds.

"Is there anything else I'm not being told about your summer?"

"No, it's as I've told you. It was etiquette classes like usual, how to act in public, how to eat like a proper women all the usual stuff but once a day we were given a round of questions. As the weeks went on the questions were the same, they were hoping that they could convince us to change our answers." He was shocked with that last bit of information, he hadn't heard that one before, or had he but couldn't remember being told it?

"Did any of yours ever change?" he questioned, shocked once again when she slowly nodded her head. "What did you change?"

"My view on muggle borns," he hated that he had to sit there and watch as she broke down in sobs, he was respecting her wishes by not moving, no matter how much he wanted to go over and console his crying best friend.

So instead he sat there, waiting patiently for the tears to die down.

"I struggle to fall asleep at night because they're in there, the things they told us, the things they made us think about muggle borns. You know they're convinced that muggle borns steal magic, I've made myself paranoid that they know about me, that they want to steal my magic next. I sit up in my bed all night paranoid that they are going to jump me, those two are best friends and they will work together."

Sirius wanted to laugh at how ridicules she sounded, but looking at her and seeing the fear in her eyes he knew she believed it, that whoever ran the etiquette classes really managed to change something about her.

"You're more than welcome to share my bed with me for the next couple of nights before we head home for Christmas break."

"And then what about when we return? I permanently take up residence in your bed?" she snapped at him, but he knew it was more fear then anger coming through in her voice.

"We will work it out come the new term, but it's a couple of nights of us sharing a bed, what's so wrong with that."

"I can't even handle you hugging me right now, how are am I going to handle sharing a bed with you?"

Sirius took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair before placing his face in his hands. They were both getting frustrated but she had a reason, after the summer she had, they were torturing her in hopes of changing her beliefs where as he was struggling to get her to see reason.

"Then I'll share a bed with James, but if it gets you out of your dorm so you can get sleep I will do it." Sirius crawled across the floor so he was kneeling in front of her. "You're my best friend, I hate seeing you like this and I will do whatever I can to help you." His voice was soft but his heart broke when she pulled her knees up against her chest to bury her face in them as she started crying again.

"Please don't shut me out…" Sirius spoke again, completely unsure on how to fix her.

Octavia slowly lifted her head and looked at Sirius, before shaking her head. "I'm not trying to purposely shut you out, I just don't know how to handle it anymore."

"How about we go back to the Gryffindor common room and you can get some sleep or I can take you to the Hospital Wing and get Pomfrey to give you a Dreamless Sleep potion or something to force you to sleep."

"No, no potions. I will get some sleep in your dorm." She spoke softly, standing up and Sirius quickly followed suit.

"You're going to sleep in my dorm, so in my bed. Now am I sharing with you or am I sharing with James?" Sirius questioned and she was silent at first.

"If only the spare beds didn't disappear, why did our spare beds disappear?"

"The first years are at full capacity, they must have needed the beds in their dorm." Sirius responded with a shrug. "Now which bed am I sleeping in tonight?" he questioned again but received no response from her and he left it alone.

Sirius stood there and watched as Octavia curled up in his bed, getting a decent night sleeps in who knows how long.

"You know we still have to convince Moony we will be fine out during a Full Moon when we return." Octavia mumbled.

Remus had been adamant about them not joining him during a Full Moon, claiming that he didn't believe what the books said, he didn't want to put his friends at risk. To begin with they all agreed, wanting to spend time as their animals getting used to be in the different form before having their lives put at risk.

"I know get some sleep Snow," Sirius pushed away from the other bed post and walked past her.

Octavia reached out and grabbed his hand, preventing him from walking away. "Sleep here with me?" she questioned softly before moving over, making room for him in his own bed.

"Of course just give me a couple of minutes to get ready and then I will get in with you," even though he watched as she nodded he could see she wasn't happy.

Sirius quickly got ready for bed before grabbing one of the books on Dreamers from his trunk and climbed into the bed beside her, waited until she, like always, made herself comfortable against him.

The door opened and the other three boys came in laughing about something and Octavia stirred beside Sirius, he looked down at her before softly stroking her hair.

"Sorry, we didn't realise she would be asleep." James spoke, sorry's coming from the other two as well.

"Why is she asleep in here and not her own dorm?" Remus questioned as James and Peter walked into the bathroom.

"She's not coping as well as we thought she was, she hasn't been sleeping in her dorm at night and I managed to convince her to sleep in here."

"Why?" Remus questioned but Sirius didn't say anything at first.

"Muggleborns, now shh." Octavia complained against Sirius.

Sirius looked up at Remus and laughed, "we've been told."

"Yes we have," Remus walked over and entered the bathroom as well letting Octavia fall back asleep.

.oOo.

"So tell me again why we have spent the last couple of days hiding out in this smelly dorm?" Lilith complained, earning a round of complaints from the boys while Octavia laughed.

"Because Sirius is still annoyed he doesn't have his own nickname but that can't happen with us all sitting in the common room." Octavia explained and Lilith laughed before grinning at Sirius.

"Why can't we keep calling him the scruffy mutt, mutt is such a catchy nickname."

A scowl appeared on Sirius' face and Octavia burst out laughing.

"Because I don't believe Sirius enjoys being called a scruffy mutt for one," Remus replied and both girls pouted at him. "Don't look at me like that, it won't work." Octavia smiled at Remus before turning and pouting at Sirius, knowing full well that he can't say no to her.

"Snow…" Sirius pleaded with her, hating the look she was giving him. "Oh come on, surely by now you've seen something, some sort of hint as to what our nicknames are so we don't have to come up with them on our own."

A grin appeared on her face and the boys all shared a look before glaring at her in unison, they were clearly not happy with this one kept secret.

"Thought we didn't have secrets Snow," Sirius spoke, his voice low and full of annoyance but Octavia just laughed.

"Thought you hated hearing about my silly dreams?"

Sirius let out a groan before collapsing back onto his bed, "now of all times, she bloody listens to me." he spoke to himself and the rest laughed.

It was then that Octavia finally noticed the look on James' face, "oh no, whatever it is you are thinking of doing, don't do it!" she warned him but it didn't take, James got off his bed and transformed into his stag form.

Lilith quickly jumped up and sat on Remus' bed as James went charging towards Octavia, successfully pinning her between him and the wall.

The rest of them were in hysterics at the sight of James' rather large animal form pushing its way through the dorm.

"Bugger off James," Octavia yelled out in the dorm while attempting to push him away but he was much stronger as an animal and she was afraid of what would happen if she attempted to transform into her form in such close proximity to James in his animal form.

It wasn't until James had his prongs pushed against the wall with her caught in the middle as he attempted to lick her face with her tongue that she began squealing in attempts to scare him off, all while everyone else was just laughing at the whole scene.

"Fine, fine! Godric you are annoying Prongs!" she yelled out and was pleased when the stag disappeared and James was standing in front of her with a smug look on his face.

"You know I am so glad that the rooms have silencing charms on them," Remus shook his head and Octavia glared at James, not happy with what he did just to get a nickname out of him.

"Prongs I like it," James had a grin on his face, Octavia continued to glare at him as she transformed herself into a wolf and curled up on the floor.

"Oh come on Snow," Sirius spoke as he climbed off his bed and headed towards where she was curled up on the floor only to receive her growling at him in response. "Now you're being silly, you could have just told us what our nicknames were and prevented that from happening you know."

Octavia placed her paws over her muzzle as Sirius laid down beside her on the floor, "Come on Snow, you know very well that we just want our nicknames." He spoke softly and petted her head.

She lifted her paw up and pushed his hand away from her head.

"God your paws are huge."

"Like you can talk Sirius, did you seen the prints you left in the mud the other night?" James joked and Sirius turned to look at James before looking back at Octavia.

"That's it isn't, my paws?" Sirius grinned at her as her bright blue eyes rolled at him.

Sirius didn't say anything, he just turned into his dog form and launched at Octavia before the two of them began wrestling on the floor.

"Can't you two honestly stay human for more than five minutes?" Remus spoke, clearly annoyed at the scene while Lilith just looked on at it with a large amount of curiosity since she had rarely seen her friends in their animal forms.

"Let them be Moony, I honestly don't think they will be able to transform once over the break, they're burning steam while they can." She looked over and smiled at him.

Sirius walked over and placed a paw on Lilith's lap, doing a similar thing to what Octavia had just done.

"Get your grubby pads off me." Lilith snapped pushing away his paw and Sirius let out a loud bark.

"Honestly Sirius, either be quiet or transform back. The last thing we need is to have someone investigate on our dorm, the rooms might be silenced somewhat but a dogs bark will be heard if it's loud enough and someone is walking past." Remus explained and Sirius turned back into a human and grinned at Lilith.

"Padfoot?" James questioned but Sirius didn't respond, just continued to grin at them, just as he caught sight of Octavia jumping up onto his bed and curling up to go to sleep.

"You'll hog my bloody bed sleeping like that Snow, I thought me letting you sleep in my bed meant you had to share it too." Sirius questioned as he walked over, glad when she transformed back into her human self.

"I think Snow prefers being a wolf to being a human," Lilith stage whispered to Remus who just laughed.

"I can hear you, you know." Octavia snapped but Lilith just smiled sweetly. "Two down, one to go…" Octavia spoke softly before she curled up again.

Sirius didn't say anything as he walked over and laid down beside her, knowing that his presence beside her the last couple of nights was the only thing letting her get a good night's sleep.

.oOo.

"O?" Octavia opened her eyes at the sound of her sister's voice.

When Christmas break first began she was confused as to why she was spending her Christmas break at what her parents referred to as their summer home, unsure as to why they weren't in their usual home over Christmas where she could easily see Sirius when she wanted, she didn't even know if Sirius knew where she was this break.

She hadn't been out to this house for winter in forever, it was something she had forgotten to look so beautiful. She wasn't even able to leave the house due to the amount of snow fall, the house was covered in a blanket of it but she was grateful for the roaring fires within the house to help keep it warm.

But now hearing her sister's voice she realised it, she was out here because this was where her sister was hiding out.

"Al, thank god you are alright." Octavia spoke as she sat up and Alecto smiled at her.

"Hi baby sister, glad to know you care about me."

"You're family Al, regardless of the differences we had when I first started at Hogwarts, you were there for me when it really counted, when our father ripped my back to shreds and when our grandparents convinced our parents that I should be shipped out to that etiquette school."

"Ah look at that sisterly bonding, isn't it just sickening." Amycus' voice was heard and Octavia let out a giggle as he came into view with a disgusted look on his face.

"You," Octavia pointed a finger at Amycus, her happiness at seeing her siblings well and alive long gone and replaced with anger for being kept in the dark. "I understand why nothing was put in writing but I saw you in Hogsmeade, you had all the chance in the world to tell me the truth about Al and her going into hiding but yet I got nothing, why the hell did I have to hear that something had gone wrong from Makenna of all people. Her family isn't classified as family yet, why does she know what's going on while I don't!" she yelled at them and a scowl appeared on Alecto's face.

"Keep your voice down O, mother and father could just as easily pack all of your things and take you back home. They thought a holiday together as family would be what we need right now."

"Or what? What could honestly be the worst thing that they could do to me? I've been under the Cruciatus Curse a number of times, I've been tortured, I've had my back ripped to shreds, they've done so much to me because of some of the most meagre things. What could they do to me!" she yelled once again, Amycus looking downright annoyed walked over, wrapped an arm around her waist and placed a hand over her mouth.

"Leave," he ordered Alecto, it took a couple of moments before it happened but she left leaving Amycus and Octavia alone. "You want to know what they could do, you value your friendship with Sirius, I hope that Sirius can continue to look after you and keep you safe now that I'm out of the house most of the time. What they could do is ban you from seeing Sirius, ban your friendship completely. What do you think they will do when they find out you are betraying them by continuing your friendship with him?"

Octavia nodded and Amycus pulled his hand away from her mouth, "I got pulled into Dumbledore's office because Crouch was convinced that maybe it was me instead of Al, I'm lucky there was a bloody Quidditch match that day and the whole of Hogwarts could vouch for me."

"I know and I told you to play the innocent young girl who didn't know anything but from what I've heard you went off at Crouch." Octavia narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"Don't you dare tell me I reacted the wrong way when I had no idea what is going on, I'm sick and tired of being kept in the dark just because I'm not wanted, that I'm not like you and Al. I'm sick and tired of it all Am!" Octavia yelled once again.

"Octavia Laken Carrow!" Dread filled Octavia at the sound of her father's voice, knowing he was crueller than her mother.

"You've done it now," Amycus hissed before leaving the room.

When Sirius stepped through the fireplace on the other side he was slightly confused, he wasn't sure as to why he was spending Christmas break here, yes he understood as to why the Carrows were out here for the entire break but he didn't understand why his family was joining them, normally they just spend the evening or day at the house in question.

He knew that both his and Octavia's parents were dead set on Regulus and her getting married and having children together for the sake of the company that both families ran together, had ran together for generations but the Black family were becoming few and far between and the ones that were still in existence weren't from the same line that started the company.

His parents didn't say anything to him as he left the living room where they entered, just let him walk off as he left the room in search of Octavia but it was when he caught sight of Amycus that confusion swept through him.

Amycus was sitting in an armchair in front of a fire with a glass in his hands, it wasn't until Sirius got closer that he could smell the lingering smell of Fire Whiskey.

"Your own doing or your families?" was all Amycus said and he was confused, wasn't even sure how the older boy knew he was there.

"My families, why?"

Amycus nodded before standing up and walking over to where a bar was situated, helping himself to another drink before handing a glass to Sirius. Sirius knew what this meant, him being 15 meant he was allowed drink at home…to an extent anyway.

"Just promise me you won't go seeking her out in empty rooms."

"Am…" Sirius spoke, confused as to what he was on about, he just hoped he wouldn't leave before explaining herself.

Sirius knew why Amycus was startled, stopped and looked at him in shock, Sirius hadn't called him 'Am' in years.

"Let's just say that now that she has learnt to stand up for herself I'm wary that my parents will now begin to put a ban on the friendship that you and O have, I can't have that."

"What happened?" Sirius questioned but Amycus didn't respond, he just left the room.

Sirius downed the drink before placing it on the table and continuing on with his search for her, checking the all the rooms he knew to be her favourite hide outs, lastly checking her room.

Sirius wasn't happy, standing there over her bed like a creeper but yet here he was doing it. He had no idea what happened or what caused it but yet the proof was right there.

The pained look on her face as she slept and the bandages on her arms and neck showed that there were wounds under there.

Sirius brushed the hair off her face before softly kissing her forehead.

Amycus had given him that warning and asked him to make that promise for a reason and if they were all forced to spend the break apart then they will, Sirius just hoped that Octavia had the parchment that link the ones between just the two of them.

Days had past and the two of them were only ever seen in communal rooms having innocent conversations, most of the time it seemed like they were doing homework and on the occasions they were doing homework Regulus was seen sitting in the same room as them doing the same thing.

 _O – Why are you avoiding me?_

Octavia wrote on the single piece of parchment that she had linked between her and Sirius so they could still have conversations when they weren't alone.

At this point in time her and Sirius were sitting on opposite sides of the room, Regulus was even in the room with them.

 _S – Our parents are wary of our friendship, Amycus made mention that they may ban it. When were you planning on telling me what happened before I arrived?_

 _O – It's kind of hard when you are avoiding me, I can't exactly speak up in front of Reg now can I?_

 _S – I guess…are you alright?_

 _O – Am now, I'm slowly healing._

 _S – What happened?_

 _O – Punished for yelling, I was annoyed with Al and Am for keeping me in the dark and because of it I was almost given the blame for Al's actions but luckily we had a Quidditch Match that same day._

 _S – Seriously, they are now punishing you for yelling. If we don't get out soon, before our seven years are up you will be punished just for us being friends._

 _O – It looks that way doesn't it?_

Octavia looked up at him with a sad smile, it was something she had been questioning over the last couple of days but because her and Sirius had spent most of their time in the living room or dining room, avoiding anyway of being caught out alone.

 _S – We will get through it, maybe we should really start up on what Amycus said last year, maybe we should start dating. Word will reach back to our families and prove that we are just friends._

 _O – Who would we pick?_

 _S – I wouldn't mind another date with Marlene._

Octavia looked up and noticed the smirk on his face, she shook her head, knowing a laugh would attract Regulus' attention.

 _S – Just give it a think Snow._

 _O – I've missed you calling me that name the last few days, all I've heard from you is O and Octavia._

 _S – That's because Snow, like Padfoot, is a nickname meant just for our small group of friends who are the only ones who know the truth behind the names. It means something special to us all, if only you would tell us Pete's nickname._

 _O – It doesn't work that way and you know it._

 _S – But then Pete can have a nickname too, you were there on the train where he was sulking because he didn't have one._

 _O – Don't start Padfoot, you can't blackmail me with this. Lilith and James worked out yours and you all will work out Pete's, what James did was cruel._

 _S – But it worked._

"What are you two doing?" Regulus questioned and both of them snapped their gaze up at him.

"Homework," they said in unison.

"Yes because whatever homework it is you are doing causes you both to smile like that, I might not have any idea as to what is going on but there is a reason as to why you two aren't hiding like usual." Regulus spoke before standing up and leaving them alone.

"The kid's too bloody nosey," Sirius grumbled before focusing back on his homework.

 _O – Sirius?_

But Sirius never responded.

.oOo.

"O?" Octavia turned her head from the window she was looking out and found Amycus leaning against the doorway of her room.

"Yes Am?" she spoke quietly before turning her focus back out the window.

"Celeste and I are leaving," her head whipped around to fast she had whiplash in her neck.

Celeste was Amycus' wife, she barely knew the girl and every time Octavia tried to talk to her she would turn her nose up at her like everyone else she was forced to spend time with.

"What why? The break is barely over." She questioned and Amycus shook his head, stepping forward and shutting the door.

"Because Celeste wants to spend time with her family instead, I need to keep her happy."

"What about your need to protect me?" Octavia spoke as her eyes filled with fear, the Black family had also left today which meant that Octavia would be left alone with Alecto and her husband and their parents, she was terrified.

"I'm sorry O but Celeste doesn't know about our parent's ways and I need to keep her happy, she already doesn't like a certain part of my life." She frowned before turning away, knowing what he meant, he meant running in Voldemort's inner circle.

"You don't know what it was like during the summer, I was only at home for two nights with just them and it was bad Am." She heard him walk closer to her but she refused to turn around, she hated to think the rest of her Christmas Break will be like those two nights spent alone with her parents.

"I know O and it's why I convinced them to spend your break out here with Al and the rest of us but Celeste wants to leave."

Octavia finally turned and looked at him, tears filling her eyes to the brim. "You can't leave me here Am, I'm your little sister, I tease and annoy you but you've always tried to protect me from our parents because you love me, you can't leave me here alone with them."

"I'm sorry but I have no choice O," Amycus softly kissed the top of her head before leaving the room.

Octavia pulled her blanket tighter around her as the tears fell, running down her cheeks. She was terrified on what her parents had planned for her now that it seemed as though the one person protecting her had left.

Regardless of being told by Amycus that Alecto loved her, she was still scared that one day her sister would still turn on her. It didn't matter if in the past Alecto had been there to help clean her wounds, she was still scared.

Amycus was the one that had been protecting her against their parents.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Alecto is a Death Eater, whatever they think she did, she most likely did it. I haven't changed that much when it comes to the Carrows, they were Death Eaters in the books and will continue to do so.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes there is more that Amycus isn't telling them, but unless Octavia ask what is going on on the outside they won't tell her. Remember Amycus and Alecto are Death Eaters, they're out killing and torturing people who are defying Voldemort, I haven't changed them that much.**


	41. Who Said She Was Spineless?

Chapter 40: Who Said She Was Spineless?

"You know there is a thing such as manners don't you Sirius?" Marlene snapped as Sirius dragged her away from her friends.

They had been back at Hogwarts for a day and Sirius had already decided to annoy her with this, he meant what he said when he spoke to Octavia over Christmas Break, he thought that maybe if they began dating then maybe just maybe their parents would step back from the ideas of an inappropriate friendship between the two of them.

Sirius didn't speak until they were hidden away in an empty classroom, "you claimed all you wanted to do was help when you came to me about O and the abuse, is that still true?"

"Oh now you want to talk about what I may or may not know, you've spent months ignoring that particular issue, claiming it didn't happen." Marlene rolled her eyes and Sirius narrowed his.

"Is it true…" he spoke through gritted teeth and she took a deep breath.

"Yes, I still want to be able to help."

"Good, is there any plans for you to date anyone anytime soon, or anyone you wish to date?"

"Where are you going with this Sirius?" she questioned wearily.

"Mine and O's parents are beginning to think that there is something more to us then just friendship."

"Isn't there, they wouldn't be the only ones." Marlene spoke with a smirk on her face and Sirius hung his head placing it in his hands.

"I need a girlfriend, someone who will be willingly to help and I don't have to worry about actually having a girlfriend."

"You have no idea what it takes to keep a girlfriend happy do you?"

"How about this, you tell me and I will do it. I just need our parents to stop focusing on our friendship, will you help or not."

Marlene didn't say anything, she just stepped closer to Sirius and wrapped her arms around his neck before pressing her lips against his.

Sirius instantly kissed her back, he had found her attractive, it was why he asked her out on those two other dates to begin with. He also knew he got along with her and knew that a fake relationship wouldn't be that hard to maintain with her, with her help along the way.

Sirius reached up and cupped her face as she pulled away.

"What do you say love, be my pretend girlfriend?" he question as he softly stroked her cheek.

"This is going to end badly, I can see it now. I can end this fake relationship whenever I deem so?" she questioned and he nodded in response. "What about O, what does she know of this?"

"I mentioned it to her during Christmas break, suggested she does the same thing but unless she goes to Remus she has to actually find someone to date."

"Well then, I believe our first order of business is to cuddle up in the common room in hopes that word spreads amongst the Gryffindors because slowly but surely word will spread to the rest of the Castle." Marlene spoke with a smile as she laced her fingers with his.

.oOo.

"What do you think is going on there?" Lilith whispered to Octavia, who in turn looked up and spotted Sirius and Marlene looking very cosy on one of the armchairs.

They had been back at Hogwarts for a week but yet Octavia knew the moment they entered the common room holding hands that they had come to an agreement, she had heard Sirius voice on a number of times that a girlfriend will just tie you done, prevent you from having fun. Sirius had a small number of occasions gone off with girls from other houses but nothing was ever said as to what happened.

"I believe they are dating, Sirius mentioned something during the break about being interested in her." Octavia also had a feeling that unless Sirius changed his mind completely that there would only be three people who knew the truth.

Octavia knew Sirius and knew that he wouldn't be as heartless as to string along the poor girl who knew the truth, she had a feeling that Sirius had asked Marlene to be in on it but she hasn't had the chance to ask Sirius yet.

"You don't care?" Lilith questioned and Octavia shook her head.

"I've said this a number of times, nothing can ever happen between Sirius and myself, regardless of what you all ever think." Octavia snapped, noticing the put out look on Lilith's face she took a deep breath and apologised.

"It's fine, I guess we all don't realise how hard it may be for the two of you at home. Moony has mentioned in the past that maybe you and Sirius were born out of obligation and not love like the rest of us, is that true?" Lilith questioned and Octavia stared at her.

She only ever voiced to Sirius the truth about her parent's lack of choice in having her, she knew that with Sirius being the eldest he was somewhat wanted, whether his parents loved him or not but Octavia knew without a shred of doubt that her parents didn't want her at all and the abuse, only meant for her was proof.

"That is how the marriage contracts work, they get given one house as a wedding gift from the parents but if they want holiday houses they need the lump sum that comes from having children. Other families, like the Blacks more so the three sisters that are Sirius' cousins sometimes have more children because the parents are in love or whatever."

"But your family has three children Snow," Lilith whispered back, not liking the look that was on Octavia's face.

"My parents didn't want me, but they had to have me. Their contract stated two pregnancies…"

"And because Alecto and Amycus are twins they count as one." Octavia nodded and it was then it all slipped.

Lilith sat there and watched as Octavia's well-constructed mask slipped slightly, there was so much hurt and pain hiding behind it and now she was truly worried for her best friend but before she could say anything else she stood up and left.

Octavia left the common room, knowing she was moments from letting more slip to Lilith then she just intended too. She had no problem letting her friends know that her parents had her out of obligation but if it lead towards them working out the truth about the abuse and that was what worried her. She couldn't let another friend no about the abuse.

She saw it on Remus' face every time they returned from a break from Hogwarts, his eyes would rake over the exposed skin as if he was looking for some sort of proof as if she was abused or not but after years of abuse she knew that her parents had always chosen places that were easily hidden away. Even Marlene gave her curious glances as if looking for the same thing, she didn't need it coming from all of her friends, even with James and his no fuss bullshit. She knew James would just be upfront about the whole thing, he would just outright ask if she was abused while at home.

"O?" the voice shocked her, she half expected Sirius to follow her but instead Marlene had.

She wiped away the tears staining her cheeks before turning and facing the other girl, "when I heard the footsteps I figured it would be Sirius following me."

Marlene gave her a small smile before stepped closer to the other girl. "He went too but I thought if you were having problems with Lilith again a girl might be a better option then Sirius."

Octavia nodded while taking a deep breath, remembering that Marlene knew the truth, whether it was all of it or not she knew about the abuse. "I just can't have any more people know about the abuse and it almost came out."

"What is the worst thing that could happen if your friends know the truth, consider me your outside party, tell me the worst."

"I'm terrified that they are going to go behind my back and tell someone, I'm terrified it's just going to make things worse at home for me. We know that my parents have connections within St Mungo's since that is how they manage to heal the worst of my injuries and we assume they have connections within the Ministry because of some of the things that get spoken about at home."

"Okay so you think that is the worst, but what happens if they did tell someone and you got pulled from your home, you will be put somewhere that would keep you safe from them."

A dark look crossed Octavia's face before she stormed out of the room, running into Sirius on the way out.

"Woah Snow slow down," Sirius spoke catching up with her.

"How about this Padfoot, you tell your girlfriend to mind her own business. She doesn't understand what it's like for us, so where did she get the idea that she can butt in where she doesn't belong?" Octavia looked at Sirius and it was then he noticed the look in her eyes.

It was the same look she had when she pushed too far, it was the darker part of her that she had gotten from her parents that rarely saw the light of day.

Sirius held up his hands and took a step back from her, unsure as to what she would say or do next.

"Just keep your girlfriend out of business that doesn't concern her," Octavia snapped at him and continued down the corridor, heading outside.

Octavia looked around, grateful that it was still snowing out so all the students would be inside where it was warm because it allowed her to make her way across the grounds and head into the Forbidden Forest without being seen.

She transformed into her wolf form and curled up in the base of a hallowed out tree, watching the snow fall.

Sirius entered the common room, hoping that was where Octavia had gone. He had stayed back with Marlene and explained what happened, hoping to get her to promise not to question Octavia on the abuse she suffers at home anymore, just to stay out of it like she wanted and Marlene agreed.

But when he spotted Lilith only sitting with James, Peter and Remus he knew that Octavia wouldn't be here because he knew that had she returned and she was up in her dorm chances are Lilith would be up there.

"You didn't follow her?" Lilith questioned and Sirius shook his head before heading up the stairs.

Moments later Marlene entered the common room and the four friends sitting on the couches shared a look, Marlene didn't look happy, neither did Sirius and now Octavia was missing.

"Can't you find her?" Lilith questioned James, knowing the Full Moon was too far away for Remus.

"I'm not a hunter in nature Lilith, I'm unsure as to if it's possible."

"But couldn't you also find your pack? Isn't Snow technically a part of your pack?"

"It's cold outside…" James whined and Peter let out a laugh.

"Please, just because she is an animal that is bred to spend time in the snow doesn't mean she will be able to spend hours out there." Lilith argued and James hung his head.

"Fine I will go find her, come on Pete you might be helpful if I can't reach her." James spoke standing up, pulling the not so eager boy with him.

Octavia couldn't see them but she caught a whiff of them, James and Peter were near and chances are they were looking for her but she was confused as to why Sirius wasn't with them, she knew that they would have a better chance to find her hiding out where she was.

She let out a howl to give them a clue as to where she was and moments later a stag with a rat resting in the antlers appeared before her.

She crawled out of the hole and stood up in front of them before transforming back, "come on let's go back inside."

"What happened?" James questioned appearing beside her with Peter on the other side.

"Just Christmas break adding up and taking its toll on me, I just wish I could spend every Christmas at Hogwarts."

"Maybe next year you can spend Christmas with me and my family, say you are staying back at Hogwarts but come home with me and my parents instead?" James questioned and Octavia gave him a smile, thinking about it maybe being a possibility.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the Great Hall, having slept in after being out late the previous night with the boys trying to figure out why there was such a large gap in the map of the Seventh floor.

Everyone had gotten over the fact that there was a Carrow in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, she was half way through her fourth year and they had gotten over it well into first year so it had been a while since everyone had stared at her entrance when she was running late…something had happened and she was terrified to think what it was.

Her body tensed up as she continued walking along the Gryffindor table looking for her friends sitting down at the furthest point from the door for a change, she hated that the eyes never left her as she walked. Even sitting down, joining her friends, they were giving her a curious glance and she then decided they knew what was going on.

"What am I missing?" she questioned as she scooped a heaping of fruit salad onto her plate, Sirius raised an eyebrow at it since she normally only had bacon and eggs, waffles on the rare chance when they appeared. "What, I'm not feeling well Padfoot." She snapped noticing the look.

"Don't give it to her," Sirius warned looking at Remus and Octavia held her hand out, giving Sirius a look that said idiot.

"Hand it over," she spoke, hand not wavering but nothing happened.

"Don't know what you are on about Snow, I'm heading up to the Owlry, my parents want a letter." Remus stood up and went to leave but it was then she caught sight of the Daily Prophet sticking out of his bag, she made a quick grab for it hoping whatever they were hiding from her.

"Snow, it's not worth it." Sirius spoke softly but she ignored him and began flipping through the Daily Prophet.

She finally found it, the article officially declaring war against Voldemort and his followers that called themselves Death Eaters. A week after they had returned to Hogwarts there was an attack on a Magical community in the deep south of England, not far from Polymouth, she had heard from her parents that it was the only community where witches and wizards lived in harmony with muggles, the only community where muggles knew the truth about their neighbours without having had to be married to them.

To Voldemort, they would have been considered the biggest blood traitors, sharing their secrets and knowledge with people beneath them.

But what shocked her were the two names mentioned in the article, the two names that had been put on the Aurors watch list.

 _1)_ _Bellatrix Lestrange_

 _2)_ _Alecto Carrow_

She looked up and locked eyes with Sirius, knowing full well that he had read this, it was why he told Remus not to hand it over.

"Why did they call her Alecto Carrow, I thought she got married." Peter questioned once noticing that Octavia had finished reading the article.

Sirius looked at Octavia, noticing that she wasn't going to speak. "Her husband may be a Pure Blood but isn't a part of the sacred family, he took the Carrow surname instead of her taking his."

"That's why everyone is staring at me, they're wondering if I'm going to be just like her." She spoke, looking around how many of them were still watching her, it was like first year all over again.

She pushed away her bowl of fruit before grabbing the bacon of Sirius' plate.

"Thought you weren't feeling well Snow?"

"Yes well now I'm feeling worse aren't I?"

Sirius fell silent but continued to keep an eye on Octavia as their friends made conversation during breakfast, Lilith leaving since she had Ancient Runes while they all had a free period this morning.

"I'm going for a fly," Octavia, cutting off what Peter had just said. She didn't even wait for a response before she stood up and left the Great Hall, while attempting to ignore the stares she was being given the small number of other fourth years that didn't have a class this period.

James piped up at the idea of getting in a fly, not caring about the cold weather outside and Peter eagerly followed him while Sirius stayed at the table a moment before getting up and following them as well.

"Professor why did Voldemort attack that village of all the magical villages first?" Fiona, one of the Ravenclaws that shared Muggle Studies with Octavia and Sirius questioned.

Previously in the class they were semi quiet working on their work, talking amongst themselves and Smith allowed it as she walked around the classroom helping them when needed.

The class was small and usually not all the seats were taken, they were well used to sitting closer to the front but what upset Octavia today was the barrier of empty seats that surrounded them. It seemed like they were all taking what was in the Daily Prophet about her sister and Bellatrix to heart, they thought both Sirius and her were going to turn out like their relatives.

Smith took a deep break, sneaking a glance at the two lone students before speaking. "For those of you who unaware of the village that was mentioned in the Daily Prophet this morning, it is located in the south of England near Polymouth. The village itself is called Lightdell Village, the Ministry knows about existence of this particular but prefer to still clear of it."

"I've heard of Lightdell, isn't that the village where both Magical and Muggle live together but with the difference compared to the rest of the magical villages is that the muggles know of our existence?" Mary, a Hufflepuff questioned.

"Yes that is correct, it is said that the muggles in that particular village know about our existence, they share our knowledge of healing properties and share their knowledge of electricity and such. None of the muggles have married our kind, instead they existence in harmony. It goes against the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy but this village has existed longer than the Statute, the muggles that live in that village belong to families that have been there for generations." Smith explained and whispers were spread throughout the classroom.

"But then why would Voldemort attack that village, it proves that muggles can be trusted."

"That's the point Fiona, that village goes against everything Voldemort believes and is trying to do. He believes that muggles are low ranking, dirty creatures. He thinks we don't deserve to stay hidden in the world, that we should be able to be out in the open."

Octavia looked at Sirius, she just explained something that they had known for a while, something their parents had told them but with a twist on it, the twist being that Voldemort was doing good, had their best interests at heart.

"But how do _you_ know that, the Daily Prophet has only just made mention of Voldemort and the fact that we are now in war with him." Robert spoke, turning around and glaring at Sirius and Octavia, knowing full well that they were of aware of what was just said.

"Because I'm not an idiot Hopkins, I'm aware that you are a bit too young understand fully as to what is happening out in the world especially while you are at Hogwarts for most of the year. Ask your parents one day, there have been attacks, disappearances, rumours that werewolves are gathering their forces. All of this has been happening for the last four years and the Ministry has turned a blind eye for the first couple and the last couple have kept quiet about it, sending Aurors out to survey the areas of attack in hopes of getting the issue under control before it became too much of an issue but now that this village has been attacked, they have no choice." Octavia listened as Smith spoke, keeping her head high and her back straight as everyone kept looking over their shoulder at her and Sirius, it was unnerving to her but she knew it would make it worse if she showed her annoyance.

"I bet those two knew all about him," Robert spoke to Henry sitting next to him, they were a couple of seats in front of Sirius and Octavia.

"Wouldn't be surprised if that's why they're in this class."

"They probably support him as well." Robert and Henry continued their hushed conversation.

Octavia sneaked a glance at Sirius and could tell he was getting angry at their comments, she placed a hand on his clenched fists under the table.

"15 points each from both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for Hopkins and Farsnet's comment on two fellow students and they will also serve detention with me this even. Class dismissed." Smith spoke and Sirius shoved everything in his bag for standing up and storming off.

Octavia ran after him, unsure as to how bad his mood will be but she needed to calm him down before he did something stupid.

Muggle Studies was the last class of their day and they had a break before Quidditch Practise which was right before dinner.

She followed Sirius into the library and it was obvious he was search for something, "what are you looking for Padfoot?"

"Something to teach Hopkins and Farsnet a lesson."

"And how are you going to do that?" she questioned but he didn't respond just continued looking through the books in front of them before pulling out the one he needed.

"Seriously, the jelly leg curse? That is the best you can come up with, after everything we've learnt from our parents and the four years at Hogwarts, that is what you can come up with." Octavia mocked before she stood up and headed further down the aisle to grab another book opened to the page she was looking forward.

"And what you are suggesting is borderline illegal," Sirius spoke and Octavia laughed.

"Speaking of illegal things Padfoot." He grinned at her and she smiled at him. "You can't honestly have a problem with this, it will be funny."

"Oh I know but the amount of trouble we will be in if we're caught, what if word reaches home?"

"Doubtful, they only know I'm taking Muggle Studies because I told them why we were staying back for Christmas last year, knew I was playing Quidditch from Amycus. They haven't heard anything about our detentions or the stuff we've pulled from McGonagall, I think you were right when she said that Pomfry thinks I'm getting abused at home and it's been extended to the rest of the staff. None of them want to send information home that could get me in trouble."

"Well then lets get cooking." Sirius grinned at her and she instantly returned it before writing down a copy of the recipe for the potion they were looking at.

It took Sirius and Octavia week to successfully brew the potion, the other's kept asking what they were brewing but they refused to respond. They hadn't heard what happened during Muggle Studies and had no idea what was bothering them.

Sirius and Octavia entered the kitchens before breakfast one morning with the potions in hand, they had no idea how the elves could detect the people they were looking for but yet they had not failed yet in successfully slipping potions into the goblets of their targets.

"Misses Carrow and Mister Black what can I do for you today?" Ellie spoke, she was their favourite house elf that worked in the kitchens because she was the easiest to convince that it will be worth it to slip something into another student's goblet.

"Do you know who Robert Hopkins and Henry Farsnet are?" Octavia spoke sweetly at the house elf.

"Hand it over," Ellie held out her hand, by now knowing the drill and knew it was better to not ask questions.

"You are the best Ellie," Octavia smiled at the elf before giving her a hug and leading Sirius out of the kitchen and up to the Great Hall so they can watch their plans come alive.

"Okay, seriously what have you two been up to?" Remus hissed at them, becoming increasingly worried at what they had done or planned to do.

It was then they heard, the sound that an elephant makes. All the students in the Great Hall were startled and when they looked around no elephant was in sight, Sirius and Octavia shared a look, guess they hadn't quiet made the potion as correctly as they wanted. Moments later a gorilla was heard.

"Don't you dare tell me you two didn't attempt to make the body changing potion?" Lilith hissed at them.

"What are you on about? There are no animals running around the Great Hall." Octavia responded sweetly and Remus rolled his eyes.

"You and I both know that when it isn't brewed correctly it only changes the person's speech, instead of talking they make animal sounds. Slughorn was talking about this specific potion last week." Remus spoke while looking around in attempts to find where the various animal sounds that were now heard within the Great Hall were coming from.

The body changing potion that Sirius and Octavia attempted to create would have transformed the drinker into an animal at random, when brewed incorrectly, like they had done, causes the drinker to make a random number of animal sounds instead. It is essentially a harmless potion but many people have died once they were transformed into animals, thus making the potion borderline illegal.

It was then Hopkins and Farsnet stood up that Remus noticed who was making the animal sounds, "don't you share Muggle Studies with those two?" he questioned, knowing that if something happened between his two friends and the other two it would have only happened in that class because the other classes they shared with the boys, whether it be together in Care of Magical Creatures or separately in the core subjects nothing had been said.

"Sure do," Sirius responded with a smirk on his face, pleased with the scene despite it not working out the way they expected it to.

"Mr Black and Miss Carrow if you could follow me please," the group of Gryffindors looked up at the sound of Smith's voice and found her standing over them, looking at the two in question with no doubt in her mind about what had just taken place.

They both stood up and followed Smith out of the Great hall, but not before he looked over his shoulder giving his friends a smirk causing them to laugh.

She led them towards her office, waving her wand confusing the two of them. "I put a silencing charm on the room so no one can overhear us."

"Why?" Sirius questioned as Smith walked over and took a seat on her desk.

"Because I certainly don't need someone to overhear this conversation. Now something tells me that since the Daily Prophet released the statement about the war against Voldemort you two have had a harder time, especially since I heard the comments Hopkins and Farsnet were saying in class that same day."

"Some of the students claim we are snakes in a lion skin," Octavia responded taking a seat, realising that this was probably the only professor who understood where they were coming from.

"And that is understandable but there is no reason to do what you did, if you and Sirius aren't careful you will alienate yourselves. No one in any house will want to be friends with you, there is no reason to act like such a Marauder." Smith scolded and the two students shared a look.

"Don't know what you are on about Professor," Sirius grinned at her and her lips became a thin line.

"I get what it's like to be discriminated because of where you come from, I understand what it's like having everyone pass judgement at you because of who your family is, don't push me away when I'm only trying to help."

"Yes but Professor, Voldemort wasn't around when you were a student, you just had the typical Slytherin issues where as we were placed in a house different to our families, we have older siblings or cousins that terrorized the students or took advantage of their position as a Prefect and we've been judged on them. I looked you up, you were the eldest of your generation, you set the standard for your siblings and cousins so no, I don't truly believe you understand where we are coming from." Octavia spoke sternly before standing up and leaving the office, Sirius quickly running after her.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Sirius spoke, looking incredibly proud at the way she stood up for herself.

Octavia shook her hands to stop the shakes that were coming through, she found this was happening the more she was going against what her body always been telling her too, stay quiet and do as told.

"The spineless girl my parents made is slowly disappearing," was all she said they made their way towards Care of Magical Creatures.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I know I am so close and cannot wait until I have that 100** **th** **review!**

 **Guest** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	42. The First Full Moon

Chapter 41: The First Full Moon

Octavia walked over and flopped down on Sirius' bed beside him, pouting at him until he noticed her.

"What Snow?" he spoke letting out a sigh, knowing she wanted something.

"Well it's a Full Moon tonight, I was thinking about maybe we just go down there later and show up as animals."

"Moony was adamant that we don't join him during a Full Moon, he is convinced he will know we're human and still hurt us." James spoke from the other side of the room.

"We've spent nights in the Forbidden Forest amongst the other animals, attempting to prove that we can handle ourselves and deal with the lack of sleep but yet he won't even give us a go. Won't us sneaking down there to spend the night with him prove we are ready?" Octavia explained, looking at the boys hoping they will agree with her.

"She has a point," Sirius joined in and Octavia grinned, glad that someone agreed with her.

"Are you forgetting how much Moony will hate you for doing this, or himself if something happens to any of you?" Lilith spoke and the rest of the group looked at her. "What you forgot I was here, or forgot that I was against this part of the plan from the beginning?" she questioned and they all looked a little sheepish but didn't respond.

"We did this to help Moony, we can't help him if we aren't out there Lilith." Octavia argued as she climbed off Sirius' bed and walked over to where she was sitting on Remus'.

"I get that but what if he hurts one of you?" she questioned and it was then they could see she was truly worried about their safety.

"Three of us are rather large animals, I'm sure us combined we could take on a werewolf if it was needed." Sirius spoke and Lilith grimly nodded.

"Fine but if something goes wrong, I had nothing to do with it." She explained before leaning over and hugging Octavia.

"We will be fine, all you have to do is cover for us." Octavia spoke softly, while hugging her best friend.

Lilith eventually trudged her way up to her dorm, worried about her friends while Peter transformed into his rat form and was carried downstairs in James' hand while him, Sirius and Octavia were attempting to cover themselves under the invisibility cloak that James owned.

They made it outside and James pulled the cloak off them knowing they would be safe outside from the Professors, all they had to do was avoid Hagrid.

"That would be so much easier if we could get the map done," Octavia complained and Sirius laughed at her.

"You still think the map is possible?"

"Well yeah, we've drawn most of it. We just have the grounds left but I think that will be easier as animals and if there are any more secret passageways within the Castle."

James placed Peter on the ground as they headed towards the Whomping Willow, stopping a safe distance from getting hit by the branches.

"Okay how do we get in?" Sirius questioned and Octavia shrugged.

"How am I meant to know, I thought you had figured that plan out?" Octavia spoke but then she spotted Peter run across the grounds actively avoiding the branches. "Wormtail stop you'll hurt yourself!" Octavia yelled out, not even realising she had used the nickname she had been successful in keeping from them.

They all watched as Peter pressed against the base of the Whomping Willow and watched as the tree movements successfully froze.

"Are we moving or not?" James questioned, causing the three of them to share a look before they also ran across the ground, entering the tunnel at the base of the Whomping Willow.

They walked through the tunnel heading towards the Shrieking Shack, this was the one pathway out of Hogwarts they had on the map with thanks to Remus, he had told them about the pathway but never told them how to get past the Whomping Willow.

Octavia froze as she heard the screams and looked over at Sirius, seeing the pained look on his knowing he was hearing the same thing.

"What do you guys hear?" James questioned, seeing the look on both of their faces.

"Moony and he's in pain," Octavia spoke while attempting to push back the tears.

She transformed into her wolf as she entered the house, turning around to face the boys.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned, noticing the tears build up in the wolf's eyes for the spilt second she was looking at him.

The boys stood there and watched as the wolf ran up the stairs and they had no choice but to transform and follow it, along with the sound of Remus in pain.

The dog and the stag made it upstairs to watch as the white wolf was throwing it's body against one of the doors in attempts to open it, the dog went over and began throwing its own body against the door to help and slowly but surely the door was broken down.

The four animals entered the room and watched as the werewolf turned and faced them, sniffing through the air not accustomed to their smells.

The werewolf stepped closer to them while Sirius and Octavia instinctively stepped forward to protect James and Peter, it didn't matter if in the wild these animals were rarely seen together, they were friends and their animal counterparts knew they were a pack.

Octavia took steps towards the werewolf, baring her teeth at him. She knew she had to get the werewolf to submit to her, or at least Sirius, knowing it will help keep the werewolf under control at a later date.

The werewolf growled at Octavia, declaring it didn't like the other wolf's presence and Sirius stepped forward but all he managed to do was cause Octavia to turn around and growl at him.

She threw herself at the werewolf, succeeding in knocking him to the ground but it wasn't long until she was pinned to the ground and the werewolf was snapping at her. She was startled when the werewolf was thrown off of her and into the wall.

The night continued this way with Sirius and Octavia wrestling against the werewolf known as one of their best friends, James had joined in at some point in the night trying to help calm the werewolf down while Peter sat up on the windowsill and watched the scene knowing he wouldn't be much help to the larger and stronger animals then him.

The four animals dragged themselves out of the house as the sun was coming up, having watch the werewolf collapse to the ground before he started transforming back into a human. They left the house and watched from the other side of the grounds on the edge of the Forbidden Forest to make sure that Remus made it out okay when Pomfrey arrived in the morning to bring him up to the Hospital Wing to heal his injuries.

Sirius looked over at where Octavia had fallen asleep in her wolf form waiting for Pomfrey to leave the Whomping Willow with Remus floating behind him, he walked over and nudged her with his head hoping to wake her up.

She blinked her eyes opened and he turned his head to look at where they caught sight of Pomfrey disappearing with Remus.

Octavia turned back and her whole body sagged with exhaustion, "I need my bed," she complained as the others turned back as well. "Did you sleep all night or something Pete?" she questioned noting that he didn't look as exhausted as the others or how she felt.

"Wait hang on, didn't you call him Wormtail last night?" Sirius questioned with a smirk on his face.

Octavia narrowed her eyes before walking off, "I'm going back inside." She yelled over her shoulder.

They all managed to make it back up to the Castle and up to the Gryffindor common room, grateful they didn't run into any other Gryffindors since they had no idea what state they were in.

She curled in Sirius' bed with the aim of getting some more sleep but she felt like she was only asleep for five minutes when someone began shaking her awake.

"Five more minutes," she complained rolling over hugging the warm body beside her.

"As long as Marlene doesn't come in here looking for Padfoot." Lilith spoke and Octavia shot up, Lilith had come up to the boys' dorm with the idea of waking them all up and making sure they made it to classes on time.

"Right you have a girlfriend…" she spoke softly before getting off the bed and heading over to Remus'.

Lilith noticing what she was doing grabbed her arm, "no you don't, you guys need breakfast and then we have classes. Wait, why isn't Pete trying to get more sleep?"

"Because the bloody prat slept all night while the rest of us were fighting with Moony." Octavia grumbled as she left the dorm and heading for her own, hoping that a hot shower will help wake her up a bit more.

They were all shocked when they entered History of Magic, the class they had just before lunch, when they saw Remus sitting in his usual seat waiting for them. Normally in the past Remus would be missing from classes the whole day after the Full Moon since he was in the Hospital Wing having his wounds tended too but they were always able to visit him during the lunch period, but he was released, early at that.

They all took their seats surrounding Remus and he looked at them before shaking his head.

"What are you doing out so early?" Lilith whispered as Binns began teaching them.

"Pomfrey stated how my injuries were so minimal that she didn't need to do much, all I needed was some sleep which I'm assuming is what those three need." Remus looked at Octavia next to him where she had placed her head on the desk.

He pulled her hair away from her neck to look at the scratch that was hiding underneath her hair and a gasp came from Lilith.

"How did you know that was there?" she questioned and Octavia opened one eye.

"Because he remembers everything that happened last night, it's also why he hasn't asked why we are so tired or why his wounds were minimal. Before you ask, Padfoot scratched me." Octavia explained before closing her eye and pulling her hair back over her neck to cover up the wound.

"I didn't know you would remember everything?" she questioned, watched as the rest of their friends got some more sleep.

"You've never asked and I've never told, Snow probably read up on it when she was trying to figure out how to help me."

Remus looked over at Lilith and noticed the trouble look on his face, "don't look like that Lil, I've been dealing with this for years and I'm used to it. I'm incredibly grateful to have friends like you and even more grateful to have friends like those idiots who were willing to risk their lives just to make mine easier." He placed a hand on hers, grateful that the rest were asleep and wouldn't be able to hear or see him and Lilith.

"You aren't mad?" she questioned.

Remus looked over at his sleeping friends and smiled slightly, "I want to be so mad at them for doing what they did but when I woke up this morning I felt fine, it was the first time I've ever woken up pain free the following morning and I only have them to thank." Remus looked back over at Lilith, completely missing the small smile that appeared on Octavia's face.

.oOo.

The fourth year Gryffindors were currently sitting in Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Hufflepuff Students waiting for Professor Banks to enter, he was currently five minutes late for class and this was usual for him. He was always late to class, five minutes was actually early for him and when he did manage to turn up you could always smell the Fire Whiskey that surrounded him like a cloud of smoke.

The group of friends were laughing at Sirius who was completely confused as to why Marlene wasn't happy with him at the moment.

Octavia and Lilith knew what Sirius had done to anger his girlfriend, while Remus suspected it but James and Peter had no idea, just found the whole thing funny.

Octavia still had no idea as to if the relationship between Marlene and Sirius was real or not since she hasn't had the chance to question him but either way the two of them were happy with whatever they had going on and that's all that matter to her.

"Seriously, I don't understand what I did wrong, all I was doing was talking to Katie." Sirius complained and Octavia and Lilith burst into a fit of giggles.

"Katie is hot," James spoke with a grin on his face and Sirius' face fell.

"That's why isn't it? Because I was speaking to Katie?" the two girls nodded.

"All the guys in Hogwarts talk about how hot she is and your girlfriend doesn't appreciate you talking with her, you were practically flirting with her." Octavia explained before laughing at the look on his face once again.

Sirius didn't get the chance to say anything as the door opened revealing Banks and he entered the classroom heading towards the front.

A few of the students choked on the smell that was following him since it was his usual Fire Whiskey cloud lingering around as he walked past them.

"Alright everyone, quiet, quiet. Open your books to page 187." He snapped and all you could hear was a rustling of pages.

Banks might always be late and smelt like Fire Whiskey but he had no problem removing House Points for the smallest of things, even the group of Gryffindors were afraid to play up in class since after the first week they had lost Gryffindor all of the house points they had so far.

"Werewolves…" Octavia whispered looking over at where Remus was sitting in front of her with James and Peter.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Sirius responded looking over back at her.

"Banks is probably drunk again and he is the worst teacher we've had, he's pathetic, a lot could happen. What if he lets slip that Moony is one?" she responded and it was then realisation filled Sirius.

"Who can tell me about Werewolves?" Banks slurred his words.

"Werewolves are someone who has the ability to change into a wolf during a Full Moon." Loral responded and Octavia rolled her eyes, still to this day Octavia couldn't stand Loral.

"Yes, well sort of. They have the ability to change during a Full Moon but they can't change at will, why is that?"

"Because for a witch or wizard to have the ability to transform into an animal at will is if they are an Animagus, a werewolf is forced to turn during the Full Moon." Evans responded and Octavia shared a knowing look with Sirius.

"Correct, who can tell me more about the werewolf condition itself instead of the transformation?"

"Despite the many misconceptions about werewolves they actually have no control over their bodies during the Full Moon, they could be placed in front of their best friend and kill them without knowing any better." Octavia spoke, trying her hardest to not look at Remus.

"And yet you're still here," Banks muttered to himself but Octavia and Sirius heard him anyway because of their advanced hearing.

The rest of the class went this way, Banks asking questions and the students answering all while he made barely audible rude comments that he thought no one could hear.

Sirius and Octavia were even unsure as to if Remus could hear him or not since it seemed like he wasn't even bothered the comments.

"How the hell does a Professor get away with saying that?" Octavia spoke, disgust showing on her face and Remus looked at her for a moment before turning back ahead of him.

"It's the way it always is Snow, not everyone is as accepting as you all are when it comes to the condition. There is a high chance that he isn't the only Professor that has had an issue with me but he is the only one that has said something like that in class, he probably thought I was the only one that could hear him remember no one knows about you two."

"What's going on?" Lilith questioned, seeing the disgust and hatred on Sirius and Octavia's faces while Remus looked hurt.

"Professor Banks was making snide comments throughout the class as if no one could hear him, he even made a comment about us still being alive." Sirius explained, looking at Octavia.

"No Padfoot, his comment was 'yet you're still here'. He said that to me after I said werewolves could be placed in front of their best friend and kill them not knowing any better." Octavia spoke and Remus turned around to give her a small smile.

"I would hate myself if anything ever happened to any of you, it's why I never wanted you to do what you did." Remus spoke receiving grins from James and Sirius.

"But we did it anyway." James started.

"Exactly, you're family Moony."

"Padfoot is right, we will always risk our lives for the people we consider family." Octavia smiled at him as he walked over and hugged her.

"I'm glad, now come on we have Care of Magical Creatures." Remus pulled away from her and they nodded, heading downstairs.

When they made it down to the edge of the Forbidden Forest where Professor Kettleburn took their class Octavia let out a gasp before hitting Sirius over the chest in excitement.

"Jeez calm down Snow." Sirius complained rubbing his chest where she had hit him, still surprised to this day about the arm she had on him.

"But Padfoot…" she whined.

"What's going on?" Lilith questioned catching up to the other two.

"I'll tell you what's going on, Lilith and Snow are going to be complete girls because of the unicorn down there." Sirius spoke, earning a groan from James while Lilith looked completely thrilled at the idea and grabbed Octavia's hand and pulled her towards the group.

"Who knows Padfoot, you might learn something to improve things with Marlene." James teased as the boys headed down the hill joining the group.

The boys' joined the other students that were taking the class, following the actions of the rest of the class. The girls were standing at the front of the group while the boys were further behind, not entirely thrilled at the idea of learning about unicorns like the girls were.

"Normally when it's time for you to learn about unicorns in this class I typically don't have an example, who would like to explain why?" Kettleburn questioned.

All the girls raised their hands while a couple of the boys rolled their eyes.

Kettleburn pointed at Lilith, "that is because adult unicorns are untrusting of the male population, they prefer a women's touch and since you are a male you would have trouble getting a unicorn up here for the class."

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor. A foul, much like this is pure gold in colour and are more trusting of the male gender. Hagrid, our grounds keeper, generally keeps an eye on some of the rarer animals and informed me of the foul that was among the herd and I asked if he could bring the foul up here. Hagrid is the only male I've heard of being trusted by adult unicorns. You can step forward and pet the unicorn, just be careful not to crowd around her and scare her off."

"I thought unicorns where white?" Emery from Ravenclaw spoke up.

"That is correct, now for today's assignment. I would like a drawing of the unicorn in front of us as well as a list of things that unicorns are useful for as well as explain as to why this foul is gold in colour while most unicorns are typically white." Kettleburn explained some of the basic properties that they should have already known about before getting them to move and making a start on the drawing.

Sirius made his way over to where Octavia and Lilith were standing, "Snow…" he attempted to speak sweetly to her but she just laughed.

"I'm not helping you, do it yourself Padfoot." She spoke as she pulled Lilith closer to the unicorn.

"Looks like someone is in the doghouse with both girlfriends," James teased and Sirius didn't look too happy.

"Where is the doghouse?" Peter questioned, completely confused by James' comment.

"It was a joke Wormtail," Remus patted him on the back before walking off to start the work for that class.

"But what two girlfriends?" he questioned, not receiving a response.

Ever since Octavia had let slip Peter's nickname they had all been using it, slowly getting accustomed to each other's nicknames.

Classes had finished for the day and Octavia was sitting on her bed in her dorm, she had no idea where Blake and Evans were and Lilith was at choir practise. She looked up at the sound of the knocking on the door, trying to decide if it was worth getting up for.

She eventually got up when the knocking continued and found Marlene standing on the other side, she stepped aside opening the door more. "What's he done now?" she spoke and Marlene laughed before entering the dorm.

"Nothing that I'm aware off, has he told you?" she questioned as she walked over taking a seat at the end of the bed she assumed was Octavia's by the open books on it.

"And that is something that could get me into a lot of trouble, how about we assume I know what you're on about and you tell me," Octavia spoke joining her on the bed.

"The fake relationship?"

"Ah, well no he hadn't told me but I assumed as such so tell me, are you actually mad that he was talking to Katie?"

"Sort of, I made a bigger deal out of it because it's something that would have bothered a real girlfriend. I'm mad because he was the one that wanted this but yet he does that, it won't work if he's doing stuff like that."

"You should tell him he had no idea what he did wrong."

"I'm thinking about it, I'm also curious to see what he can do as an apology."

"I like the idea of that," Octavia grinned and Marlene let out a laugh as the door opened revealing Blake.

"Wow, someone is actually in the dorm." Blake spoke and Octavia rolled her eyes.

"Wow, look someone was actually leaving the dorm," she snapped before grabbing Marlene's hand and pulling her from the dorm.

"Is she always so nice?" Marlene joked.

"Oh she is a blast, the best roommate ever." Octavia spoke, sarcasm lacing her voice and Marlene laughed.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Octavia will eventually go to the Potters, but for now, no.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. So close now, yes Octavia is getting stronger as the story goes and she will continue to get stronger until she reaches her peak.**


	43. Relationship Secrets

Chapter 42: Relationship Secrets

Two more Full Moons passed without incident before the group of friends decided that it would be safe to let the werewolf out of the Shrieking Shack, deciding that between the large animal forms that James, Sirius and Octavia had they would be able to control and keep him in the Forbidden Forest.

The werewolf was safely locked back in the Shrieking Shack just in time for the sun to rise and the other animals were quickly out before someone could spot them.

They headed back into the Forbidden Forest where they had left Octavia in her wolf form, they noticed something wasn't right with her but they couldn't do anything, they were pushed for time.

They entered the clearing and found Octavia still lying on the ground whimpering, both James and Sirius turned back into their human form and walked over to her.

"Snow are you alright?" Sirius questioned as he kneeled in front of the wolf.

"Can you turn back Snow?" James questioned and moments later Peter was kneeling beside them as well, attempting to catch his breath.

The wolf looked at the two of them and shook its head the best it could, Sirius looked at James before patting her head.

"We have to turn her back." Sirius stated and James was shocked.

"You want to force her back?"

"Yes, we've done it with Worms. Why not with Snow?"

"Because she's obviously in pain, she can't walk Pads."

"What else are we meant to do with her Prongs? She's injured and we don't know how bad it is while she's in her wolf form."

James was silent as he looked at Snow, it was obvious she was in pain, the wolf was whimpering.

"Alright fine, let's turn her back."

The three of them stood up and pointed their wands at her and it was moments later she was herself and a scream came from her as she shifted back.

"Snow what's wrong?" Sirius rushed to her as he noticed her fall to the ground but she bit her lip and shook her head.

"No don't touch me, please." She stuttered out while holding in her screams before adjusting her arm to make it more comfortable.

"What happened?"

"I've got no idea, one minute we're all fighting and then the next thing I know I'm shoved into the tree awkwardly and my shoulder is dislocated."

"Fuck, what are we doing to do? How do we explain to Pomfrey what we were doing in the middle of the night, on a full moon no less, to explain her shoulder?"

"Do you think Lilith will know something?" Sirius questioned and they both looked back at Octavia to find her sitting on the ground resting against a tree, on the verge of tears.

"How do we even wake her up, we can't get up the stairs,"

"Broom," Octavia muttered, not being able to say much more, unsure as to if she'll start crying again.

"Brilliant," Sirius grinned at her before running off with James hot on his heels while Peter walked over to where she was sitting.

"Are you going to be alright?" Peter questioned and Octavia just narrowed her eyes, unsure as to why he was asking such a stupid question. "Right sorry," he muttered before scattering off after James and Sirius.

"Snow!" Octavia was shaken awake by Sirius and she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from screaming out again. "I'm sorry, but you weren't responding." He spoke as he pulled away and she nodded, looking around noticing it was just him and Lilith out here this time.

"What the hell happened to her?" Lilith questioned walking over to get a better look at Octavia.

"We were fighting and she got slammed into a tree, can you help her?" Sirius spoke while taking a seat on the ground amongst them all.

"I can't do healing spells, I haven't even looked at them and don't pay attention to when dad has performed them at home."

"Then what do we do?"

"My only guess would be if Snow can deal with the pain, hide out here for a bit and then get her up to the Hospital Wing and say you hit her with a Bludger or something."

"Pomfrey will kill me for hitting her with a Bludger," Sirius muttered before looking at Octavia. "It's the best we can do, can you wait it out?"

"I have no choice, do I?" Octavia spoke softly before squeezing her eyes shut and resting her head back against the tree.

"Come on Snow, lets get you to the Hospital Wing." Octavia opened her eyes at the sound of Sirius' voice, she had been drifting in and out over the last hour or two due to the pain.

She nodded and stood up, becoming increasingly dizzy the longer she was standing up.

"Woah, it'll be alright, just one step at a time." Sirius spoke softly as he wrapped an arm around her waist to help her walk up the Hospital Wing.

"Where's Lilith?" She questioned noticing that the other girl was no longer around anymore.

"Went back to the common room, it would look a bit odd if she came to the Hospital Wing with us since she doesn't play Quidditch, we won't be able to explain as to why she was up so early." Octavia just nodded in response, waiting for the moment they reached the Hospital Wing so she can have some pain potions.

But luck wasn't on her side today, "O!" Regulus called out noticing them both walking across the Entrance Hall towards the stairs.

"Just bloody great," Sirius muttered causing Octavia to elbow him in the side with her uninjured arm.

"Play nice Pads," her voice was low and a sound of annoyance left him before Regulus stood in front of them both.

"What happened?" he questioned, noticing the strangeness surrounding Octavia.

"We were out playing Quidditch and I hit her with a Bludger." Sirius explained and they both watched as Regulus looked at Octavia with concern, unsure as to whether or not he should believe his brother.

"This early in the morning?" he questioned.

"We couldn't sleep," Octavia threw in, hoping to get the questions to stop.

"Exactly now if you haven't noticed she's in pain and needs to get up to the Hospital Wing, or are you cold hearted?" Sirius snapped and something washed over Regulus' face for a moment before his mask appeared on his face.

"Of course, feel better O." with that Regulus walked off, heading towards the Great Hall while Sirius continued to help her up the stairs.

Octavia was grateful when she was finally in the Hospital Wing and Pomfrey fixed her shoulder without too many questions, believing the Quidditch story they had come up. She looked towards the back of the Hospital Wing and noticed shades around one of the beds and knew instantly that Remus was behind there.

"Mr Lupin is perfectly fine, he will be released at lunch after a few hours' sleep. You may leave but if the pain returns come and see me so I can have a look." Octavia nodded and climbed off the bed, going to leave with Sirius but not without sneaking another look at where Remus was behind the shades.

"He is asleep Miss Carrow, you will see him when he is released later today." Pomfrey spoke sternly and Sirius placed a hand Octavia's arm.

"Come on Snow, we will see him later like we always do." Sirius carefully tugged on her arm in attempts to get her to start walking out of the room.

"You feeling better now?" he questioned once the two of them were out of the Hospital Wing.

"It doesn't hurt as much and I can at least move my arm properly," Octavia responded as an arm came around her shoulder from someone on the other side and Octavia tried hard to not hiss out in pain.

"Wouldn't want you not be able to play in your match against Slytherin now would we love?" Octavia pulled away from the arm and looked up at Mason Turner, giving him a small smile.

"I'll see you later Snow," Sirius walked off, Octavia scrunched her face up in confusion as to why he walked off like he did.

"You alright love?" Mason questioned and Octavia looked up at him and smiled.

Mason and Octavia shared greetings and pleasantries when they passed each other in the corridor or shared a class but it wasn't until this year when Ravenclaw and Gryffindor shared Charms class that they actually began talking more between them. It was also in the last month that Mason had begun to show interest in her, they did have plans to go on a date to Hogsmeade the weekend after Valentine's Day but she ended up being stuck in detention with Sirius and James instead.

She can't even recall how she ended up being dragged down for the prank that the two of them had pulled on Snape and Avery, she just happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time and got placed in detention as well and had to reschedule the date with Mason, he agreed and claimed it was fine after four and a half years of seeing her and the two others always land in detention for various things.

"Yes, I'm fine. My shoulder is just a little sore, Sirius hit me with a Bludger this morning when we went out to play Quidditch because we couldn't sleep." She smiled up at him as he moved around the other side of her and put an around her that way in attempts to not put any pressure on her shoulder.

"That would explain why you are coming from the Hospital Wing, did Pomfrey give you a pain potion as well?"

"No, I have a mild allergic reaction to them and only take them in extreme cases."

"Must be pretty mild if you still take them though love."

"They just make me extremely tired, I think the worst I've been is sleeping on and off was for close to 48 hours when I was eight, I fell down the staircase at home." Octavia explained, hoping he wouldn't question it more because she didn't know how far this lie could go when she was actually pushed down them by her mother.

"Well, have you fall down any of the large number of staircases at Hogwarts?" Mason spoke with a hint of a smile on his face and she knew he was teasing her.

"No, I guess I grew out of my clumsiness but I am hungry so I will see you later?" she questioned with a soft smile and he nodded.

Mason shocked Octavia when he leaned down and softly pressed his lips against hers before pulling away and entering the Great Hall.

"Did I just witness what I think I did?" Octavia turned at the sound of Lilith's voice and saw her heading her way, glad she wasn't with the rest of their friends.

"You mean Mason kissing me then yes, I didn't even expect him too since we haven't even had that first date yet."

"Well we have a Hogsmeade weekend coming up and who said you need a Hogsmeade weekend to have a date?" Lilith questioned with a smile on her face.

"You're only saying that because Padfoot and Marlene keep disappearing."

"But you have to admit they're kind of cute together."

"Who are cute together?" they both turned around and found Sirius and Marlene walking hand in hand towards them.

Octavia wondered where he went, she assumed he ran into Marlene since there was no way he could have made it up to the Gryffindor Common room and back in the small amount of time he was gone.

"It doesn't matter, I'm hungry," Octavia spoke as she turned on her heel and entered the Great Hall.

She hated that she was lying to her friends, she wish she didn't know the truth about the relationship between Marlene and Sirius. She knew the only reason they disappeared was because it made students believe that something was happening without anything actually happening and it limited the amount of affection done in public, she doesn't even understand how Marlene agreed to this.

She walked over and sat down next to James giving him a small smile.

"Feeling better?"

"Much, I was thinking maybe we should look into Healing spells so if something like this happens again we don't have to go to the Hospital Wing. Over time it will look suspicious."

"Good thinking Snow, you should get started on that." Octavia narrowed her eyes at James before hitting him over the back of his head.

"Don't be such a prat, you need to learn these as well." James just shrugged in response and continued on with his breakfast.

Sirius and Lilith joined them shortly and they all fell into a silence, it was only the last few weeks that the other friends noticed how things were becoming tense between Sirius and Octavia. No one had witnessed an argument between the pair and they were still talking like usual but it was as if they weren't spending any moments alone anymore, it was odd and no one knew what was happening.

"Why can't we have History of Magic first up so we can sleep?" James complained and Octavia laughed.

"Oh come on you have Divination, you and Worms will probably sleep anyway where as Padfoot and I have Muggle Studies, Smith will give us a detention at the first sign of us drifting off."

"Says the girl who actually got a couple of hours this morning waiting until we could head to the Hospital Wing."

"Yes because it would have been so easy for us to walk straight into the Hospital Wing at the crack of dawn with my dislocated shoulder, I can just imagine Pomfrey's face. She will probably think we snuck down to the Shrieking Shack in the middle of the night to check on Moony, from there she will probably tell Dumbledore and then chances are a Professor will be put on the Shrieking Shack every month and how will we get down there to help him." Octavia snapped at him.

"Snow…" he warned her and she placed her face in her hands.

"Sorry Pads," she mumbled her apology.

"It's fine, we should probably get going anyway, come on." Octavia stood up and walked down the length of the table, looking away when she caught sight of Sirius quickly giving Marlene a kiss as they were leaving.

"Alright what's going on?" Sirius questioned as soon as they were out of the Great Hall.

"Are we doing the right thing by dating other people to get our parents off our backs? I know you've got that agreement with Marlene but that looks like a real relationship to me, how much does she actually know and how will it end?"

"I told her why I want a girlfriend, I told her I want one in attempts to convince our parents we are just friends, I also told her I want a fake relationship without actually having to put effort into a real relationship, it's why we spend so much time in an empty classroom. Every now and then she throws in the arguments because I do something stupid to prove that we are actually dating since most of what we do is only holding hands in public with the odd kiss here and there and Marlene has the choice to end it when she wants."

"Aren't you worried about hurting her?" she questioned softly.

"Probably less worried then you are about hurting Mason."

Octavia took a deep breath and looked at her best friend, "I hate lying to our friends, I could actually see myself being happy with Mason but it could never go anywhere because any word of it being serious and I will get in trouble, and it's worse because he's a Muggleborn." She whispered the last part and Sirius stopped walking and looked at her.

"I thought…"

"So did I, I thought he was a half-blood as well but nope he is Muggle-born, the only reason he knows so much is because his Aunt by marriage was a witch as well."

"This could end so badly for you Snow."

"I know this Pads and that's what terrifies me, at the moment it's just rumours and speculation about what's going on but he kissed me this morning and all we need is one of the Slytherins to send something home about me kissing someone and all they need is someone to say he's a Muggleborn and my summer break turns to shit."

"You know Marlene thinks you're mad at her for this whole fake relationship?" Sirius spoke, hoping to change the topic since he was unsure as to what to say in response and he was glad when she laughed.

"You know Lilith said something about how they all think we're fighting again or something." She smiled at him as he barked out a laugh.

"We both know why we're pulling away and we hate it but we have to, we need the Slytherins to send home that we aren't as close, that I'm spending more time with the boys and Marlene while you spend more time with Lilith alone and hopefully at least a half-blood more than you do me."

"I know Pads, we're doing this to protect me, we're doing this because you can't protect me if you aren't allowed to visit and we're doing this because you don't want to leave me alone with my parents again."

"You know what we need?"

"Better parents?" she responded without a second thought, he looked at her for a moment before shaking his head.

"Well yes but I meant right now, I think we should find some snakes and take our anger on them."

"Sounds good to me, maybe we can plan it during Muggle Studies."

"Speaking of which, we should get going." Sirius responded and Octavia nodded as the two of them continued down the corridor before entering the classroom and finding their seats.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more. I'm so close to 100 reviews and I would love to wake up in the morning with notifications stating I have received my 100 reviews.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I couldn't help myself with the doghouse comment, it does come again in the future as well.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes Hagrid is crazy, I'm surprised that Norbert didn't kill him, but I suppose that is the giant blood coming out in him.**


	44. The One Eyed Witch

Chapter 43: The One Eyed Witch

"You and Sirius have 10 days detention?" Octavia looked up from the book in her lap and found Frank hovering over her, fuming.

"Huh, guess someone dobbed on me." she looked back down at the book, knowing full well that McGonagall would have said something to him about both her and Sirius not being able to attend training for the next few days when he put his practise time slots with her.

"Why didn't you or Sirius tell me this? Why did I have to hear this from McGonagall?" he questioned and Octavia sighed before closing the book and looked up at him.

"Probably because she bet us to it, is that good enough? Sirius and I got given the 10 days detention yesterday, you probably saw McGonagall this morning."

Frank took a deep breath before taking a seat beside her on the couch, "10 days without a Beater and my Seeker. Why O? What was so important that you had to pull that gave you that many detentions?" Frank questioned but Octavia smirked.

After her and Sirius' conversation before a Muggle Studies class about how Mason was actually a Muggleborn and she was terrified of what was going to happen, they planned their prank against the Slytherins. It took them a week to finally play out the prank but it backfired, they didn't expect one of the seventh years to be sneaking back into the common room, spotting them in the process.

It wasn't 10 days detention for the one thing, no it was a combination of things adding up to 10 days. They also have a week to hand over the antidote for what they did to the Slytherin students otherwise they will have another three days added on top, except they didn't brew it the original potion.

"Well if we weren't caught…" she smiled at him innocently and he shook his head.

"You taught Lilith that look and I'm not happy about it." He snapped and Octavia rolled her eyes.

"Our last match is ages away, there is nothing stopping me from going out to the pitch during my free periods and running drills with the practise Snitch and Sirius, come on you and I both know he won't slack when it comes to his training."

"That's not the point and you know it, you and Sirius messed up and landed in detention for 10 days. You'll be lucky if I don't kick you off the team for it, being on the Quidditch team is a privilege and it's a privilege that can be revoked Octavia."

Octavia kept her face calm and shrugged, showing that she didn't care either way when she actually did.

"Damn it O, I see it on you every day how you are trying to prove you are nothing like the sister they are writing about in the Daily Prophet but you, showing you don't care about Quidditch when I know you do is a step in the wrong direction." She looked away from Frank and back down at the book in her lap not saying anything.

She could feel her anger boiling within her and her magic surging, it was something that was happening more and more lately, ever since that article that first listed Alecto as a Death Eater. The surge of magic within her kept reminding her that she needs to get back onto practising her wandless magic, more specifically controlling water.

"I get it O, I'm an outsider and know nothing about your home life, your closer with my sister then you are with me and that's fine but I've seen and heard of some of the things that Alecto has done both within and outside of Hogwarts as well as the things Amycus has done within Hogwarts but you are nothing like them, regardless of the stunts you pull on the other students. You are a kind, caring and warm hearted person who doesn't care for blood status, just remember that." Frank patted her arm before getting up and leaving.

"My brother is peeved…I feel sorry for whatever idiot pissed him off." Lilith spoke as she sat down next to Octavia.

"You're looking at said idiot…" Octavia looked up and Lilith laughed.

"What did you and Padfoot do and don't say nothing, we all know you two were up to something and Prongs is sulking because he was left out."

"He was also left out on 10 days detention for getting caught."

"Ouch," Lilith winced knowing full well how angry Frank would be and the fact that they got caught, so she could imagine the lecture from McGonagall.

"Yeah no kidding, we didn't expect that one of the Slytherins had snuck out after curfew and was sneaking back in as we were sneaking out, it went downhill from there. McGonagall gave a number of detentions for a number of things and they added up to 10."

"Being out after curfew, being in another houses' common room, setting up a prank on other students."

"Yep, pretty much we also have three days to hand over the antidote as to why we currently have four sixth year Slytherins hiding in their dorm room because they have constantly growing hair, colour changing skin and pimple covered faces."

"Then hand over the antidote."

"We didn't brew the potion, we ordered it and can't tell them what was in the potion."

"Tell them you ordered it then." Lilith responded like it wasn't a big deal but Octavia shook her head.

"Sirius and I would rather take more detentions then lose the ability to order things that we may need in the future, if our mail starts getting checked before we receive it then we can't order potion ingredients for things without being questioned."

"What could you honestly need to order things for?"

"Well we may want to leave little surprises for Snivellus in the future." Lilith shook her head noticing the smirk on her Octavia's face. "I'm going to meet the boys, Prongs mentioned something about finding something on the third floor, you coming?" Octavia stood up throwing the book on the table, since it wasn't hers in the first place, it was just one of the regular rotating novels that stayed in the common room for all to read.

"Nah, you go ahead." She looked back the other girl, examining her.

"You alright?"

"Yeah fine, I told Alice I would join her and the other sixth years for the girl stuff you hate so much." Lilith grinned and Octavia laughed.

"You have fun with that."

Octavia headed towards the one eyed statue on the third floor that James was talking about and found the boys waiting there for her.

"About time Snow," James complained and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh I'm sorry I got held up by an incredibly annoyed Quidditch Captain because Padfoot and I have 10 days' worth of detentions."

"You what!" Remus spoke, sounding incredibly shocked at that comment. They had all suspected that Octavia and Sirius had pulled something but they had no idea they had been busted for it.

"Oh shush Moony, you're acting like we haven't gotten detention before. Now Prongs what are we looking at?" Octavia questioned, looking at the statue wondering why they were standing around it.

"Listen to this," James walked over and rapped his knuckles on the hump and the noise it made indicated that it was in fact hallow on the inside.

"No way," she exclaimed and when she looked at the rest of the boys it was obvious they had already spoken about this when they were waiting for her. "So have you figured out how to open it?"

"Yeah I have actually but we decided it's so much more fun to stand around here in the empty corridor," he replied sarcastically and she rolled her eyes before walking over and hitting him across the arm.

"Smartass."

"Do you have any ideas?" Sirius questioned and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Is that honestly why you all told me about this? In hopes that I know how to open that?" she spoke and they could all hear the anger in her voice.

"You're better at Charms then us Snow, we thought you may know something that may help us open this or to reveal the password."

"How do you even know it's a magical lock not just something you have to push or pull the right way?" she questioned as she walked over to the statue and inspected it herself.

It wasn't until she placed her hand on the hump that she felt it, "woah…"

"What is it Snow?" Peter questioned, they were all watching her with curiosity.

"You all touched this and felt nothing?" she questioned pulling her hand away, they all nodded in agreement and she fell silent for a moment before placing her hand back on the hump. "It's hard to explain but it's like I can feel the magic, I can't tell you how to open it but I definitely know there is magic protecting whatever is on the other side."

"So there must be a way to open it?" Remus questioned and she nodded.

"If I can feel the magic then there must be a magical way to remove the magic so we can get through, its similar to what I feel when someone has wards up to prevent people from entering or hearing a conversation." She spoke and they nodded, before looking at the statue again.

The first time she felt the wards was Christmas Break, her parents had on more than one occasion put wards up around the study of the summer home where they stayed for the break preventing anyone from entering or overhearing their conversation. At first she was shocked by the discovery but it wasn't until Alecto had walked past and explained what their parents had done.

"Have you tried Alohomora?" Peter questioned and James nodded.

"That was the first thing I tried but it didn't do anything."

"That would be because there is no door Prongs so technically there is no lock on there because if it's anything it's a passage way. That's it!" Octavia spoke before she turned on her heel rushing back down the corridor with the idea of heading to the library.

"What did you work out Snow?" James questioned as they all caught up with her.

"Snow's got the 'I've got a brilliant idea but I need you all to fuck off look'," Sirius remarked and a smirk appeared on her face.

"Not necessarily, I've just got an idea but I can't remember the spell, it might not even work, I just remember reading it in passing."

"I swear you read a book once and you remember the information." Remus complained and she stopped walking and looked at him before looking at Sirius.

"Not always, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts I have to read a couple of times to understand but Charms, you don't think?"

"That you remember the information easier because you're a Dreamer?" Sirius questioned and she nodded.

"It's possible since her wandless spells are all Charms and we think that's what she specialised in but the Animagus transformation, you remembered that process." Remus point out her remember her being able to recite the process every time someone questioned what was next.

"That's because I read it over and over again, I wanted to make sure I understood the process 100% so we didn't make a mistake and end up seriously hurt. I spent months studying what I could of that transformation so none of us got hurt, that we managed to complete mistake free. We were brewing potions way beyond our own skill level, we could have poisoned ourselves, do you really think I'll do something like that without reading over it a few times." Octavia explained and James walked over and put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close, noticing that she was getting herself worked up over it.

"And we are grateful that you did so much to make sure we didn't end up injured or poisoned." James spoke quietly and Octavia nodded against him.

"I'm grateful as well Snow, that you all risked so much for me." Remus put in and she gave him a smile.

"Anything for friends, now let's find this charm I have stuck in my head."

The five of them spent the next couple of hours in the library searching for what Octavia thought she knew, Peter and James had more than once given up and laid on the floor in the corner where they were hiding before someone threw something at them and they got back to work.

It was no secret that Remus and Octavia had a better grade average than the others and that was because they put the most work into their research, Sirius was used to researching because he was constantly trying to find something to help Octavia and the fact that she is a Dreamer while James and Peter, well they found studying and research to be completely boring.

"Is this it?" James questioned as he handed the book over allowing Octavia to read the passage.

 _Dissendium  
This spell reveals the opening of a secret passage way, it is a simple spell where all the wanting witch or wizard has to do is tap the suspecting secret passage way with their wand saying 'Dissendium' and if there is in fact secret passage way there it will open up, but if it doesn't chances are a password is required._

"That's it, it should open the passage way as long as there is no password on it but if there is well then we're screwed." She replied as placed the book down on the table and walking down the stacks, when she realised that the boys weren't following her she looked over her shoulder at them. "You coming or what? If this works and that is a passage way, chances are it gets us off the grounds." She grinned at them and laughed as they all quickly rushed over before slowing down as they walked past Madam Prince.

"Snow would you like to do the honours?" Remus spoke once they were all standing around the one eyed witch and it had cleared out.

"Prongs found it, he should do it." She smiled at James as a smile appeared before he stepped forward.

"Dissendium," he tapped the statue with his wand and stepped back, they all stood there and watched as the panel on the hump disappeared revealing an entrance hole.

James stepped forward and jumped in, "it's rather dark in here…" they heard his voice but couldn't see him.

"Wait, I want to try something." Octavia spoke out as she stepped forward and entered the hole. "Lumos," she spoke holding her hands out and nothing happened, she knew it was a long shot.

She wondered if she was able to create a ball of light in her hands since it was a charm and apart of her Dreamer ability but she also knew that until she managed to control water, she would struggle to do the rest.

"Well that was pointless, Lumos." James muttered before the light appeared, just in time to see the glare on her face.

They heard laughs from out in the corridor before the rest appeared behind Octavia, moments later all five wands had light coming from them so they could see the path ahead of them.

"Seriously how long is this bloody thing," Sirius grumbled and Octavia laughed, she wanted to turn around and face him but after the first ten minutes into their exploration of the tunnel Remus and Sirius carefully swapped positions so Remus was standing in between them.

"You could have waited at Hogwarts, the tunnel under the Whomping Willow is pretty long as well. Just calm down Padfoot." Remus spoke, before an argument could break out between the two of them.

He might not have seen whatever happened between Sirius and Octavia but he like the rest of their friends knew something was up, knew something was going because those two weren't hanging out alone as much as they used and they were butting heads more often than not and he was worried, he also knew if he questioned what was going on would they say nothing like they normally do.

They all heard a thud and then seconds later James complained, "ouch." They all laughed realising that James must have hit his head on something.

"Don't be such a baby Prongs and see what you hit your head on, you're blocking the path." Octavia spoke, but she quickly lost her footing when James quickly stood up and turned around to face her, startling her.

Remus managed to catch her without sending both of them tumbling down the stairs taking Sirius and Peter out with them, "We're standing on stairs Prongs, the last thing we need is for someone to fall down them." Remus warned.

"Sorry," James apologised before turning back around and look up at the roof where he hit his head.

"Can you see anything?" Peter questioned.

"Yeah but there's no handle," James complained and Octavia stepped forward, standing directly behind him.

"Then try pushing it, I would but I'm too short." She responded, scaring him causing him to hit his head on the roof causing them all to laugh at the action. "That was too easy Prongs."

"Okay seriously, do I have to put the three of you in a time out?" Remus questioned and they all snickered, which quickly stopped at the sound of a creaking, light sneaking through the gap.

"Mary can you also bring up the Liquorice Wands as well while you are search for the Chocolate Frogs?" They heard a male voice yell and it was followed by a female voice muttering to herself about a pushy bastard, they assumed that was Mary.

James slowly pulled his hand away from the trapdoor and left it softly close, they all stood there in silence, unsure as to what to do next. They waited a couple of minutes before James pushed the trap door open again and this time, there was no light coming through the gap.

"Liquorice Wands and Chocolate Frogs, you don't think it's Honeydukes do you?" Peter questioned but no one responded, they watched as James pushed the trap door the whole way open.

They all continued their way up the stairs, looking around what they could of the dark, what seemed to be a storage room.

Octavia headed towards the stairs that were leading up but Remus grasped her wrist as she did, "is that really the smartest move when we don't know what we are walking into."

"Where is your bravery Moony?" she smiled at him as she pulled her wrist out of his grasp and walked up the stairs, carefully opening the door and sticking her head out to make sure if the coast was clear or not.

The boys all stood there and watched as Octavia stuck her head through the gap before she pushed it opened more and slipped through, they all shared a look before following after and slipping through the door one by one.

It wasn't until they rounded the corner of one of the rows and found her standing there talking someone.

"Isn't that Bellatrix?" Peter whispered and Sirius shook his head.

"Worse, it's Dromeda." Sirius, unsure as to what would happen now that Andromeda has caught them sneaking around off the grounds of Hogwarts. Bellatrix is scary but when angered, Andromeda was downright terrifying, especially considering Octavia and Sirius considered her family.

"And there is Sirius, I always knew you two travelled in packs." James snickered at the comment and Sirius elbowed him as he stepped forward to greet his cousin.

"Dromeda it's good to see you but what are you doing in Hogsmeade?" Sirius spoke and a looked appeared on her face as he stepped in beside Octavia.

"Funny I could ask you two the same thing, I see five students who should currently be at Hogwarts instead of down here, you can't say it's a Hogsmeade weekend otherwise this place would be crawling with students and you two aren't that well behaved to be granted something I've never heard of being done before."

"Well there goes that idea," Sirius smirked at her and Octavia gave him a look. "You wouldn't get us in trouble because you know what would happened Dromeda," a look appeared on Andromeda's face that caused Remus and James to share a look.

"Don't I know it, how did you get down here?"

"Found a secret passage way and we were checking it out, why are you down here?" Sirius questioned.

"I need to convince my husband that it is best if I return to work but he believes it's better if I stay out of it all." Andromeda rolled her eyes but Octavia and Sirius shared a look, they didn't know Andromeda stopped working.

"Why aren't you working?" Octavia questioned.

"I never wanted to put it in writing because I have no idea who would get a wind of it but we have a two year old daughter," they were both surprised at seeing a smile on Andromeda's face, they were well used to seeing the older Black sister hide her emotions.

"Congratulations Dromeda, I'm really happy for you." Octavia stepped forward and hugged her, truly happy for her.

Octavia knew how much Andromeda lost when she walked away from her family and married Ted Tonks, she knew just how much Andromeda cared for her family, it was what made the two of them close before she had left whereas Sirius shared the same views as her.

"Thank you, now who are your friends?" Andromeda spoke, Sirius and Octavia parted to turn and look at their friends.

"This is James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew," Sirius introduced them but it was Octavia that noticed how Andromeda's eyes lingered on Remus' fidgeting gaze.

"You know him don't you?" Octavia spoke and Andromeda looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Which means you've known all along who Andromeda was and what she looked like?" she questioned Remus and he nodded.

"I'm a Healer O and both you and Sirius knew that but I never told you what ward I worked in for that reason, I've known all along ever since you first mentioned your friends and I'm so proud of both of you for ignoring our families' views when it comes to his kind. And you, don't you remember me telling you that summer before your first year that you will find friends, true friends that won't care what you suffer from." Andromeda gave them all smiles while Octavia turned and winked at Remus, the five of them knowing too well just how true of friends they were, all accepting each other.

"Now you two, I think I deserve a visit this summer. I know the family rules, I know both of you are old enough to be allowed to leave the house for the day. Send me an owl and we will make plans, maybe I will introduce you both to Ted and Nymphadora."

"You did not name her Nymphadora," Sirius spoke, sounding incredibly displeased.

"What's wrong with Nymphadora?"

"Everything is wrong with Nymphadora, she is going to hate you when she's older."

"And that is why I don't introduce you to anyone Sirius," Andromeda teased before she turned and left, bidding them goodbye over her shoulder.

"I like her," James spoke and Octavia nodded.

"She always understood, understood why I wanted to play Quidditch, understood that we didn't always agree with our parents, everything." Octavia spoke, but she wasn't looking at Sirius so she missed the look on his face.

James and Remus who had stayed for most of the conversation caught it, they saw the look Sirius gave her while Peter had missed it completely.

It wasn't there for long but it was there long enough to question what had really been going on between Sirius and Octavia and what did Marlene have to do with all of this?

"Come on, we should get back to Hogwarts. Dromeda was right, it isn't a Hogsmeade weekend, and too many people will raise suspicion about us being out here." Remus spoke, hoping they will all agree to follow him back to Hogwarts.

"Well at least we know how to get out here whenever we want," Sirius shrugged as they all headed back downstairs to the basement before sneaking back into Hogwarts.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As for Sirius moving in with the Potters, in the books he states he was 16 when he moved in with them, so won't be until then. As for if Octavia will join them, we'll see what happens.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. You're very set on Octavia liking Sirius aren't you?**


	45. Break Ups

Chapter 44: Break Ups

Sirius was sitting there with his Charms book open in front of him but he was paying attention to what he needed to read for homework, he was too busy staring at the entrance to the common room waiting for Octavia to return, he was too busy looking out for her that he didn't even notice when Marlene had entered and noticed him sitting there bouncing his knee up and down indicating he was nervous.

"Hey you," Marlene spoke softly as she sat down beside him, shocked when he didn't notice her. She waved her hand in front of his face and he finally looked at her.

"Sorry love," he leaned over and softly kissed her before picking up his books and closing them.

"Are you alright?" she questioned knowing full well that he was nervous about something, it was something she had picked up on before Quidditch Matches.

"Yes fine, how was your day?" he questioned and she raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want to go somewhere private and talk?" she questioned and he shook his head. "What's going on Sirius?"

But Sirius didn't respond, instead he watched as Octavia finally entered the common room. He knew the look on her face, he knew she had been crying and was trying to hide the fact, he frowned as she turned and left the common room.

He turned and looked at Marlene, now having learnt that ditching his girlfriend for another girl wasn't a smart move, doesn't matter if said girl was a best friend.

"Go on then," Marlene smiled before leaning over and kissing his cheek.

Sirius got up and rushed from the common room, hoping to catch her before she disappeared.

He had a feeling she liked Mason and knew she would be upset when she finally got the courage to tell him nothing could happen between the two of them, he knew it was happening today when she mentioned that she had plans to meet him once classes were finished.

He rounded the corner and found her standing there, he did the only thing he knew what to do. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms allowing her to cry against him.

"You did the right thing, you and I both know that if your parents hear you are dating a muggle born they will react badly, Alecto was lucky your parents never found out about her muggle born boyfriend when she was in her third year." Sirius rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.

"But I feel so shitty and Mason looked devastated," she mumbled against his chest and he stayed silent. "I told him we could stay friends but the look on his face said otherwise."

"It'll be alright, if you two are meant to be it will work out in the end, remember come my 17th birthday we are gone." He stated and felt her nod against his chest.

"This is a sucky situation, why do we have to be in this situation, why can't we have normal lives like the rest of our friends?" she questioned as she pulled away and Sirius cupped her face, wiping away the tears with his thumbs.

"Because it's the way our lives have always been," he voice was low and soft.

They stood like that for a second before Sirius leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, softly kissing her, glad when she began kissing him back but it only lasted a couple of seconds after that when she pulled away and he hated the look that was on her face.

"Snow…"

"Don't Pads, you're with Marlene, what you did, we did, was incredibly wrong." Her voice was calm but it was the look on her face that said everything, they both fucked up and it didn't matter if the relationship between Sirius and Marlene was an agreement, if anyone saw them they were screwed.

"Please don't walk away from me right now," he pleaded with her but she shook her head.

"You need to tell her before someone else does," she spoke, anger lacing her voice before she turned and left.

He couldn't believe he fucked up this badly, he asked Marlene to be a part of this arrangement to help Octavia but yet he fucked up and kissed her, if someone had seen them the last thing he needed was a rumour going around that him and Marlene broke up because of Octavia because if he knew if that reached home, he wouldn't see Octavia at all this summer.

He returned to the common room, he searched for Octavia but found Marlene first, so he headed over to her and sat beside her with her friends hoping to keep up appearances.

"Calm down already," Marlene whispered, placing her hand on his knee.

Sirius had been laughing, throwing in the jokes when needed and continuing on with the conversation, something he was well used to doing during breaks amongst the families. But it seemed as though Marlene had noticed the bouncing knee.

He looked over at her and she hung her head before standing up, "come on then," she held her hand out for him and he grabbed it, lacing his fingers with hers.

"So what's going on?" Marlene questioned when they were far away from the common room.

"Did you know Mason is a muggleborn?" he questioned, not even surprised when she seemed shocked at the news. "Neither did I or O."

"That's why she was upset today and why you were nervous, she was with him after classes. But why did you return to the common room looking like you did, what happened?" she questioned but Sirius didn't say anything, just pulled her along towards the classroom at the end of the corridor.

"I kissed her," Sirius spoke as soon as they were in the room.

"And you're only telling me this because of our arrangement," she challenged.

"You're pulling that one, tell me if it wasn't for our arrangement would you have let me go off with her earlier?" he challenged her back and she took a deep breath.

"Are we seriously going to fight about this? I know I will never be able to get between you and O, especially considering that our relationship isn't even real. I knew if I didn't let you follow after O, you would have stayed and barely paid any attention to what I was saying until you made sure she was okay." She spoke, all anger leaving her voice and she stepped closer to Sirius.

"She's my best friend and I told you straight up why I wanted this relationship-"

"I know," Marlene cut him off. "It's why I let you go off, but honestly why are you telling me?"

"The look on her face when she realised what we did, how badly everything could backfire if someone had seen us. She wanted me to tell you before someone else did," he spoke, grateful that she wasn't entirely peeved at what happened.

"You have feelings for her…" Marlene spoke in shock but Sirius didn't respond.

Instead Sirius stepped forward, closing the gap between them and kissed her, tightly gripping her hair with his hands. The pressure and intensity of the kiss increased as Sirius picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, he then walked them towards one of the desks.

"I feel disgusting," Marlene complained as she pulled her robe back on.

"Really you're complaining now, you didn't complain when I asked if this was something you wanted, you could have said no." Sirius spoke with a smirk on his face but Marlene just narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

"I was caught up in the moment but I seem to recall you telling me how you and O kissed, I come to the realisation that you had feelings for her and then we have sex, tell me that isn't quite wrong?"

"Okay fine I see your point, but you agreed." He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Again I was caught up in the moment, but this fake relationship has to end. You might not be agreeing to what I say, but you also aren't denying it. You feel something for O and it won't work if that's the case, someone else will be able to see something. I promised you when I said I want to help O and I still do so if someone says something to me about seeing a kiss between you and O, I will say I broke up with you before you had the chance to tell me, that it caused no bad blood between us and everything is fine." Marlene smiled at him, hoping he would either agree or deny with her because she couldn't believe she hasn't spotted it until now.

Sirius stepped forward and cupped her face, "thank you as for agreeing or denying with you, it doesn't matter either way. Nothing can ever happen and because of that, no one will ever hear me agree or deny with that statement."

Marlene was silent as Sirius stepped away and headed for the door, "someone else will see it one day Sirius." She called out as he reached the door but no response was given.

.oOo.

"Where's Padfoot?" James questioned as he entered the secluded room, noticing that Sirius wasn't present.

Octavia looked up and glared at him before looking back down at the goblets full of water sitting on the table in front of her.

They were hiding out in the room while Octavia focused on her magic, Remus and Lilith were adding the secret passage way they had found leading towards Honeydukes since today was the first time since they found it that they had the chance.

Peter was off having time on his own, there was moments between them that things would get tense when they were spending all day in classes together and then all their free time together. It wasn't until after an argument between Octavia and James that they had decided that alone time was the best thing for them, none of them ever questioned where they went or what they did, just accepted the word alone time or me time.

"No idea where that prat is," Octavia muttered causing James look at Remus and Lilith, they just shrugged.

James walked over and sat down with them at the table, taking note of what they were doing, also knowing it was best to not say anything to Octavia.

"You know we still need to name the map, we have the nicknames." James spoke and they looked up at him.

"No you all have nicknames and I have nothing," Lilith complained.

"How about this, you turn into an animal every month and then we will give you a nickname." James replied with a smirk on his face but she just reached over the table and swatted him over the arm.

"How about you don't be a prat?" she smiled sweetly at him.

"What was it that Filch referred to us as, after a prank you three pulled on him last year?" Remus spoke, finally engaging in on the conversation.

"Mischiefs?" James spoke

"Nah, it was something else."

"Marauders…" Octavia spoke from the other side of the room, the other three shared a look before Lilith grabbed the quill and wrote something on the top of the map.

 _Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and Snow  
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present  
THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

Lilith was the one that had the artistic skill of the group, she was the one putting the small intricate details on the map, if there was any writing on the map it was hers. Even the elegant borders of the map were all drawn by Lilith when she was bored and sick of studying for the day.

"That is amazing Lil," James spoke with a grin on his face and Lilith shook her head.

"Awe look at that, I do something nice and get a nickname in return." Lilith spoke sweetly and the boys laughed.

"Are you annoyed that your name isn't on that?" Remus questioned and she shook her head.

"My name might not be on it but I am in it, I've put in as much work as the rest of you. I will always be an honorary Marauder because I help cover for you guys."

"I did it," Octavia's quiet voice interrupted their conversation.

They all looked up at her and noticed the floating ball of water that she was causing to float across the room.

Before any of the other three had a chance to say anything, Sirius entered the room and Octavia aimed the floating ball of water to hit in square in the face. Octavia and Lilith burst into a fit of laughter before Sirius pulled out his own wand and aimed it at her, causing a stream of water to hit her and causing her to squeal in return.

"I think Padfoot missed the whole point of what happened there," Remus spoke once the water stopped being aimed at each, giving pity on the shivering Octavia and drying her off with a spell.

"No I got it pretty clear Moony, Snow there hit me in the face with a ball of water." He snapped his gaze over to where she was sitting on the floor with a massive grin on her face, "Wait a ball of water."

She nodded, "yes Pads, a ball of water."

"That's great news Snow, I wonder if you can stop it when it's coming from a wand." He queried as he walked over and sat down beside her.

"Next step, for now I want to spend more time practising with the balls of water. Can you fill my goblets for me," she leaned over and picked them up, pouting at him and he shook his head.

"Where is your wand?" he questioned, wondering why she couldn't do it herself.

"They've got it over there so I don't get frustrated and blow something up again," she grumbled placing the full goblets back on the table. While Sirius laughed remembering full well what happened to the original couch in this room.

Sirius leaned back against the couch and watched her focus on the water again, he wanted to be able to help her control her magic but without being a Dreamer himself there was no way he could understand what she was doing or how she was doing it. The moment when he saw her frustrated because it wasn't working, he wouldn't know how to help her and in turn that frustrated him.

They don't know how long they were sitting there for, James, Lilith and Remus had even gotten up and left at some point leaving Sirius and Octavia alone.

The two of them continued to sit there while she practised her magic and he just watched her with curiosity.

It wasn't until Octavia had managed to have multiple floating balls of water that she leaned back against him.

"Marlene and I broke up," Sirius spoke as soon as the balls of water dropped back into the goblet.

"So I heard, it's all the girls in Gryffindor can talk about. They also say she broke your heart and they're arguing over gets to comfort you." She teased knowing full well that his heart wasn't broken by the breakup.

"Katie seems to be doing such a good job of that though," she pulled away from him and stared at him.

"Seriously, Katie Summerton? The same girl Marlene stopped talking to you because of?" he grinned at her and she shook her head before sitting back beside him. "You're disgusting."

"Only because I can't have you," he spoke so sincerely and she was shocked, she looked up at him before shaking her head and pulling away.

"I need some air, I've been cooped up here for way too long." She spoke standing up and putting her things back into her bag.

She had to believe that Sirius was joking regardless by how sincere he sounded, they both knew nothing could ever happen between the two of them so she didn't want to believe him.

Sirius let out a laugh before jumping up, "flying?" she laughed, relieved that he had laughed, and realising his comment was a joke.

.oOo.

"Don't do it, Frank will kill you." Lilith warned Octavia but all she received in response was a smirk.

Octavia picked up the bat spleen from the table, aimed for Snape's cauldron across the way from her and Lilith and threw it.

It took all of five seconds before it happened, all of five seconds before Snape had realised something was wrong with his potion and all of five seconds for Snape to realise he had no chance of fixing it, he just took a step back from the cauldron.

The added mix of bat spleen caused the potion to explode, Slughorn at the start of class had specifically stated that it had to be added a certain point in the brewing process otherwise it causes an explosion. Octavia had noticed that Snape, wasn't quite up to that point yet.

"My boy, you didn't happen to add the bat spleen did you? Snape I thought you were better gifted at Potions than that," Slughorn spoke when he looked up noticing the green smoke filing the room.

Snape didn't say anything in response, just looked across the way and noticed Octavia smiling sweetly at him, indicating it was her that had done.

"You're dead," he mouthed but the smile didn't falter on her face.

"Try me," she mouthed back before looking at Lilith. "Frank will only kill me if I get caught, I didn't get caught."

"You, Padfoot and Prongs are on very thin ice with him and you all know it, don't give him the excuse to kick you off the team."

Octavia rolled her eyes, "he won't kick us off the team, he needs us too much." She grinned.

"Cocky much?" was all Lilith said, earning a laugh from Octavia before they focused back on their potion.

It was at that point that Sirius had turned around from his table with James and looked at the two girls.

"Yes Padfoot?" Octavia spoke with annoyance and Sirius grinned at her.

"What did you do to Snivelly? He looks about ready to murder someone." He questioned and she looked over at where he was indeed sitting at his table with a murderous look on his face.

"Doesn't he always? I swear that's what him all the other Slytherins…" Octavia started but had to catch herself, she had put a new plan in place and it was to try and repair the relationship between Sirius and his brother. "The other Slytherins he hangs around with." She finished and just hoped he didn't catch on or say something about Regulus.

"Sounds about right, but tell me. What did you do?" he questioned again and she rolled her eyes. She picked up the bat spleen with a smirk on her face and he instantly realised what she did. "That's hilarious!" he exclaimed before clapping a hand over his mouth, silently cursing himself at the amount of noise he made.

"Black turn around and focus on your own cauldron!" Slughorn ordered and Sirius shrugged before turning back around.

Octavia and Lilith shared a giggle noticing James pick on Sirius for getting caught for talking.

"Potter, Black, Carrow and Longbottom if you could stay behind please." Slughorn had just dismissed the fourth years but the four friends who were requested to stay behind shared a look, this wouldn't be the first time he has requested to speak to them, whether separately or in groups but this would be the first time it was done with all four at once.

"You wanted to see us Professor?" James spoke as they headed up to Slughorn's desk, not even caring that the rest of the students hadn't cleared out of the classroom yet.

"Ah yes, I just wanted to inform the four of you that I am hosting another party over the Easter Weekend and I do wish that you would all join me for a change." Slughorn requested.

"No thanks, Sirius and I have a rather large Muggle Studies assignment to work on over Easter break." Octavia responded before anyone else could.

Sirius was grateful for her quick answer.

"Understandable, Potter, Longbottom?"

"Same as Sirius and Octavia I have a large number of Runes that have to be translated." Lilith responded.

"Divination, I believe it's that time of year Professor. It's coming towards an end." James added in the end, deciding it was the only option left.

"Very well, I do wish that if the four of you decide you need a break you will come and join me." Slughorn spoke, all of them nodding before turning and leaving the classroom.

"Maybe we should just say yes one time and he will stop asking us," Lilith spoke once they were out of the room.

"No way," Octavia demanded.

"Snow is right, Slughorn likes to collect people, he only wants us because of our family names, claims we will be like our parents. Prongs is the last Potter, Slughorn wants that, Slughorn wants both Snow and I because of who our families are and the company they run and you Lilith, you have a rather large family, one of which comes from the same families we do, your father has been an Auror and is now a Healer." Sirius explained and she nodded.

"We've gone this long telling Slughorn no, three more years and we'll be right and plus we already know who some of the people in that club are, Lily, Snivellus and Black are in there. Do we really want to spend more time with those prats?" James added in and Octavia frowned, she was trying to fix the relationship between Regulus and Sirius and here James was making the damn thing worse than it already was.

"Prongs is right," Sirius spoke.

Octavia pulled on Lilith's arm to prevent her from walking, allowing the two boys to walk ahead.

"What is it Snow?"

"I'm trying to fix the relationship between Pads and Regulus but Prongs goes ahead and says shit like that, it makes it worse."

"We all know where Prongs stands when it comes to the Slytherin students, no one makes an exception. The only reason he kept his mouth shut on the thoughts of Alecto and Amycus was because he didn't want to annoy you, we've all seen what happens when Padfoot speaks ill of your siblings."

"I'm not naive when it comes to my siblings Lilith, I know who they are and what views they have, and I also know where they will stand on this war. Are you telling me that if Frank decided to side with Voldemort you wouldn't love him any less?" Octavia questioned and she could see the battle Lilith was having, Frank had already voiced his plans to become an Auror and help put many of the Death Eaters in Azkaban.

Lilith didn't respond at first but the two girls continued to walk down the corridor in silence.

"No, I wouldn't love him any less. He is my brother and even if he makes a big mistake like that, I will love him regardless. You're hoping that Padfoot still loves Regulus don't you?"

All Octavia did was nod in response, at this point in time Sirius seemed to be more angry and hurt over the silence between the two brothers instead of nothing. While Sirius still showed some sort of emotion in regards to his brother, it meant he still cared. She was using Amycus' words about Alecto towards the two brothers.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Before anyone questions why Lilith stated she will still love Frank regardless of his choice of sides in the war, I'm not planning on making Frank a Death Eater he will still join the Order. I was working with the something that happened in the books.**

 **Narcissa did everything she could to protect the safety of Draco and Lucius during the war, when she found out that Draco had a special mission she went straight to Snape to make sure that he was safe while doing it. During the Battle at Hogwarts, she lied to Voldemort and said Harry was dead because he stated that Draco was still alive in the castle. To me it seemed like Narcissa didn't agree with some of the things that Voldemort claimed but stuck with her family because she loved them.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It was just a wild guess, glad to know, maybe it means you will read this story through to the end. How did you like Marlene's revelation?**

 **Guest** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	46. Near Death Experiences

Chapter 45: Near Death Experiences

"I know we have a tough game ahead of us today, it shouldn't diminish the fact that we can win this. We've bet Slytherin before and we can do again, we just have to focus. We know the final standings for both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, know that they aren't within a shot of winning the Quidditch Cup because both us and Slytherin smashed those teams into the ground, now we just have to do the same with Slytherin like we have for the past two years because we can do it again, I have faith in you." Frank's speech managed to put enough energy into the Gryffindor Quidditch team that they constantly had the upper hand on Slytherin, it was a tight low scoring game.

Every time Slytherin managed to score a goal it was only seconds later that Gryffindor got one but it took the Slytherin Chasers longer to even the score.

The game was the longest it had been in years and it left Regulus and Octavia sitting up in the sky on their brooms just watching the game while keeping an eye out for the Snitch.

"What are the chances Hooch didn't even release the Snitch?" Octavia questioned when Frank called for a time out, quickly sending her away saying it had nothing to do with her. She looked over at Regulus and noticed the hint of a smirk on Regulus' face.

"I believe that is something you and my brother would attempt."

"Now, now Regulus, don't go giving me any ideas, it would look bad on your part as the golden child." She teased and he let out a laugh.

"I don't believe for a second that I am the golden child, no matter how hard I try, I cannot live up to Sirius. They are always talking about how good his grades are despite the fact that he is taking Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures, I tell my parents I'm taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy and they go 'oh that's nice son did you hear your brother received four O's this past year'. I tell them I'm playing Quidditch and I get the 'oh but son you only play Seeker, you spend most of the time sitting there doing nothing unlike your brother who is a Beater'."

Octavia frowned before looking out across the Pitch, "You can't guilt trip me into letting you win Reg, that's not fair."

"Depends is it working?" he questioned with a smirk on his face and she narrowed her eyes at him. "I apologise but what I said is true, I know I'm only going to be a fourth year and only just got placed on the team but there are rumours circulating that Worthington is passing on the Captains badge after this year and it's getting passed onto someone else, I hope it's me because then finally I will have something that he won't."

"You know he thinks the same thing and you ignoring him isn't a good move, you should try talking to him more. You two are brothers Reg and because of our future together, you will always have him around and I honestly don't want to have to sit there in silence at the dinner table because you two won't speak." She spoke harshly before flying off, hoping she could knock more sense into Regulus then Sirius.

She knew it was a risk, knew it was but she hoped that playing on his weakness for her would help them step forward in their relationship.

She wanted to kick herself, she flew away from Regulus with hopes of both of them focusing on the Pitch and their search for the Snitch but as soon as she left, she spotted the Snitch floating closer to Regulus then what it was her and she hoped she could get there quick enough.

"Pads, Reg." she spoke hoping Sirius could hear her and would understand what he meant.

Ever since their advance hearing came out they haven't tested it out during a Quidditch match with fear of getting caught and it being classified as cheating, not to mention the ramifications of being caught as underage, illegal Animagi.

"Got him," she faintly heard his voice and moments later she saw the Bludger soaring through the sky, clipping the back of Regulus' broom and throwing him off course.

Regulus being thrown off course, and what seemed to now be a faulty broom, allowed Octavia to soar ahead and chase after the Snitch. She could hear a Bludger coming towards and a quick glance to the left she saw a Bludger coming towards, a quick duck allowed the Bludger to miss her and she was thrilled to see that the Snitch had dropped at the same time and she was able to grab it.

Octavia landed on the ground, finally taking in the noise surrounding her coming from the stands, it was always three against one when it came to the end of the Quidditch competition, the last three years have been Slytherin against someone when it comes to who wins the Quidditch cup and no one ever wanted to see Slytherin win because how they played their games, filled with dirty tactics.

"Snow?" Octavia heard Sirius' voice, she had stayed in the shower longer than usual, Marlene and Isabella had left not long ago.

"What Pads? I'm still in the shower," she called out but moments later a towel was thrown through the open door. "Seriously, why can't you leave me alone?" she complained as she shut the water off and wrapped the towel around her before stepping out.

She found Sirius leaning against the wall across from the door and he didn't look too happy.

"What's your problem, we just bet Slytherin and won the Quidditch Cup?" she questioned, holding towel tighter.

"Your conversation with Regulus during the time out."

Octavia pretended to be shocked, "oh my, you actually know your brother's name."

"Don't be like that Snow."

"Be like what? You two don't speak and I hate that, if for some reason our marriages don't get called off or we don't run away the three of us will be stuck with each other because I don't think for a second you will ever leave and leave me behind. You always complain about him being the golden child but he says the same thing about you, he says he tries to impress Walburga and Orion but nothing works, they turn something that you did on him." She explained but he just scrubbed his face.

"How about this, if you two ever get married, I will play nice but until then while he is in that house and playing by their rules, I don't want to even think about trying." He spoke through gritted teeth and Octavia took a deep breath before stepping forward, knowing that if anyone walked in they would be in a compromising situation.

"Calm down, I'm not trying to rile you up, I just want to help," her voice was soft and she knew he had calmed down when his shoulders relaxed.

"Sorry, you know what we did could be classified as cheating?" he questioned and Octavia took a couple of steps back.

"How about I get dressed and then we can talk about what is and isn't classified as cheating?" she spoke and instantly noticed how his gaze shifted. "Leave Padfoot!" she ordered, she saw a look on his face but she shook it off as it was only there for a moment before he turned and left, leaving her alone in the girls change room.

Octavia finally entered the Gryffindor common room, noting the party was in full swing, Frank had grabbed her attention congratulating her on catching the Snitch and giving them another win.

She went looking for her friends, spotting them sitting in the corner, minus Sirius. She walked over and sat down with them, not even able to get in a word before James spoke.

"What happened between you and Padfoot? He goes into the girls change room annoyed about something but something was off about him when he came out, he wasn't annoyed, just off." James spoke and Octavia looked at the others, Lilith looked shocked and Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, your saying Padfoot entered the girls change room with the chance that either Snow, Marlene or Lowe could be naked?" Remus questioned and Octavia nodded.

"Marlene and Isabella had already left, I was still in the shower. As for what happened, I don't know. I calmed him down and removed his annoyance, but for when he left I have no idea what happened." She explained and James nodded, they all looked over to where Sirius was sitting with Marlene, wondering what was going on there.

"Didn't they break up?" Peter questioned.

"They sure did…" Octavia spoke as she stood up, heading over to where the butter beers were sitting on a table and grabbing one before heading upstairs.

Octavia walked over and laid back on her bed, staring at the ceiling, not even budging when the door opened.

"Are you alright?" She closed her eyes as she heard Lilith's voice, all she wanted was a moment alone after that weird moment with Sirius.

"I'm fine, just exhausted after the match and just wanted a moment of peace."

"What really happened with Padfoot? Don't say nothing, I know you Snow and I know something happened, I also know that Padfoot spending time with his ex-girlfriend is also a little weird considering the female population of Gryffindor is claiming that she broke his heart." Octavia let out a laugh before sitting up and looking at her best friend.

"You and I both know that Padfoot doesn't have a heart for Marlene to break," she spoke but instantly felt uneasy about the look Lilith had on her face.

"Why are you avoiding what happened with Padfoot?"

"You really want to know? He walked in when I was showering, also wouldn't refuse to leave until we had spoken about what he overheard during the match, he heard my conversation with Regulus, I was standing there the whole time in a towel and I felt a little uncomfortable." She snapped and Lilith's face softened.

"Now I understand why you want to be alone and why he's sitting with Marlene, wait is that how he all of sudden turned around and hit Regulus with a Bludger?" Lilith spoke with a tone of accusation and Octavia just put an innocent smile on her face.

"Regulus was going to beat me to the Snitch, I had no idea if Padfoot would have heard me or not, it was a risk."

"That's cheating!" Lilith exclaimed and Octavia continued to smile at her.

"What's cheating?" They heard Evan's voice and a smirk appeared on Octavia's face as she turned and faced Evan's, a plan formulating to knock her off her high horse.

"Oh just the fact that Sirius has his test papers angled a certain way during class so that I can copy his answers," Octavia responded before grabbing Lilith's arm and pulling the girl from the dorm.

"You know she will most likely go to McGonagall right?" Lilith questioned as they were walking down the stairs.

"And if she does chances are McGonagall will either not believe her or make me sit a test to prove it was a lie but here's the thing, we never said what class. McGonagall isn't going to make me resit tests for every class I share with Padfoot and that is all of them Lilith."

"Alright fine, you have a point Snow but honestly that is Evans we are talking about if she goes to McGonagall and tells her the story you just told her, McGonagall is going to make sure you and Padfoot don't sit next to each other ever again."

"Most likely just during tests, McGonagall has realised the three of us are easier to handle when she lets us sit next to each other or do you not remember what happened second year?" Octavia spoke with a raised eyebrow and Lilith laughed at the memory.

"Yes I remember Prongs yelling across the classroom because he wanted to know what our plans were for after class, alright fine I get your point. Worst case scenario of Evans going to McGonagall is her splitting you two up when tests are being taken but it won't prove anything because you don't copy off him."

"Exactly, if anything it might force Evans to lose some of her credibility." Octavia smiled at Lilith and the other girl shook her head.

"Will you and Padfoot be alright?" Lilith questioned as they entered the common room.

At first Octavia didn't respond, she just looked over at where she last spotted Sirius and found him still sitting there talking with Marlene and her friends. The look on his face suggested that he had heard Lilith and it didn't entirely surprise her, she had been dealing with the advanced healing for a couple of months now and she had learnt that she was able to pick up her friends' voices a lot easier in a room full of people and she assumed Sirius was now able to do the same. Especially after what happened during the Quidditch Match today.

"It's not like he saw me naked," Octavia laughed. "We will be fine, don't stress so much about the friendship between Padfoot and I, if our parents can't keep us apart nothing will push us apart."

.oOo.

"She's going to burn herself out," James spoke, keeping his voice low as he and Sirius stood in the entrance to the hidden room.

Octavia was sitting at the table with all her books spread out around her, Sirius had known Octavia for years and knew when she was on the verge of burning out while James was getting to know the subtle signs very well.

"I know this but she's stressed." Sirius replied, not even bothering to keep his voice low. He knew that Octavia could hear him but she wouldn't be paying attention.

"Why is she stressed? Her grades are decent, better than ours."

"She's trying to prove that her taking Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures won't affect her grades to her parents, between her barely being home last summer and the madness that was Alecto and Amycus' weddings nothing was said to her in regards to her grades." Sirius explained, hoping that James wouldn't request an elaboration because he knew he couldn't, not without revealing the abuse anyway.

He knew the truth behind Octavia's need to study herself to exhaustion, she's hoping if she has near perfect grades it will put her parents in a good mood at the beginning of the summer and hope that they won't punish her for something small because her grades will out shine the mistake greatly.

But also knew what would happen if she burnt herself out, she would crash and give up on the studying and in turn her parents won't approve of the grades she receives as a result.

"How about you go and grab the box from under my bed and meet me in the Entrance Hall." Sirius spoke and when he looked over at James, he couldn't help but laugh, James was acting like it was Christmas morning.

"Which box?" he questioned.

"Oh you know exactly which box I'm talking about," Sirius had a smirk on his face as James turned and ran from the room, completely excited at the prospect of using said box.

Sirius took a deep breath before walking over to where Octavia was sitting, wondering how to go about with this.

"Snow?" he spoke softly, knowing full well even if he didn't he wouldn't startle her, she would probably still ignore him either way.

She didn't even budge, if this was anyone else then he would probably grip their arm and pull them up but he was worried about what would happen if he did. He knows in the past he's dragged her away but the only issue was her anger towards him, this was different.

In the end he went with the only thing that wouldn't cause that much damage, he begin closing her books and picking them up.

"What the hell Padfoot," she hissed but he didn't even budge, just turned around headed towards the couch but instead he hit an invisible wall.

"Did you just seriously put a barrier up so I couldn't walk away?" he questioned turning around and facing her.

"No," she smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes at him. Him being distracted allowed her to magically lift the books from his hands.

"You've been practising," he narrowed his eyes and she laughed.

"I've never stopped a person from walking away, just stopping pillows mid-air. The book was right when it said that once I master air, water and fire that everything else seems to click and it slowly is, I just have to be persistent with it." Sirius nodded before heading back over to the table where she was sitting just about to start opening her books again.

"No please don't, you'll burn yourself out. Come with me and we can have some fun, remove some of the stress we all have because of end of year exams."

"If this ends with me ending up in another towel," she remarked, not even looking at him to catch the look that passed across his face.

"Funny, that's what Quidditch practise is for," he teased and she looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. "I gave James permission to grab the box that is under my bed."

"No way, that box has been sitting there ready for action when the moment was right. Hell we've even made sure nothing happens to that box." She responded, feeling a little bit excited at the prospect of that box.

"I figured it's time to use it and plus with the summer coming up we can always restock it," Sirius responded, glad when she began bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Well, lets go then," she grabbed his hand pulled him from the room before stopping in the corridor. "Wait, where are we going?" Sirius didn't say anything in response, he just laughed as he led her down the corridor.

They were currently walking along the first corridor, Octavia had spent the whole time bugging Sirius as to what they had planned and where they were meeting James. Sirius had even pulled her down the first floor as a distraction.

"Please tell me where we are going?" she complained but he just laughed.

She stopped walking and placed her hands on hips, waiting for Sirius to turn around and face.

"Come on Snow, don't be like this."

"Tell me whe-" she was cut off by being lifted into the air and a squeal came from her mouth.

Sirius stood there and watched as Octavia was pulled up into the air by an invisible force, he had no idea what happened. He looked along the corridor and it was then he spotted Snape further down the corridor.

"You are a dead man Snivellus!" Sirius yelled out and Octavia turned her head to the best of her ability since it was quite hard while she was hanging upside down by her feet.

"Snivellus let me down now!" Octavia screeched while attempting to locate her wand and then she found it on the ground, she knew she was screwed and couldn't do anything up here.

The last thing she needed was for her to do wandless magic and for Snape to realise that she didn't have her wand on her, that it was in fact sitting on the floor below her.

"That's what you get for blowing up my potion Carrow!" Snape bellowed.

"Are you kidding me? You're attempting to kill me because I blew up your freaking potion! Pads get me down from here!" Octavia yelled while looking at Sirius.

What happened next, happened all too fast, Sirius pulled his wand out and sent a jinx at Snape, not realising that he was the reason that Octavia was floating mid-air like that. As the jinx collided with Snape his concentration of Octavia dropped and in turn dropping her, head first to the floor, a loud crack distracting them all for a moment.

.oOo.

Sirius sat there in an armchair beside the bed Octavia was currently unconscious in, she had been that way for hours but Pomfrey didn't want to forcibly wake up her until the concussion had disappeared.

From falling head first to the floor Octavia received a cracked skull and a severe concussion, she was lucky that a Professor was just around the corner and was able to quickly get her up to the Hospital Wing so Pomfrey could attend to the wounds she has sustained.

"Any news?" Sirius shook his head at James' question, not even bothering to turn his head and look at the other boy.

"Come on mate, let's go get some fresh air, Snow wouldn't want you to do this to yourself." James placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder but Sirius shrugged him off.

"I'm not leaving until she wakes up, she hates it when I'm not there." Sirius muttered.

"What do you mean? This is only the second time she's ended up in here." James questioned but Sirius shook his head.

"Come on, let's just leave him. He obviously doesn't want to leave." Remus spoke and Sirius finally turned to look at who was actually in here but only found James and Remus standing there.

Sirius turned back around as Remus pulled James from the room, he couldn't believe he fucked up like that and slipped up, stating that Octavia always hates waking up, being disorientated and not finding him sitting there. He could see it on her face every time she spotted him, she instantly calmed down and relaxed at the sight of him, him being there showed that her life wasn't truly horrible.

"Is she alright?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Sirius snapped before he turned around and glared at his brother, not appreciating the visit.

"I heard what happened with Snape, I was worried and wanted to make sure she was okay. What's so wrong with that?" Regulus questioned.

Sirius didn't answer, instead he stood up and made his way over to where Regulus was standing. Despite the year and a half age difference between the two brothers, they were a similar height but Sirius had the advantage being the eldest, that and he had the bigger build due to his position as a Beater on the Quidditch team.

"I don't even understand what you are doing here? You two aren't even friends, she won't want you here," Sirius hissed

"No you just hate that we are friends, brother," Regulus spoke but all Sirius did was pull out his wand and aim it at Regulus' neck. "What are you going to do brother? Kill me? O would should love that wouldn't she?" Regulus mocked.

"Young men you put that wand down now or I will ask you to leave," Pomfrey ordered as she stepped out of her office just in time to see both Regulus and Sirius pointing their wands at each other.

Neither of them moved at first, neither wanting to put their wands down first.

"Pads," Sirius instantly lowered his wand at the sound of Octavia's quiet voice.

"See, she's fine now leave." He ordered before turning around and looking at her.

"I think you should both leave," Pomfrey ordered and when Sirius didn't move Regulus ending up pulling him out by his arm.

"Get your hands off me," Sirius ripped his arm from Regulus' grasp.

Sirius didn't say anything or even more from the corridor, he just sat on the floor and placed his head on his knees.

"Why are you so worried about her?" Regulus questioned as he sat down beside Sirius.

"What did Snape say he did to her?" Sirius questioned, realising that maybe Snape didn't spread the whole story.

"Just that you three got into a duel and she was injured as a result." Sirius left his head and laughed at Regulus' response.

"He had her lifted up into the air by her feet, when she fell she landed on her head, cracked it opened. She could have died because of Snape." Sirius spoke and he could tell Regulus was speechless at that.

"But she spoke, so obviously she will be alright won't she?" Sirius couldn't believe how vulnerable Regulus looked right then, it wasn't something he had seen on his younger brother since before he started at Hogwarts.

"I would take it as a good sign," Sirius nodded before placing a hand on Regulus' shoulder and standing up, heading back to the Hospital Wing doors. "Just go back to your own common room Reg."

Sirius entered the Hospital Wing hoping that Pomfrey wouldn't turn him away again, he was glad when Regulus didn't follow him as well.

"I see you're alone this time," Pomfrey spoke noticing Sirius standing there.

"No problems, I promise."

"You're lucky you and your friends have such a good track record at keeping quiet when you visit Mr Lupin. Now Miss Carrow will be fine, she's just fallen back asleep, I had to give her a pain potion but it's almost curfew so you should head back to the common room." Sirius nodded and left, knowing he was going to take James' invisibility cloak and sneak back into the Hospital Wing to keep an eye on her all night.

When Octavia woke up she was uncomfortable in the bed she was in, she remembered Pomfrey stating that she will be fine but the fuzziness she had in her head will disappear within time and she was an incredibly lucky girl.

She rolled over with the attempts to get more comfortable but hit an invisible force, she opened her eyes and couldn't see anything but it was then she smelt the familiar smell of Sirius and heard the soft snores coming from beside her.

She reached out and pulled the invisibility cloak off him, she reached over and brushed the hair out of his face before laying back down as he began stir. Sirius may always be a pain to wake up but he had always hated when someone brushed the hair out of his face, it was like he was being tickled and it instantly woke him up.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned, sleep still lacing his voice and Octavia smiled.

"You snuck in here to make sure I was okay?" she questioned softly as he turned on his sides to face her.

"You almost died and Snivellus is going around telling people you just took a hex during a duel."

"That's why Reg was in here, but wait if you know that it means you spoke to him." He nodded in response. "Awe and you have no black eye," she teased, a scowl appearing on his face. "I'm proud of you, you both need to learn to get along. I get there are differences between you and Reg and you don't think those same differences are there between Am and I?"

"Do we really have to talk about this right now?" Sirius spoke and Octavia took a deep breath before shifting closer to him.

"Just think about it, the only difference between your relationship with Reg compared to mine with Am is that you two don't speak. We aren't naïve when it comes to our siblings Pads." Octavia spoke before stifling a yawn.

Sirius didn't say anything else, he didn't want her to be right about the relationship he had with his brother.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Lilian123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad my story has given you a life full of peace. I did actually, I never realised it to begin with but then I had someone else point it out ages ago and I was shocked at it. But then again all the small hidden bits of information that JK Rowling has put into the story.**


	47. Young Ladies of Society

Chapter 46: Young Ladies of Society

The school year was over and the group of friends that had begun referring to themselves as the Marauders after a couple of Professors had referred to them as such.

"What are everyone's plans for the summer?" Peter questioned, a bout of silence followed him.

"Apparently I'm taking part of some Young Ladies of Society ball," Lilith spoke causing Sirius and Octavia to stare at her.

"You're a part of that?" Octavia questioned.

"What are we missing?" Remus questioned, noticing the looked between them all.

"It's a ball that introduces a group girls of a varying age to society, what we didn't realise was that families like Lilith's are involved, we've never been to ball and last year when I should have attended with Makenna, we didn't because of Alecto and Amycus' weddings." Sirius explained.

"I've heard of that but unless I get asked to be an escort I don't have to take place," James grinned but instantly fell with the look on Lilith's face. "You could always ask Moony."

"She can't, despite her family being allowed to attend she can't ask Moony, there are rules and regulations in place to prevent people like him being in attendance." Octavia spoke.

"Werewolves?"

"Half-bloods." Sirius muttered darkly and Remus nodded, he didn't know what felt worse being excluded because he was a werewolf or because of his blood status.

"Pads is right, I remember Al talking about hers. All Pure Bloods may be able to attend but it's run by our families, they won't accept him as Lilith's partner."

"So wait let me get this straight, you two who normally spend your summers isolated from us are now able to spend the summer with Lilith and maybe Prongs if she asks him to be her escort, or if another girl does?" Remus spoke and massive smiles appeared on their faces. "I'll take that as a yes?"

"Okay so if Padfoot is going with Makenna am I right in assuming that Regulus is escorting Octavia?" Octavia nodded.

"Oh I so want in, Lilith please let me your escort for this stupid ball." James spoke with a large grin on his face and the group of friends laughed at him.

"I don't know, maybe there is a better offer out there. Snow isn't the first function one where all the girls attending the ball get to see their options for an escort?" Lilith smiled at Octavia and she nodded.

"Yes it is and I wish I had a choice in who my escort is but sadly I'm stuck with Regulus."

"It won't be that bad with Regulus by your side, will it?" Peter questioned but Octavia looked at Sirius.

"There are many functions, dinners, luncheons, charity events, dancing lessons and all of this is before the final ball at the end of the summer. Regardless of Lilith and maybe Prongs being in attendance, so will our parents, we won't be able to speak to them with our parents breathing down our necks." Octavia spoke but they could all hear the uneasiness in her voice.

"You know I'm still annoyed that you two got animal traits and I didn't," James complained hoping to ease the tension and they all laughed at him, he didn't like it and glared at them. "What's so funny?"

"Well you actually got a trait from your stag form."

"How you didn't realise it is beyond me."

Sirius and Octavia teased him but he just looked at Remus, hoping he would spill the secret.

"Hey don't look at me, those two worked it out." Remus quickly shot out causing Sirius and Octavia to look annoyed at being thrown under the bus.

"Cut it out, Prongs you're more agile because of your form. You take less hits in Quidditch and are able to weave through the other players a lot easier." Lilith threw in, unsure as to if an argument would break out or not, also not wanting her summer to start this way between friends.

"And you kept it from me?" James hissed at them.

"It was funnier this way mate," Sirius shrugged and Octavia laughed.

"Let it go Prongs, Wormtail still doesn't have any." Octavia spoke and all they looked over noticing the unpleasant look on Peter's face.

.oOo.

Octavia turned her head at the sound of someone entering the room and found Sirius standing in her doorway.

"What are you doing here? Thought your parents would have already taken you and Reg down for the function dinner?" she questioned before looking back in the mirror finishing her hair.

"Your hair looks fine to me, I'm guessing your parents finally decided if you would be a part of it all?" he questioned and she nodded.

"They told me this morning, I feel like there is a protective shield around me now knowing I'm a part of it all. We are going to be so busy with these events that they can't do anything with fear of someone realising something."

"Now you'll be safe and Lilith won't have to question as to why you aren't in attendance."

"I don't even know how we would have handle that one, there are no weddings this summer for our families for us to use as an excuse, my parents aren't sending me to the etiquette school again despite those girls being in attendance anyway." She held up her necklace and looked at him, he nodded before working over and taking the necklace from her hands.

"You look beautiful by the way," Sirius spoke quietly, earning a smile and a small blush from her. "I should go before your parents catch me here, I will see you later."

Octavia watched as Sirius left the room, she walked over and took a seat on her bed.

She knew if she was a part of this whole thing for the summer she would be safe, she would be safe from her parents but she didn't want to do this, she didn't want to do something she didn't want too and worst of all, having two best friends there that she couldn't talk to.

"Tell me O,' Octavia turned her head and found Makenna standing beside her.

They had been at the function dinner for a while now, dinner had finished and everyone was waiting on dessert but all the girls and potential escorts were walking around the room introducing themselves to each other.

"What would you like to know?" she questioned with a smile, handing her empty glass to a waiter as they walked past.

"If you could have your pick of escorts who would you pick?" Makenna questioned and Octavia laughed.

"Depends, are my parents going to be annoyed with my choice Kenna?"

"How about two answers, one for yes, one for no."

"If my parents wouldn't be annoyed with my answer then I would be pick James however if they would be annoyed then I would pick Henry Wilkinson. You"

Makenna laughed, "If Luke could be here then I would pick him, otherwise it would be Harvey Wood."

"Wait I thought he graduated?"

"No you're thinking of Henry Wood."

"Ah okay then, I'm assuming you and Luke are still going strong?" Makenna nodded and it was then she noticed the sad look on her face. "What are you two going to do now that you have graduated?"

"Move around in secret still, because Sirius still has three years at Hogwarts I'm allowed to work and have my own life for the time being. My parents have allowed me to get an apartment in the city."

"Which will be brought from my parents and there for your parents will know of any visitors, you know that right?"

"Regardless of that, why didn't you pick Sirius?" Makenna questioned and Octavia's mouth fell open.

"You and I both know what will happen if Sirius is my escort."

"I also claimed your parents wouldn't be annoyed at you for your choice of escort."

"I can't, it's just easier to not even consider him." Octavia's voice wavered and Makenna looked at the other girl.

"You feel something for him." Makenna spoke, more as a statement instead of a question, in amazement.

Octavia nodded slowly, "he's always been there. I didn't want to feel this way but yet I do, I know I'm allowed to date other people and enjoy my time at Hogwarts but he is the one person I can't, he's the Forbidden Fruit."

"I know exactly how you feel, or are you forgetting what Luke is?" Makenna spoke softly before walking away.

Octavia took this opportunity to slip into the bathroom, she leaned against the skin and took a couple of deep breaths in hopes of not crying, but it wasn't working and that was when Lilith entered.

Octavia stood there and watched as Lilith entered the room, took one look at her and didn't say anything instead, she checked all the stalls as to if anyone else was in there with them.

Lilith walked over and hugged Octavia, "what's wrong?" she questioned softly.

Octavia pulled away and wiped away the tears before looking in the mirror, deciding if she needs to fix her make up or not.

"Snow?"

Octavia hung her head before taking a deep breath, "realising that you can never have the guy you have feelings for sucks…"

"Padfoot." Lilith stated, feeling sympathetic towards the girl.

Octavia only nodded in response and looked up just in time to hear the bathroom door open, she looked over at the in intruder and instantly recognised as one of the girls she spent last summer with.

"It was good seeing you Longbottom, I'm sure we will see plenty of each other over the summer." Octavia gave Lilith a small smile before turning and leaving, nodding at the third girl. "Peakes."

Octavia entered the main room and caught sight of Sirius and James sharing words, she had no idea what was being said but just hoped Sirius knew what he was doing. She headed towards where the bar was situated, wishing that they would serve some sort of alcohol but instead stuck with the non-alcoholic drink that they handed over.

"What did you and Makenna talk about?" she heard Sirius' voice but she shook her head.

"This isn't the place Sirius."

"Please, Prongs told me that Lilith caught sight of you rushing to the bathroom nearly in tears. Tell me again this isn't the place." Sirius spoke, the same tone of authority that had been in his voice all night.

"I'm telling you this isn't the place, let it go and we can talk about it tonight once we are both at home." She pleaded with him, grateful when he nodded.

She left heading towards where James was finally standing alone, she knew her parents wouldn't approve of him being her escort but they couldn't prevent the two of them from talking. She had to show interest in all potential parties, regardless of her having to take Regulus.

"I was wondering when I would be finally graced with your presence," Octavia smiled at James, despite the flirty tone he had.

"I have to make my rounds, I would have come and spoken to you eventually."

"Ah but what about your parents?" James questioned with a smirk and she just smiled in response.

"It will look bad if I'm not seen talking to all potential escorts, regardless of if I'm going to pick them or not."

"So I'm like all these other poor schmucks out there?" he teased and she laughed.

"Nope you're better, because we're actually friends Prongs, now if you excuse me, I just spotted someone else I have to speak with." James stood there and watched as Octavia walked away, wondering who she was going to speak with but it wasn't until he watched her stopped walking that he spotted Amycus hiding amongst the crowd.

"What's got you worried?" He heard Lilith's voice but didn't turn to face.

"Did you know Amycus is here?"

"No, I know her parents are here but I didn't realise siblings would be, Frank was thrilled to realise he didn't have to attend this dinner since he hated his own." Lilith couldn't help but smile at the memory of Frank's own ball when he attended as Alice's escort a couple of summers back.

"Do you think we should be worried that Amycus is here, look at what happened that Hogsmeade visit before Christmas? He turns up and then Octavia ends up in Dumbledore's office." James spoke and watched as Lilith was silent in thought.

"I believe there is more secrets going on within their families that we don't understand, there is some going on and it's unsettling and I believe Moony knows it. Moony claimed that until one of them didn't turn up after a break he wouldn't go prying into information that he wasn't given and we shouldn't either."

"What do you think they're keeping from us?" James questioned, not liking the look on Lilith's face.

"I have no idea and that scares me," James stepped closer to her and hugged.

"They know that we are always there for them, I doubt it's something that bad."

"Be my escort, we watch them and their families over the summer." Lilith spoke quietly.

"Agreed," James stated as Lilith pulled away.

.oOo.

"What's wrong Lil?"

Lilith didn't say anything in response, just continued to look through the options of dress robes laid out in front of her.

"I get that we aren't as close as we were when we were 10 but I still know when something is bothering you."

Lilith finally turned and looked at the other girl, Paisley Zane. The Zane's were another Pure Blood family that was close with the Longbottoms, both Lilith and Paisley were similar in ages and had grown up together but Paisley's parents had decided to home school her and her twin brother instead of sending them to Hogwarts or any of other school.

"Don't take this the wrong way, I love spending time with you Paise and I do wish you could have come to Hogwarts with me but I wish I was doing this with Octavia, she hates shopping and would have spent the whole time making fun of it, pulling out robes that are hideous for whatever reason."

Paisley smiled before pulling the robe out of Lilith's hand and hanging it back up on the rack, "there that is the answer I was looking for. I get that we've both gone off and made other friends, I spend half of my time with a bunch of boys that play Quidditch all year long but the small number of girls I do spend my time with as well, I wish I could do this with them as well but they aren't classified as a Pure Blood because the families who run this event won't budge on the rules. Now who is Octavia?"

"She's been at the functions, you would have spotted her. She's the red head."

"She's a Carrow!" Paisley exclaimed and Lilith laughed.

"Oh really is that her last name? I just spent four years with her at Hogwarts and I had no idea as to what her full name was or what family she came from." Lilith rolled her eyes, sarcasm filling her voice.

"Oh you are so funny Lil, but how are you two friends? Those families have been in Slytherin for generations, we might not be a part of those families and I may not be a part of a scared family but I know those families and the ones they associate with, especially the Blacks."

"Well Octavia and the Black heir, Sirius, were sorted into Gryffindor. That's how we are friends, I knew who she was when I introduced myself to her that first night at Hogwarts after the sorting, I knew who her family was and what they were like but I figured if she was sorted in Gryffindor away from them all then maybe she would be different than them."

"But yet you two haven't shared words at the functions."

"Her parents don't approve of our friendship, she claims it's easier if they didn't know…"

"Lil, you're a dirty secret." Lilith shook her head.

"It's not like that."

"Then explain it to me Lil because to me it sounds like you are a dirty secret and she is ashamed to have you as a friend."

"Don't patronize me Paisley, it may sound bad to you but you haven't been there. You haven't been there the four years I've known her, she's terrified of her parents. She tells them she's taking Muggle Studies so she can stay back at Hogwarts for a Christmas and we spent it all together and her parents ship her off to the etiquette school that was the sole reason for her cousin's suicide." Lilith snapped before turning and storming off.

"Lil stop, I'm sorry." Paisley spoke and when Lilith turned around there was remorse written on her face.

"All you know about their families is what they allow to be spread out in the public, there is so much I have been told from both Sirius and Octavia and some of it shocked me. As I said Paise, you don't get it and I don't get how it could be to live under their parents ruling but I trust the two of them with my life. Yeah it sucks that I can't spend my summer breaks with them but I get the other 10 months of the year with them, she's my best friend Paise."

"And I said I apologise, now can we please continue shopping for our dress robes?" Paisley spoke and Lilith nodded.

.oOo.

"I believe we haven't had the chance to introduce ourselves," Octavia turned at the sound of the strange voice and found an unfamiliar petite blonde standing there.

"Octavia Carrow," she placed a fake smile on her face and held out her hand, she might never have seen this girl before this summer but she has seen her hanging out Lilith an awful lot this summer, something that led her to question Lilith about the girl. Lilith explained how they were friends before Hogwarts started, they grew up together, much like Octavia and Sirius.

"Paisley Zane," Paisley shook Octavia's hand in return.

Octavia's curiosity was spiked, it was half way through the summer and these functions were almost over and not once has Paisley walked over to introduce herself, but she wasn't the only one.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Paisley," Octavia spoke, wondering if the other would say anything else but when nothing was said she was really curious and said the only thing that usually brings the intended topic out. "If you excuse me, I have to go and speak to my escort." Octavia turned and went to walk off.

"Wait," Paisley spoke and Octavia stopped. "I wanted to talk to you about Lilith Longbottom, I heard you two share a dorm together."

Octavia turned around, not happy with this topic of discussion. Her gaze quickly flicked around the room, taking in who was around. "I know you and Lilith are friends, despite what she told you the other week we do talk, I'm not going to bad mouth her to you or anyone." Octavia spoke softly with a smile on her face, seeing the shock on Paisley's face was enough to realise she thought badly of her.

"I, uhh, I." Paisley stuttered and Octavia shook her head.

"Don't Zane, it was nice to meet, now if you excuse me." Octavia turned and headed off, heading straight for Regulus, knowing that he was still wanting a word with her.

"Who was the girl?" she heard Regulus' voice beside her, not entirely surprised that he caught sight of the conversation, most people would have and she's worried what would happen.

"One of Lilith's childhood friends." Octavia replied, knowing there was no point in hiding her friendship with Lilith from Regulus, he had seen them at Hogwarts.

"Ah and she was hoping that you would say some mean things because she doesn't believe that you and Lilith are truly friends."

"Why do you always believe the worst in people?" Octavia questioned with a slight shake of her head.

"Because it's better to be surprised then be filled with disappointment."

"You are one of a kind Reg," Octavia patted his arm before walking away.

.oOo.

 _O – Lilith?_

 _L – What Snow?_

 _O – You know Paisley ambushed me today in hopes of me badmouthing you behind your back._

 _L – You have to be joking?_

 _O – Far from it._

 _R – What's going on?_

 _L – An old childhood friend of mine is in the Young Ladies of Society Ball…_

 _O – Or complete waste of time…_

 _L – As I was saying, she's in the ball and was unsure about my friendship with Snow. Claims I'm a dirty secret and that I deserve better._

 _O – So in other words she ambushed me in hopes I would say something bad about you so she could confront you on the so called bad friend that I am._

 _R – What's going on with this ball? Why would someone think something like that of Snow? What did you do?_

 _O – I didn't do anything Moony._

 _S – It's the stigma of our families, some people are less trusting when it comes to us because of who our families are, especially now that Bella and Alecto have been put on the Aurors must watch list._

 _O – Exactly, people say our families are bad when it comes to Muggles and Muggleborns but yet there are other Pure Bloods and Half-Bloods out there that are just as judgemental as the families we grew up with. Paisley is one of those people and I hate to say it Lilith…_

 _L – No it's fine, you should have heard the things she was saying when we went shopping the other week. I honestly never thought she would turn out like that but I guess being home schooled by her parents changed her. When I see her over the summer or Christmas everything seems fine but I've never mentioned who my friends and she's never asked, the same goes for her and her friends. It's almost like we never wanted to believe we replaced each other._

 _O – I'm sorry._

 _L – It's fine, I guess time really does change people and push friends apart…_

 _R – How much do you have left of the ball?_

 _O – The actual Ball itself is in two days, if it's anything like the rest of the summer it will be uneventful._

 _J – Wait are you telling me that both you and Padfoot have nothing to complain about for a change?_

 _S – Well aside from being so busy with everything surrounding that ball and the lead up, nope._

 _J – What did you do with the real Padfoot and Snow?_

 _O – You're so funny Prongs, you've been stuck at those functions along with us because Lilith asked you to be her escort._

 _R – Yeah why is that? I thought Lilith was against asking Prongs._

 _L – Because Avery Specter was already taken._

 _J – Oh you are so funny….not._

 _S – Seriously, you are getting pissy at that. You've actually enjoyed being a part of it and seeing what we usually complain since the families we associate with run this whole thing._

 _J – Maybe a little._

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Thank you for helping me get there!**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I hope you being on edge was a good thing.**


	48. Meeting the Dark Lord

Chapter 47: Meeting the Dark Lord

"I really want to yell freedom but it may just ruin what good luck we've had so far." Octavia spoke as her and Sirius sat down on the hill of the Meadow behind her families' summer home.

"Yes the six weeks that consisted of that bloody ball is over and now we have two weeks to ourselves before we go back to Hogwarts." Sirius spoke as he laid down and stretched out, enjoying the sun that was beating down on them.

"I don't even know how we made it through those six weeks but yet we did, even Paisley wasn't game enough to say anything to me at the ball with Regulus by my side."

"But that's a good thing, because you aren't the same spineless girl, you wouldn't have sat there let her talk to you, you would have bitten back."

"Most likely, I can't believe our parents let us out here on our own."

"I think you spending the summer with Regulus, me spending the summer with Makenna and add all that to the fact that I spent a couple of months dating Marlene, they might not be as suspicious of us at the moment."

Octavia laid back beside Sirius and turned her head to look at him, seeing he was deep thought. "What are you thinking about Pads?" she questioned softly, confused when he placed an arm over his face.

"I'm just thinking that this is the longest you've gone without getting abused by your parents since we started at Hogwarts, yes I know we had the ball and regular functions that couldn't have you in pain or show any weakness but that ball was a few days ago. I'm not saying you deserve to be punished but there were a few actions that would normally deem such action by your parents."

"I was thinking the same thing Pads," she responded and Sirius finally looked at her.

"It's two weeks Snow, what could happen in two weeks?"

"A lot actually," they both sat up at the sound of Amycus' voice confused as to why he was here.

They were both told that Amycus and Alecto wouldn't be joining them this summer, that they had plans with their own partners and their families.

"What are you talking about Am?" she questioned, eyes widening with worry.

"There's a party this weekend."

"Like that's unusual, there's a party every summer." Sirius retorted and Amycus shook his head.

"No, these are the parties you two are normally kept from for obvious reasons."

Realisation set in for Octavia as Amycus spoke, he was talking about the parties where Voldemort was in attendance.

"No way Am, I do not want to attend that one, not after last time."

"I'm sorry O but you have no choice, you acted like you should have all summer with the ball and its functions. You spoke with everyone that made it seem like you were doing the rounds and not show that you have had your escort handed to you since birth." Amycus explained.

"What happens if I refuse?" she questioned.

"Do you really want me to answer that one?" Amycus responded but Octavia didn't say anything, she leaned back on the grass.

Octavia spent the days leading up to the party hiding in her room working on the summer homework they had been given from their Professors at Hogwarts.

Sirius was worried about how she was feeling about the party that was coming up and who was in attendance, but he didn't even get the chance to ask her since she wouldn't open her door for him and when he wrote to her on the parchments they had linked she never responded.

Octavia looked in the mirror, she could see the fear in her eyes and she would be lying if she wasn't terrified.

The last time she came face to face with Voldemort he requested something of her and she refused, so in return he graced her with the presence of the scar that is still sitting on the inside of her forearm, the same spot where the Dark Mark is meant to sit and it wasn't something that slipped her mind.

She just hoped the mask she had grown up perfecting was enough to get through tonight because she knew Sirius wouldn't question anything until they were in private.

She took one last deep breath before turning and leaving her room, heading downstairs where she was expected to wait for her parents and Sirius' family.

They didn't say anything as they entered the room, they all just headed to the fire place and Octavia finally found out where these parties were being held, at the Malfoy residence.

When she emerged on the other side, she was shocked at the amount of people in attendance, it was smaller than the normal group of people. She decided that maybe these people were Voldemort's inner circle, or the people who helped donate to his cause. It was why both hers and Sirius' parents were in attendance, they were flush with cash and willing to donate to his cause. It helped to bribe Ministry officials when something went wrong.

"So which one is he?" Sirius questioned as he stepped in beside her and she looked over at him.

"Do I really have to answer that? He's the one that houses all of their attention."

"Ah, so the prat standing in the middle of the room. If you excuse me." Sirius then turned and left, leaving Octavia alone.

She couldn't believe that he openly said that in a place like this, it could get them both in trouble and her arm was proof that Voldemort didn't give mercy, well he did to her because of what she was.

Octavia ended up spending the night by Regulus' side knowing that, despite the two of them getting along, he will offer some form of protection. Their parents will see them spending time together and think that they are doing something outside of their usual scope of requirements.

Regulus noticing the uneasiness that surrounded Octavia took the hint that was something off, it was the same uneasiness that used to surround her before she started at Hogwarts. He admired her for learning to stand up for herself but now, something was wrong and he was worried.

"I need you to come with me Octavia," both Regulus and Octavia turned their heads and looked at Amycus standing there.

Octavia nodded before turning and softly kissing Regulus' cheek, "thank you," she whispered in his ear. She wasn't an idiot, she knew that he had realised something was up but yet he didn't question it like he normally did, just continued to make small talk to help ease her worries.

She followed her brother upstairs, knew it was pointless to ask any questions since she had a feeling as to where she was being taken too.

She had spotted Voldemort watching her with curiosity throughout the night and it was partly why she was so unnerved, she had no idea what he planned to do with her because she still refused to do what he asked of her, even after giving her the information she needed as to what was different about her and her magic.

She entered the room ahead of Amycus and not at all surprised who was in attendance, it was all the people she already suspected or already knew of that were in Voldemort's inner circle. Alecto, Amycus, Bellatrix, Lucius, Rodolphus, Rebastan and so many more.

"Miss Octavia Carrow, don't you look as lovely as ever, I must say you have grown up to be a beautiful young women." Voldemort spoke as Amycus urged her forward.

She didn't say anything in response, just a nod of thanks and a small smile on her face, knowing it was better to smile then show fear.

"I was wondering if you have given anymore thought to the task I had given you three summers ago?"

"No," she responded, knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"I see and why not?"

"Because I won't do that to my friends, I'm not going to pressure my friends into changing their beliefs."

"I see, Amycus come here." Octavia stood there and watched as Amycus walked and stood beside Voldemort, unsure as to what was going to happen, she didn't know if she could deal with Voldemort hurting or killing her brother because she wouldn't do something.

"Torture her,"

"I'm sorry my lord, you what?" Amycus questioned and even Octavia knew that wasn't a good sign, she looked over at where Alecto was standing but she didn't like the look on her face.

"I said torture her, more specifically the Cruciatus Curse."

Terror instantly filled her, she didn't want to be filled with that type of pain again but she had a feeling what would happen if Amycus denied the request but she just hoped it didn't.

"Am please don't do this…" Octavia pleaded with her brother, hoping he wouldn't do what Voldemort was requesting of him.

She wanted so badly for her brother to reject Voldemort and follow her, protect her and leave Alecto to look after herself but she has had this conversation with him many times, Amycus' future involved him looking after Alecto since he trusted Sirius to look after her.

"I'm sorry O," Amycus whispered before he pointed his wand at her. "Crucio."

Octavia closed her eyes and let out a scream, waiting for the pain but it never came. She opened her eyes and noticed the ring of fire surrounding her.

The flames disappeared as she realised that her brother wasn't trying to hurt her anymore, she looked at Voldemort not at all surprised to see a calm expression on his face, its all she ever saw on him.

"Again," Voldemort ordered and this time Amycus didn't second guess himself, knowing what would happen if he did.

"Stop," Voldemort finally spoke again and Amycus was relieved, he didn't know how much longer he could stand there and listen to Octavia scream, Alecto had already left the room not being able to handle it.

Voldemort didn't say anything, he just left the room and all the Death Eaters followed him except Amycus. Amycus continued to stand there and look at Octavia, he hated he caused her that much pain but he had no choice, he knew if he didn't do it Voldemort would kill him and he knew that would hurt her more in the long run.

He walked over to where she was still laying on the floor and stopped when she slowly moved away from him, "I'm going to take you home so you can rest, I had no choice O." Octavia nodded and he knelt beside her, "I'm sorry but this is going to hurt."

Sirius had left the party he was forced to attend, he had no idea where Octavia had gone and he couldn't find her, when he mentioned to his parents that he was leaving they didn't say anything or request that he stay so he went home and showered before climbing into his bed hoping just one of his friends was able to respond on the parchment.

10 minutes was all he waited before he gave up expecting no response.

He heard the crack indicating an elf had arrived in his room, he didn't even open his eyes figuring it was Kretcher and knew that regardless of him telling the elf to leave, he wouldn't.

"Mister Sirius?" he quickly sat up at the sound of Dinky's voice, he knew straight away something bad had happened.

He got off the bed and walked over to where Dinky was standing and grabbed her out stretched hand knowing it was useless in asking Dinky the full story because sometimes, the elf didn't know, only heard the screams before she went and got Sirius.

When they arrived Sirius found Amycus standing there leaning against the bar with a glass of Fire Whiskey in his hand.

"What happened?" Sirius questioned but Amycus didn't budge.

"The Cruciatus Curse happened," Sirius turned and left, heading straight for Octavia's room.

"Sirius stop…" Amycus called out after him.

"Who did it?" Sirius demanded but it was the look on Amycus' face that gave it away. "You're bloody kidding me!"

Sirius was pissed off, there was no other way to describe it, he couldn't believe Amycus did what he did.

"There had to be another way, why the hell did you have use the bloody Cruciatus Curse on her!" Sirius yelled out, knowing there was no one else at home.

"There wasn't, the spell isn't able to be done non-verbally the Dark Lord would know if I didn't do as he requested."

"What would happen if you didn't do what he asked of you?"

"He'd kill me then and there," Amycus stated and Sirius shook his head before heading back towards Octavia's bedroom. "You need to take her to St Mungo's Sirius, she needs to be checked out and make sure she is fine. Just claim it was Death Eaters, everyone by now knows they wear masks and won't ask for a physical description."

"But I know who did this," Sirius growled.

"She needs to be checked out, surely you know the risks of being put under the Cruciatus curse. She could have permanent damage as a result of it, please take her to St Mungo's."

"Why can't you?"

"Because I'm already under suspicion…" Sirius didn't say anything, just shook his head before going into Octavia's room.

He walked over to her bed and frowned at the sight of her, she may be asleep or she passed out, he wasn't sure which one but he was worried about her. He knew this wasn't the first time she had been under the Cruciatus Curse but he didn't know how much someone could take before they broke and he didn't want to see Octavia in that sort of way.

"Come on Snow, we need to get you to St Mungo's." Sirius spoke as he lifted her up off the bed, glad to see that she was just asleep and not unconscious.

She made a noise of protest but didn't exactly make an effort against him, she allowed him to carry her downstairs towards the floo while trying to hold her cries of pain in.

It was with every soft whimper that came from her, Sirius became more and more worried, unsure as to how much damage was actually done to her. He knew he needed to get her to St Mungo's, everyone knew who their families were and what side of the war everyone thought they were on, he just hoped that they would look after her and ask questions later.

Sirius was grateful that a Healer spotted him as he stepped out of the floo, having to hold Octavia up and they instantly led them towards a bed so she could lay down while they waited for another Healer to come check her out. Sirius instantly asked why they couldn't check her out but they claimed they were only an intern, still on their first month at St Mungo's.

So instead he sat there on the armchair bouncing his knee up and down waiting for another Healer to arrive, he didn't know how long it was taking since he didn't have a way to check the time but he knew it took forever for someone to arrive and he was worried that the longer they waited the worse Octavia got.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Sirius looked up at the sound of the voice, instantly recognising him as Lilith's father.

He was worried as to what would happen the moment he introduced himself despite being friends with both of his children. He didn't see their father at any of the functions for the ball in the last few weeks and put it down to him being busy with his job at St Mungo's.

"Mr Longbottom," he spoke in greeting.

"I'm sorry but have we met?"

"Sirius Black," Sirius stood up and held out his hand, his own etiquette training kicking in. "I'm friends with both Frank and Lilith."

"Yes of course I have heard so much about you, it is a pleasure to have finally met you. Now what has happened to Octavia?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "I met Octavia many years ago, I believe it was your first year. Her parents had sent her away for Christmas and she spent the day at my house with the family and friends we had over for the day."

"Yes of course, I completely forgot about that." Sirius stepped aside and allowed him to check out Octavia.

"Now are you going to tell me what happened Sirius?"

Sirius fell silent, he knew what Amycus said but how could he explain what had happened without explaining how he got away injury free since it would look to suspicious on his part. He knew Amycus didn't come up with the idea to put Sirius in trouble, he wouldn't have told him the full story if that was the case, it was more Amycus made it up on the spot, more worried about Octavia then coming up with a convincing story.

"I don't know, I found her unconscious in her room. My first thought was to bring her here to make sure nothing seriously bad had happened."

He looked over at the bed where Octavia had stirred, frowning at noticing that she was in pain.

"Death Eaters," she mumbled.

"Octavia can you hear me?"

"Mr Longbottom is that you?"

"Yes it is, can you tell me what happened?"

"Cruciatus Curse," Octavia managed to get out before she slipped back unconscious.

"I have to check her in and because she is under age her parents have to be informed." Mr Longbottom turned around and faced Sirius, Sirius nodded in return, this wasn't the first time he has checked Octavia into St Mungo's behind her parents' backs, mind you most of the time it was because she had been injured while playing Quidditch. It was only a small number of times that he took her to St Mungo's when Dinky wasn't able to heal her.

"That's understandable but my only request is that you don't Lilith about what happened."

"And may I ask as to why you don't wish me to tell my daughter why her best friend is currently lying unconscious on a bed under my care?"

Sirius looked away from Mr Longbottom and back at Octavia, they had their reasons for keeping secrets from their friends and by now they had accepted it.

"We hide certain aspects of our home lives from our friends, if Lilith finds out what happened she will begin pestering us about what happened during our summer. They've long given up asking us and that is the way we prefer it." Sirius explained and Mr Longbottom nodded before turning and leaving.

Sirius shifted from his position on the armchair as Octavia stirred in the bed, Mr Longbottom had told him that Octavia should wake soon enough, they were unsure as to how badly affected she was until she woke up.

"Snow?" he questioned softly as he stood up and moved closer to the bed.

She didn't respond straight away, her eyes just fluttered opened attempting to adjust the bright lights in the room.

"Sh, it's alright. You're safe here Snow." He softly brushed the hair out of her face and gave her a smile when she finally opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Pads?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I'm here, I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." He could see the alarm in her eyes and he hated that she was scared but just hoped it was because she remembered what happened and not because she had no idea as to what happened.

Her calling him Pads was a good thing right?

"How long have I been here?" he let out a sigh of relief, she knew exactly where she was and happened.

"Just a couple of hours, the diagnostic tests that the Healer ran came back clear but we had to wait until you woke up properly to know if there was any lasting damage. Do you remember what happened?" Sirius questioned, she didn't respond at first, she just sat up in the bed.

Her eyes welled up and she nodded, "Am had no choice, he requested that Am did what he did but there's something else."

"What else happened Snow?" he questioned, not liking the look on her face.

"The first time he ordered the attack, I panicked and my shield went up but it wasn't my normal shield, it was a ring of fire. I don't even know if it prevent the attack but it sure as hell startled everyone."

"It'll be alright, if news spreads about what you did we will take care of it, if your parents find out we will leave, I sure as hell won't let you deal with whatever they have planned for it, because we know he still wants you." He sat down on the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her, her shaking meant she was scared of what could happen.

"What if my parents find out and they make sure I don't return to Hogwarts," she spoke softly.

"I won't let it happen, we'll take off before that happens. You and I are both graduating from Hogwarts."

"I'm guessing I wasn't meant to hear any of that?" Sirius and Octavia pulled apart at the sound of Amycus' voice, both worried about how he will react to what he just heard. "Don't worry, I always had a feeling that you both planned on taking off at some point in the future."

"You do know that when that day comes your parents aren't going to let her leave on her own, they will do everything they can to make her stay. If you want to truly protect her, when that day comes you have to convince your parents to let her leave, that it's easier for you all with her gone."

"Done, now how are you feeling?" he questioned as he stepped further into the room and closer to them.

"Fine I think, the Healer hasn't come back since I woke up. Don't hate yourself, you had no choice Am."

"I know and I think Sirius hates me enough for the three of us," Amycus spoke and Octavia elbowed Sirius in the ribs.

"He'll get over it," she looked up at him, noticing the softer than usual look on his face as he looked at her but just waved it off as he was worried about her.

"I suppose he will, now I have some questions of my own." Amycus crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall opposite her bed.

"The ring of fire?"

"Yes that particular thing, bear in mind he told all of us who were in the room not to mention it to anyone so no one will find out from us any time soon."

Octavia looked at Sirius but he just shrugged, "it's your choice, it's your secret and you claim you can trust him. I'm going to get something to eat and see when Mr Longbottom can come back to check on you." Sirius climbed off the bed and left the room, leaving her stunned but she just hoped that with time he will get over what happened today.

"Heard of Dreamers?"

"Yeah they briefly got mentioned third year in Defence, what does that have to do with anything?"

"We believe I am, he does as well, it's why he wasn't surprised at the ring of fire, it's why he wants me."

"And why you aren't getting killed for defying his requests." Octavia nodded, "but you looked startled at that ring of fire."

"I've never done that before, yes I've produced a protective shield and fire before but not that."

"I will have to look into them more since they only got briefly mentioned and I don't know too much about them but I won't tell our parents, I actually have to head home before Celeste gets worried."

"Why are you acting like she's our parents, your worried about her concerns with everything."

"Because if I don't she will ruin everything, she hates I'm in league with him but only keeps quiet because I come home when she wants me to and I fund her shopping trips around the world."

"The next thing you know, she'll start asking for babies."

"She already has," Octavia couldn't help it, she burst out laughing, not fazed by the scowl on his face. "Maybe once she has the baby and someone else to focus on you will be able to come and go as you please."

"Please O, I know you are glad she likes to keep me at home away him."

Octavia smiled at him before laying back down in the bed, "don't know what you are on about Am, do our parents know I'm here yet?"

"They do…"

"Let me guess, they don't care since for once they don't have to worry about what people will think because Death Eaters did it."

Amycus didn't get a chance to respond since there was a knock on the door.

Octavia looked at her brother before looking at Mr Longbottom as he entered the room, wondering as to if he had heard any of their conversation.

"I have to head off, I'm sure Sirius is still around here somewhere. Get better." Octavia watched as her brother left, there was a part of her that had hoped Mr Longbottom would see that they were busy talking and come back later but he didn't, maybe he knew something she didn't.

"How are you feeling?"

"I just feel physically exhausted, I haven't moved too much so I'm unsure as to how much pain I will be in when I move."

"Sounds like you've been under the Cruciatus Curse before."

Octavia opened her mouth with hopes of fixing the big mistake she just made, but in the end closed it and didn't say anything else. She just hoped he wouldn't do or say anything about it.

"Very well, let me run some spells and make sure your vitals are still where they should be." Octavia nodded and sat up on the bed, worrying about her mistake.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you love Regulus, despite him barely having a role in the series, I actually love writing him because he was obviously conflicted by everything he grew up to believe.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad my story makes you happy, honestly that is the best thing to hear! As for Octavia and Sirius, just because they both like each other it does not mean they will get together.**

 **Katie** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Glad to hear you are all caught up and your reaction to Octavia finally admitting she likes Sirius, made my afternoon. I'm glad you are really enjoying my story, means a lot to hear that.**


	49. Fifth Year - Admitting Feelings

Chapter 48: Admitting Feelings

It was currently Octavia's fifteenth birthday but instead of celebrating it she was packing her trunk to return to Hogwarts tomorrow, she had been too sore when she moved to even consider packing but today she had no choice, she needs to pack. She couldn't even get Dinky to do it for her because Dinky claimed she had too many jobs from Ophelia and Keyon and wasn't able to help her.

Octavia knew what her parents were doing, they were punishing her for defying Voldemort but Octavia would do it again if it meant she didn't betray her friends.

"I don't remember you being this sore last time," she jumped at the sound of Sirius' voice, not having heard him enter her room.

"I think it was longer this time, Mr Longbottom also said I would be sore for a few days."

"Move let me do it," Sirius spoke as he moved closer to where she was standing in front of her trunk.

"Don't Pads, if I can't even pack my trunk how the hell am I going to go at Hogwarts, what if the Professors say something."

"Easy, you were attacked by Death Eaters."

"I'm not going to sit there and go through another round of questioning, I still can't believe someone got the Aurors out to question me about the attack."

"I believe it may be protocol Snow," Sirius sat down on her bed and watched as she slowly but carefully moved around her room.

"I can barely move, they're all going to notice that something is amiss." Octavia complained as she threw her robes on the floor.

Sirius didn't say anything as he got off the bed and picked her robes up before placing them in her trunk for her.

"Just sit down, what do you have left, your books?" he questioned and she nodded as she walked over and sat down on her bed.

"Thank you," she spoke softly and Sirius smiled at her before continuing on collecting her books, grateful they were taking the same subjects so he knew what ones she would need.

"Now where are the books I know you have on Dreamers?" he questioned, having not found them.

"They're in the bottom, I never take them out." She explained and he nodded before closing her trunk and walking over to sit beside her.

"Happy birthday by the way."

"What a great birthday, I'm still in pain and can barely move, my parents have disappeared and I have no idea if Al and Am are coming over for dinner."

"I'm here and that's all that matters."

"Then where's my present?"

"You're kidding right? I just packed your trunk," Sirius teased but it just caused a smack from her and resulting her complaining from the pain it caused her.

.oOo.

"Tell me something Snow, how did you convince Padfoot to carry both yours and his own trunk?" Lilith questioned as she bounced in beside Octavia.

Octavia let out a laugh before looking over at Sirius, they knew why he was carrying it but had come up with an agreement as to why he was doing it.

"He lost a bet is all and as my prize I requested he carried my trunk," she grinned at Lilith and the other girl laughed.

"You cheated and you damn well know it," Sirius complained and both girls laughed, standing there as Sirius pulled both trunks on to the train.

"Where's your trunk?" Octavia questioned Lilith.

"Already in the compartment, I came out looking for you or the others."

"Found anyone else?"

"Nope, Moony and Prongs should be here soon and as always Peter will turn up right as the train is leaving." Octavia nodded to Lilith's explanation, it was always the same.

Lilith, Octavia and Sirius always turned early, Lilith because her parents were always set on arriving early while Octavia and Sirius wanted to get away from their families quickly. James and Remus took a bit longer, taking longer to say goodbye to their parents while Peter turned up last minute.

The Marauders were sitting in the compartment laughing and talking about their summers, it was when they all stopped laughing that James turned and looked at Octavia.

"What do you want Prongs?" she snapped, not enjoying him staring at her.

"Is too early for us to talk about what Snivellus did?" he questioned wearily and she laughed.

"Depends, ask the growling dog." She teased and when they all looked at Sirius, it was obvious he wasn't happy about the new topic of discussion.

"He almost killed her Prongs."

"I know that Padfoot, but I want to know how he did it. You said she was hanging upside down, that's not your typical levitating spell."

"He has a point," Lilith pointed out and Sirius looked at her before looking at Octavia.

"You think that the Death Eaters are making their own spells."

"We have no idea if he is or isn't a Death Eater Padfoot," Remus threw in.

"Fine, do you think _potential_ Death Eaters are making their own spells?" he rephrased and Octavia couldn't help but laugh at how he was reacting, but she stopped mid-laugh to wince in pain.

"Snow?" James questioned, noticing the action.

"I'm fine, just too much laughing. Now the Slytherins and making their own spells?" she reassured them, refusing to look at Sirius, knowing full well he would want to question her later.

"Maybe it just doesn't make sense, I remember when Snow levitated me but even then I wasn't upside down. I get her magic is different but essentially the spells aren't, so wouldn't one think that he made the spell up or got it from someone else who did?"

"He has a point and it makes sense," Octavia responded and they were all deep thought.

"Whatever it is, I want to know." Sirius had a grin on his face.

"So what you can kill someone like Snivellus almost killed me?" Octavia snapped.

"I also happened to knock him to the ground before he put you down, who knows what happens when the person in the air is put down properly. I'm not stupid enough to go and test it on some Slytherins even if I want too, we don't even know what this spell is yet." Sirius replied and she nodded as the compartment door was pulled opened.

"What do you want Evans?" Octavia questioned spotting the other girl standing there.

"I want to know which one of you it is," Evans replied and they all looked at her strangely.

"What are you on about Lily?" James questioned.

"I know what she's on about, which one of you prats was made Prefect?" Octavia questioned, knowing it wasn't Sirius because he would have mentioned it by now.

"Said prat," Remus spoke softly and they all stared at him.

"It make sense, one of you had to get it and he's the one that spends the least amount of time in detention," Lilith replied with a smirk on her face.

"Well I was kind of hoping that our year would be different, that we would only have one Prefect and that would be Evans and that was it because honestly, just because Moony doesn't spend as much time in detention as Prongs and I, he still spends time in detention with us." Sirius spoke and Octavia noticed Evans still standing there in the doorway.

"What do you want Evans? You know Remus is the Prefect, what else do you want?" she snapped.

"Snow, don't be like that. There is a Prefects meeting at the front of the train, it's probably why she came here in the first place." Remus explained as he stood up and left the compartment.

"Can we ditch him now?" Sirius questioned jokingly.

"You're the prat Pads." Octavia teased.

.oOo.

Dumbledore had just dismissed the students and they were all slowly heading back to the Great Hall, Remus was with Evans since they had to direct the new first year Gryffindors to the Tower while Lilith and Octavia had taken off claiming something about girl talk and Peter disappeared saying he needed to use the bathroom and told the other two not to wait for him, just head straight to the common room.

So that left James and Sirius alone, James also had a bone to pick with Sirius and he found now was the perfect time.

"So when were you planning on telling me you had feelings for Snow?" James spoke, Sirius looking at him in shock before shaking his head and looking around them as to who else was around.

"Don't know what you are on about mate."

"Really? Do you want to try telling that again without the look of shock written across your face? I was there all summer remember, I saw the signs and I saw the way you were looking at her. You would become jealous whenever you saw her laughing or smiling at something your brother said."

"Says the person who becomes jealous every time he spots Evans hanging around Snivellus." Sirius spat out and James shook his head.

"Don't be like that mate, I thought we were best mates, there is no reason to be like that with me. If you did like Snow, do you honestly think I will go telling her?"

"If I admit it will you shut up about the whole bloody thing," Sirius muttered with a scowl on his face but James just smirked.

"Maybe, do I get to ask a billion and one questions about what happened during your summer?" the scowl turned into a glare.

"Nothing happened, nothing will ever happen while we live under our parents ruling."

"Maybe you should just suck it up and kiss her mate, you've kissed everyone else." James teased and Sirius put him in a headlock as the two of them continued to walk down the corridor.

"How about this, you kiss Evans and I will snog Snow in front of everyone in the Great Hall."

"You're on, now let me go." James tapped Sirius' arm and he was finally freed from the grasp.

Lilith and Octavia were standing in the bathroom of their dorm getting ready for bed, hoping that Evans and Blake didn't come barging in and allowed them to continue their conversation.

"Alright spill what happened between you and Padfoot after the ball." Lilith questioned and Octavia choked on the toothpaste in her mouth, she spat it out and faced her best friend.

"Nothing happened, nothing can ever happen."

"I saw you two dancing when partners were switched, the way he looked at you…"

"Don't Lilith, I mean it nothing can happen. Why don't you understand that when we both say nothing can happened between the two of us because it means we lose the friendship we have? Our parents are already suspicious of the friendship since we are at that age and look what happened? I fell for him anyway." Octavia spoke, her voice wavering and Lilith walked over to hug her.

"I'm sorry, I just want you to be happy and if that's with Padfoot."

"I know but it's not allowed to be with Padfoot, if we went to a school with no one else that could report home to our parents', maybe I could consider it but we don't."

"It'll be alright, it will all work out." Lilith spoke softly and Octavia nodded before pulling away and wiping away the tears that had escaped before leaving the bathroom and curling up in her bed with the curtains shut.

.oOo.

Regulus sat there at the Slytherin table for breakfast waiting for Slughorn to bring around the timetables for the new school year.

He looked over at the Gryffindor table and instantly spotted her, it wasn't like it was all that hard with her bright red hair.

He was jealous of his older brother for being able to spend as much time as he did with Octavia, he was grateful for the summer and the Young Ladies of Society Ball that he was forced to be a part of because it meant he was able to spend more time with her than what he usually got to.

He knew he always felt something different towards her but it wasn't until the information that Sirius delivered to him the past June about how Snape almost killed her, it was like a kick to gut.

It was then with that information that he realised something, what felt towards Octavia was more than friendship.

He knew that she would always see him as Sirius' little brother, he hated it, but knew it was true. It didn't matter if she still treated him the same as she always had, despite the differences they now had. She always put aside the whisperings Sirius must be putting in her ear and still spoke with him, he had decided it was better to not say anything bad about Sirius to her, with fear of losing her.

He saw her laughing with her friends, she was completely happy, he loved that Hogwarts made her that happy. He rarely saw her be completely carefree like this when they were at home, he put it down to the fact that her parents were displeased with her sorting, he noticed the same things with his own brother.

"I'm sorry what did you say?" Regulus spoke, noticing the look Barty was giving him from across the table.

"I said, what are you planning to do to your brother this time?" Barty spoke and Regulus placed a smirk on his face.

"You know I never tell you the plans I have for my brother, did you manage to find out what Snape did to Carrow?" Regulus questioned, Barty had been more than eager to jump at the idea of finding out what Snape had done.

Barty had been placed in the wrong house, his father was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement within the Ministry, nearly every single one of the students within Slytherin were wary of him, wondering if he was a spy within their own house.

So to prove to them that he wasn't a spy, well he was becoming a spy for them, doing whatever missions they had for him without question and because of that, he happily accepted the one Regulus had for him.

"He claims he made his own spell something called Levicorpus, that's what he used on her."

Regulus nodded his head before looking over at Octavia again, happy that she was perfectly fine after almost dying. "Thank you Barty,"

"Why did you want to know what he did Carrow so badly?"

A smirk was plastered on Regulus' face as he lifted his goblet to his lips, "we can't let Snape have all the fun now can we?"

"Why, what do you plan on doing?"

"Let me think it through before I share my secrets," Regulus spoke once more and Barty nodded, the conversation going silent.

He looked up the table at where Snape was sitting with Avery and Mulciber, he hated those three, there was something off about them and the fact that Snape was openly friends with a muggle born wasn't helping the situation.

There was something off about Avery and Mulciber, there was something cold and harsh about the two of them, the conversations Regulus had heard between the three of them was unsettling.

He had met a couple of the Dark Lords Death Eaters and knew they all had something that the Dark Lord was interested in, whether it be money, power or connections. But there was something about those three that made him wonder if they were truly accepting of the Dark Lords views or if they wanted the prospect of fighting in a war.

"I will meet you in class, I have to send an owl home," Regulus spoke and Barty nodded.

Regulus knew that he would most likely be late, he was betting on Slughorn not caring or if he did Regulus hoped the mention of sending a letter home to inform his father of his favourite Professor might make Slughorn more inclined to not give him a detention. The letter couldn't wait he had to send this owl first before he forgot or before it got too late.

 _The spell he used was Levicorpus._

It was small and simple but just hoped she would understand what he was trying to get across.

He walked over to Octavia's owl Bellamy, knowing the owl was more inclined to deliver the letter like he requested

"Take this to Octavia during dinner, don't give it to anyone else." he petted the bird before leaving.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the Great Hall, late to dinner, she had told Sirius she was going up to the Hospital Wing to ask Pomfrey for a mild pain potion, she couldn't take the barely sleeping anymore, she needed a good night's sleep for once and hoped with a mild pain potion it would happen.

She walked over and joined her friends, only to notice her owl sitting there in the middle of the table. She noticed her name written on the envelope and instantly recognised the hand writing, snuck a glance at Sirius knowing full he would have seen the hand writing.

She reached over and grabbed the letter opening it, shocked at it's contents.

"Here," she handed it to Sirius.

He read it and she knew he was unsure about the information they were just given, Sirius was wondering if he could truly trust Regulus.

Sirius ripped up the parchment before putting it in his pocket.

"What was so bad about the information of that letter that it deserves to have it ripped to shreds?" James questioned, Octavia shrugged before grabbing some of the roast chicken in front of her.

"It wasn't the information as such, just wary as to if it can be trusted is all." Sirius looked at Octavia and she shrugged again.

"You know where I stand, it's up to you…" she trailed off knowing he would know what she was planning on say next, 'he's your brother.'

"Moony pass the potatoes," was all Sirius said and a pointed look from Octavia made James drop the topic of the letter.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Sir Tiuri** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As for the speed of my writing, I personally don't believe the is the issue at hand, I believe your issue is my posting schedule.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Ah yes the ring of fire, something which may be looked into more in the future. As for Voldemort being interested in Octavia, he is, very much so and has been since the summer after her first year. I always try to reply to reviews, I myself hate it when I don't get a response.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'M SORRY! It's all I can do, but then again my story isn't exactly a fluff piece full of happiness, rainbows and nothing wrong with their world, yet anyway.**


	50. Cabin Fever

Chapter 49: Cabin Fever

"Okay what are we doing out here?" Remus questioned, looking at Sirius and Octavia in particular.

They were currently standing in the Quidditch Pitch during one of their free periods, the rarity that was this year was that they all had the same free period.

"Prongs was saying on the train he wants to know what spell Snivellus used on Snow."

"What does that have to do with anything Padfoot?" James questioned.

"What do you think it means Prongs, it means we know what the spell is."

"So we're out here so we can practise the spell, so we don't do something as stupid as he did and almost kill someone." Remus explained and Octavia nodded.

"The grass is softer then the flooring within the Castle and Sirius and I are hoping that I can stop the fall before someone goes head first to the ground." Octavia spoke and Lilith raised an eyebrow.

"Don't muggles have crash test dummies, shouldn't we use a crash test dummy?"

"Yes Lilith that is a brilliant idea, do you know how to transfigure a crash test dummy?" Sirius spoke, sarcasm lacing his voice and James let out a laugh.

"How about we use Lilith for such a dumb comment?" James remarked and Octavia levitated him.

"How about we use you first for being a prat Prongs," Octavia teased as she moved James through the air.

"Snow put Prongs down," Remus warned and she obliged, slowly lowering him to the ground so he was standing on his feet.

"Thanks Snow," he snapped but she just grinned at him.

"I could have dropped you like last time, fancy another rolled ankle?" she spoke sweetly, Sirius walked over and flicked her head only causing her to growl at him response.

"Honestly what is with you today? You seem to be a raging bitch," Sirius looked at her and then realised. "Ohh I get it, do we need to get you some chocolate?" he teased and Lilith snickered knowing all along what Octavia's issue was.

It only took a couple of seconds for the others to catch on and realise what was happening, James literally burst out in laughter, doubling over in hysterics.

Octavia not quite pleased with the reaction walked over and placed her hands on his face and began warming her hands up, watching him attempt to put away.

"Goddamn it Snow, that burns." James finally managed to pull away and couldn't help but notice the smug look on her face. "What?" he snapped, he faced the rest of them and they all burst out laughing.

"Come on Snow, let's get you to the kitchens before you seriously injure one of the boys." Lilith grabbed a hold of Octavia's arm and pulled her away from the boys, still laughing at a disgruntled James.

"Prongs it looks like you've been slapped across the face," Octavia heard Peter's comment and James followed with a serious of foul words that would have made a sailor happy.

The two of them had just entered the castle, Octavia turned and looked at the other girl. "I'm not that bad am I?" Octavia questioned with a pout and Lilith shook her head.

"The fact that you think that works on me is hilarious."

"I try," she shrugged.

"But no, you aren't always this bad. Sometimes your patience becomes thin and you know how you are with Prongs and Padfoot, you three all pick on each other but when you have your period, well it usually ends with you hexing one of them." Lilith explained.

Octavia nodded before tickling the pears to open the portrait to the kitchens, "but Prongs and Padfoot are a bunch of prats."

"Says the same girl who has a crush on Padfoot," Lilith rolled her eyes before smiling at the elves who had appeared in front of them. "How would you like your chocolate today Snow?"

"Oh, I've got the best idea. Where's Ellie?" Octavia questioned, knowing Ellie was used to their unusual requests now after three and a half years of them.

"Misses Octavia, Misses Lilith, what can I do for you today?" Ellie appeared and gave the two girls a fond smile, Ellie despite knowing full well about some of schemes the Marauders got up to, was very fond of the group of friends, they treated her and the other elves with respect and that was something better than some of the other students.

"Those pizzas we have been asking you to make, instead of the usual ingredients can you put chocolate and marshmallows?" Octavia questioned and Ellie was silent for a moment. "If you can't, chocolate chip cookies are fine."

Ellie gave a slight shake of her head before smiling at the two girls, "no that should be simple enough, come sit and we will start." Ellie grabbed their hands and dragged them over to the table before disappearing, returning moments later with drinks for them and rushing off again.

"That was an odd request," Lilith spoke.

"What I like the pizza Am got us on and chocolate, why not mix the two."

"Hey I'm not complaining, I just said it was odd."

"I just hope it tastes as good as it sounds, because honestly it sounds like it could be an amazing combination."

Lilith laughed at the smile that was on Octavia's face, honestly not surprised by her excitement at trying a new way to eat pizza.

The boys arrived just as Ellie was placing the pizza down on the table, she greeted them all before disappearing, most likely getting them drinks as well.

"Hey, that's mine," Octavia hit Sirius' hands away and he pouted at her. "Don't look at me like that, I thought you were all going to practise that spell?"

"None of us really wanted to be the dummy until we know what exactly happens, now what the hell is that?" James spoke pointing to the pizza sitting in front of them.

Octavia didn't say anything, she just grabbed a piece and took a bite. She looked over Remus and knew straight away that he knew what she was eating.

"Lilith, this is so good." She spoke with a mouthful of food.

Lilith shrugged before grabbing a slice and Octavia pushed the plate closer to Remus, offering him a slice.

"Hey! Why does Moony get some?" Sirius complained, Octavia didn't say anything else, offered some to Peter.

"Okay this is really good Snow, how did you come up with this idea." Peter spoke and Remus nodded in agreement.

"What are you eating?" James questioned but Sirius just narrowed his eyes at Octavia.

"It's got melted chocolate on the pizza, I can smell it." He spoke, his voice low but Octavia just smiled at him before giving a slice to James. "Oh come on that's not fair."

"You flicked my head, why would I give you some of this genius idea?" she responded but he just glowered at her.

"I made you another one when I saw the others arrive, does it taste good?" Ellie questioned placing another chocolate pizza on the table.

"It's amazing, thank you Ellie." Octavia gave the elf a smile, Ellie nodded at them before turning and leaving, going back to her previous task.

Octavia catching sight of Sirius' hand to grab a slice smacked it away, "bad Padfoot," she scolded.

"If you're going to start treating me like a dog-"

Octavia cut him off, "but you are a dog Padfoot."

Sirius let out a growl before standing up, he walked so he was standing behind Octavia and in one swift motion he pulled her up from the table and threw her over his shoulder.

"Enjoy the pizza because Snow here won't be getting anymore," Sirius spoke before carrying her out of the kitchen.

"Where are you taking me?" Octavia complained, knowing it would futile to fight him as he carried her, she was also afraid of struggling against him in case she was dropped.

It wasn't until she noticed that he was heading towards the stairs panic set in, "no please don't carry me up the stairs." She spoke, her voice laced with terror.

Sirius' steps froze at the sound of her voice, he completely forgot about that one incident.

Octavia was nine, the only time she fought back against her father as he carried her down the stairs so she could be dealt her punishment for whatever she did wrong that time, she struggled so bad that Keyon lost his grip and dropped her and in the process, she fell down the stairs.

"Are you going to run away from me?" Sirius spoke softly, standing there in the middle of the Entrance Hall with her thrown over his shoulder, it must have been an odd sight.

"Depends, can I run away from you in the woods?" she spoke, a slight flirtatious tone and his whole body tensed up.

They didn't get the chance to transform into their animals once during the summer, with fear of being caught and there was a full moon just before they returned to Hogwarts, not having an excuse to escape to the woods just yet since they were all getting back into the swing of things.

In the end Sirius decided to place Octavia on her feet, she smirked at him before running off.

Sirius was glad when he heard a laugh come from her before he started chasing her, heading straight towards the Forbidden Forest, both of them looking to see where Hagrid was before sneaking in.

Sirius lost sight of her as he entered the forest, he quickly turned into his dog form and that was when he was tackled to the ground.

It was hours before the two of them returned to their humans forms and returned to the Castle, they entered the Gryffindor common room and instantly collapsed on the floor beside their friends where they were sitting in the corner since all the couches were taken.

"Where have you two been all day?" Peter questioned while Lilith laughed at the sight of Octavia falling asleep against her.

"The Forest," Sirius grinned, stifling a yawn.

"In the middle of the day, what if you get caught?" Lilith spoke, not happy with their adventure but the other three attempted to hide their laughs.

"Don't be like that, so we were blowing off steam. What is the big deal?"

"The big deal is, what if you get caught? I understand why you all did what you did, but risking the secret by going out there in the middle of day when who knows can find you? That's a big risk, what do you think will happen when they find an underage witch and wizard preforming illegal bouts of magic like that." Lilith snapped before standing up and heading towards the girls' staircase.

Octavia's head landed on the ground with a thud and a groan came from her.

"She's right you know?" Remus added in and Sirius shot him a look, before looking at where Octavia was still laying on the ground.

"We've spent six nights out there and now you have something to say about our adventures." Sirius placed a hand on her head and softly stroked her head, "are you alright?" she nodded in response but didn't say anything.

"I appreciate everything you have all done for me, but not in the middle of the day, you could be too easily seen then." Remus spoke, looking at them all.

"Fine, no more day trips, just for you Moony." Octavia spoke softly from the floor before shifting and resting her head against Peter's lap, who just so happened to be sitting closer to her.

It was only there for a second but it was there long enough for both James and Remus to catch it, the look of jealously run through Sirius' eyes as he watched Octavia rest against someone that wasn't him.

The two boys shared a look but didn't say anything, unsure as to what would happen and the fact that Octavia wasn't exactly asleep.

"Isn't it time for dinner yet?" Peter questioned, which was followed by the rumbling of Octavia's stomach and she covered her face with her arms.

"No, sleep…" she complained but they just laughed.

"Come on, you know you're hungry, I'm hungry." James added in, pulling on her hair.

A low growl came from Octavia and they all laughed, they had a feeling that the next person to bug her she would most likely attempt to bite their fingers.

A smirk appeared on Sirius' face and he quickly placed a finger over his lips to let them know to stay quiet, he got up on his knees and in one swift motion he grabbed a hold of Octavia's ankles and pulled her across the floor of the Gryffindor common, a squeal coming from her lips and a burst of laughter from the rest of the students.

"Okay Padfoot that is enough," Remus spoke and Sirius let go of her feet and held out a hand to help her.

Octavia grabbed the hand and he pulled her up, she looked over at Remus she found him pinch the bridge of his nose.

"What's the matter Moony?" she questioned softly.

"You two, first Snow is picking on Padfoot and now he is dragging her around the common room, what is with you two today?" Remus was worried, the moment they shared a look and he was instantly uneasy.

"Cabin fever," they stated together.

"Thank god Quidditch starts up tomorrow, it can't come soon enough." Remus spoke to himself as he left the common room.

"I'm going to grab Lilith and eat dinner with her and Marlene, maybe some of the other girls. You boys are getting on my nerves," she teased softly before going up the girls' stair case.

"You hear that Prongs, we're getting on Snow's nerves."

"How long till she snaps?" James spoke with a grin on his face and they both laughed.

"Should you really do that though?" Peter questioned wearily but James and Sirius just shrugged, well used to pushing Octavia's buttons.

.oOo.

The four boys entered their dorm to find the floor covered in books and Octavia sitting in the middle of it all, they had been in detention for setting fire to Snape's robes while Octavia didn't get in trouble for it because she was sitting with Lilith, in a row ahead of Snape's while the others were behind him.

"Snow what are you doing?" Sirius questioned wearily, watching her crawl across the floor looking at all the books.

"I'm baking a cake, what does it look like doing I'm Padfoot?" she snapped and James laughed before walking over and collapsing onto his bed, exhausted from the manual labour that Slughorn made them participate in.

"Okay Snow, what are you looking for?" Remus spoke as he when to sit on the floor beside her, stopping when she glared at him. "okay where can I sit and can I help?" Octavia picked up some books so he could sit, frantically looking around for somewhere to place them before giving up and handing them to him.

"Is she broken?" Peter whispered to Sirius and he shook his head.

"No just stubborn as a mule and unable to find what she is looking for, the longer it takes the more frustrated she gets and we were just gone for too long." Sirius explained before walking over and sitting on the edge of his bed.

"So what are you looking Snow?" Remus questioned again but she didn't respond at first, she just moved the books around before picking up the map.

"I'm looking for the spell that activates this like I saw in my dream, makes it possible to see the feet moving on it to indicate where everyone is in the Castle." She explained.

"Okay, so you saw it in a dream, of the future. How do you know it's a spell and it wasn't you that did it?" Sirius spoke softly.

"It has to be a spell, all of my magic is based on the same spells that can be performed with a wand, it has to be possible to be done with a wand. My magic doesn't work that way, I need to know the spell." She muttered and Sirius took a deep breath.

"Snow, take a deep breath and stand up for me." his voice was soft as he spoke and she did as he requested. Sirius climbed off his bed and stepped over the books so he was standing in front of her. "Okay, now you are going to leave the dorm and find Lilith while we stay here and look for the spell, you need a break."

Octavia took another deep breath before pressing her palms into her face, "okay, it has to be possible, find it please." She spoke softly before leaving.

Once she was gone, Sirius took a deep breath before sitting on the floor where she was, him and Remus began packing up the books.

"I've never seen her like that before, even when she is incredibly focused on finding something, I've never seen her ramble like that, it was like she lost herself for a moment." Remus spoke, his voice low that only Sirius could hear him thanks to his advanced hearing.

"Neither have I," Sirius responded.

Sirius fell silent, thinking back to the summer when Octavia was placed under the Cruciatus Curse, despite Mr Longbottom claiming that she seemed to be completely fine, could what just happened be a side effect? He knew Dumbledore would know about the attack, surely he did by now, wouldn't Dumbledore also know the possible side effects of the Cruciatus Curse?

But Sirius couldn't go behind Octavia's back, not with something like this especially if for some reason Dumbledore didn't know about the attack she wouldn't be happy if Dumbledore found out because of Sirius.

Andromeda was the only person he knew that would completely understand, the only one Octavia wouldn't be annoyed at for being the truth of the attack and the only one who wouldn't hold it against Amycus.

"Where do we even begin looking for what Snow wanted us to?" James questioned as he and Peter took seats on the floor of the dorm as well.

"I have no idea, I wouldn't even know what type of spell it would be if it's a charm or even if it's possible. I know Snow said she's seen it but as Padfoot said, if her dream is real, how do we know that she didn't charm the map herself?" Remus spoke.

"These look like normal Library books, what if the charm is in the Restricted Section?" Peter questioned and they all looked up at him, before looking back at the books.

Ever since they had discovered that Octavia was a Dreamer that had specialised in Charms, they had been slowly checking out the Charms related books in hopes that they had more information on her, whether or not it mentioned the words 'Dreamers' or 'wandless'.

"Well then, let's hit the Restricted Section tonight and see what we can find." James spoke with a grin on his face and Remus through a pillow at him.

"You hate research and wouldn't even know what to look for, you just want the thrill of breaking into something like that."

"Exactly," he grinned and they all laughed.

Octavia didn't see Lilith sitting on her bed in the dorm like she thought she would be, so she heading up to the sixth year's dorm wondering if Lilith was in there with them.

All the sixth year Gryffindor girls got along, they might not all hang out together but the six girls did get along and they regularly invited both Lilith and Octavia to join them when they spent time in the dorm doing what the boys liked to claim as 'pointless girly crap.'

Octavia knocked on the door, hearing laughter on the other side. When it opened, Marlene was standing there.

"Come in O!" she yelled, bright and cheery and Octavia nodded before entering the room.

"Are you going to let us paint your nails this time Octavia?" Hayley Bennet, one of the Sixth year girls questioned and Octavia nodded.

"Are you alright?" Lilith questioned as she sat down next to Octavia.

"Just need a break from everything," she spoke quietly and Lilith nodded, not pushing for a response, instead picking up the box of nail polishes to find one for Octavia.

"Why am I here again?" James complained, Sirius just ignored James and continued looking for a book.

"Come on seriously Padfoot, we've been in here for ages and don't actually know what we are looking for." James spoke again and Sirius hung his head before turning around.

"I know but she claims there is a way to do what she saw in her dream, I have no idea what we are looking for either." Sirius finally responded.

"So we can go to bed?" he questioned, his face lighting up.

"Yes we can go to bed, maybe we should ask Flitwick, see if he knows a way to track people through charms." Sirius questioned and James nodded as he threw the Invisibility Cloak over the two of them allowing them to leave the library without being caught.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Sir Tiuri** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It's not a posting schedule as such, just normally every couple of days, but no, not every day. As for how Voldemort knew about Octavia being a Dreamer, it will talked about in a future chapter as a theory but it won't be confirmed until much later when I plan on writing a chapter from his side, basically they think he caught sight of her wand or seen her memories. As for Peter, I admit it is really hard writing him in a good light so that may be partially my fault and I apologise but I am trying to show him in a good light to an extent, there is a chapter from him in the works in the future that will hopefully explain his view on things a bit better. As for his time alone, a past chapter explained that they don't question when they need time alone. I don't know about you but I would go insane if I don't have some form of alone time if I was in a boarding school situation, stuck with the same people for ten months of the year.**

 **lizyeh2000** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Ah yes Regulus, the thorn in my side. I keep swaying as to which way I am going to go with him as I write the story, I guess it depends on how my characters go between now and the time when Regulus dies in the story. I know how everyone else is going to end up in this story, except for him.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad to be forgiven and look, nothing bad happens here. I must say, it has been a while since I've watched Hercules and I may have to get on it again sometime soon.**

 **Careaway234** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	51. Green Eyed Monster

Chapter 50: Green Eyed Monster

Sirius stood there at the end of one of the Library stacks, not happy with the scene he was witnessing.

Octavia was sitting at her favourite table, buried deep in the back of the library, but she wasn't alone. No Bertram Aubrey, a Sixth year Ravenclaw, had joined her and Sirius wasn't happy with the fact that he was flirting with her.

Sirius watched as Bertram stood up and left the table, he went to follow him but instead heard Octavia's voice.

"Stop being a creep and bugger off Padfoot."

"Really? That prat?" he replied.

"Now Padfoot…" she growled and he shook his head before looking back over to where she was still sitting at the table.

It was in moments like these that Sirius hated the advanced hearing and sense of smell that both he and Octavia had gained from their animal counterparts, it made it harder for him to keep an eye on her from a distance.

Sirius stood there and watched as Bertram returned, a book in hand, and took his previous seat.

Sirius reluctantly turned and left, having no other option since he knew it would just make things worse if he stayed.

Octavia knew the moment Sirius had left, or at least moved far enough away that she couldn't smell him anymore, she just hoped he had actually turned and left.

"So do you actually need help with Charms?" Octavia questioned and a sheepish smile appeared on Bertram's face and she laughed. "So I take that as a no, do tell. Why are you actually here?"

"Okay so I'm busted," he grinned at her, "well I know this weekend it's the Quidditch Match against both of our houses but next weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend and I was wondering if you would want to go on a date?"

A smirk appeared on Octavia's face and she slightly shook her head.

"Are you sure? I seem to recall how devastated you were last time when I caught the Snitch over you during our last match, how do I know a repeat offence will still warrant a date?" she teased, remembering the look on his face when she caught the Snitch over him.

"Oh, but love, anything to see your beautiful face." He smiled at her and she lowered her head as she felt the blush appear on her face. "So do we have a date beautiful?" he questioned again but Octavia didn't lift her gaze, she continued to stare at her notes in front of her.

"Yes," Octavia eventually responded, hoping that going on dates with other people will help her forget about her feelings towards Sirius.

"Perfect, I have Quidditch practise to get to so I will see you around." Bertram leaned over and softly kissed Octavia's cheek before getting up and leaving her alone at the table.

She wasn't alone for long, it was barely five minutes before she caught a whiff Sirius' scent indicating that he had returned.

"What is your problem Padfoot?" she questioned as he took a seat at the table.

"What do you mean Snow?" he questioned and she looked up at him, he could see the anger brimming in her eyes.

"I mean, you were the one that suggested we date other people to get our parents off our backs, I'm doing that so why do you all of a sudden seem to have a problem with it?"

"He's on a rival Quidditch team Snow."

"But yet we know Frank won't have a problem with that since Isabella is dating McLaggen and he's a Chaser for the Hufflepuff team. Frank won't have a problem with me dating Bertram, so how about this Padfoot, you back the hell off." Octavia warned before collecting her things.

Sirius caught her wrist before she managed to walk away from the table. "What Padfoot?" she snapped.

"I'm sorry okay, I just don't want you to get hurt." His voice was low and all the anger in her disappeared.

"Are you worried about him hurting me or my parents if they don't want me dating at all?" she questioned and she could tell he was troubled by his answer.

"Both…"

"It's one date with Bertram, I doubt you, along with the rest of our friends, will let him walk away if I get hurt and as for my parents, you've always been there. I have to have a normal life, I can't always be afraid of my parents." She spoke before stepping forward and softly kissing his cheek before turning and leaving the library.

.oOo.

"You're looking a little tired there Octavia, you feeling alright?" Octavia nodded, stifling a yawn as Marlene spoke.

The Gryffindor team were currently sitting in their team room before their match against Ravenclaw, they had all gotten changed and were waiting for Frank to begin his pre-game speech.

The previous night was a Full Moon, Remus demanded that the three of them didn't go down to the Shrieking Shack to spend the night with him with fear of something happening to them while they were exhausted during their Quidditch Match.

Octavia being true to herself, went down there anyway but stayed on the other side of the door to him. She laid there all night in her wolf form keeping an ear on things and make sure she was alright.

Just by looking at James and Sirius this morning she could tell they spent the night awake as well, but as for where she had no idea.

She was jealous because now they looked wide awake, mainly because of the Pepper Up potions they had taken but she couldn't stomach them, not anymore at least.

"Couldn't sleep properly last night, I will be fine once I get in a couple of laps with the cold air hitting my face." She gave Marlene a small smile before getting up and walking over to where Sirius and James were sitting.

"You just had to spend the night down there didn't you?" Sirius questioned and she nodded against his shoulder.

"I couldn't let him be alone, not after everything we've done. I didn't go in there, I stayed on the other side of the door."

"I know, I wish you would take the potion though."

"You know why I won't…"

"I know,' he spoke softly before shrugging her off his shoulder, catching Frank walk over towards them to begin his speech. Sirius knew if Frank caught sight of Octavia almost asleep, he may just bench her with fear of her getting herself hurt if she was that tired.

"I'll be fine Pads," she spoke softly when they left the team, she gave him a smile before taking off in to the air.

The match was over and Gryffindor had won, by a landslide but Sirius was worried about Octavia.

When she had landed on the ground beside him, she lost her footing but his quick reflexes managed to catch her before she fell letting everyone realise something was amiss.

"You need sleep Snow," he whispered in her ear and she nodded before leaning against him.

"Never again," she responded.

Attending classes when having no sleep the previous night was nothing compared to playing Quidditch on a lack of sleep, it took everything in her to make sure she was able to keep playing during the game.

"Why the bloody hell didn't you tell me you were exhausted!" Frank yelled as soon as he set foot in the team room, everyone turned around and caught sight of him looking at where Sirius and Octavia were standing.

"Because you would have benched me."

"And I should have, you almost fell off your broom. If I benched you before the game I would have been able to organise someone else to play but during a game? I can't because we don't have any reserves!"

"We won the game," she responded, stepping away from Sirius.

"Winning doesn't mean anything if it's at the expense of your health Octavia! You've already ended up in the Hospital Wing once because of a Quidditch Match, I sure as hell don't want to see one of my players get carried out of the Pitch again!" Everyone fell silent at that comment, not having anything else to say Octavia stayed silent as well. "Next time, I don't care if it costs us the match I will bench you in the middle of a game Octavia!" Frank threatened before turning around and storming into the male's change room, the door slamming behind him.

"Right, you're getting in that shower and then going to bed." Marlene grabbed Octavia's arm and dragged her towards the girls' change rooms.

Octavia didn't even trying to fight Marlene because that was exactly what she wanted, she wanted the hot shower before curling up in her bed to get some sleep.

"Do you think O will-" Sirius' gaze moved from Marlene mid conversation, he could smell the familiar scent that he began associating with Octavia.

He was, still to this day, shocked that he was able to sniff her out amongst this many people. Remus explained it as his dog form was picking up on a pack member but James just threw out in private that it was because he was in love with her.

Sirius finally spotted her, catching the sight of her red hair as she headed up the boys' staircase, something was wrong.

"Sirius?" Marlene questioned, noticing that Sirius wasn't paying attention anymore.

"Sorry Mar," Sirius quickly kissed her cheek before getting up and heading to his dorm.

He entered his dorm room to find Octavia standing in the middle with tear stained cheeks, he didn't even get a word in before she rushed over to him and threw her arms around him.

"What did you see?" he questioned, knowing full well she had to see something in her dream since as far as he knew she was still sound asleep up in her dorm.

Octavia didn't say anything in response, she just buried her face against his chest as the tears began flowing again.

She didn't know how to even begin to explain that she thought her and Sirius would come to share a child one day, she had no idea how it would even come to be but having two separate dreams, one with a girl referring to her as mum and answering to Willa and another one where she stood there and watched as her future self tells Remus that Sirius loves his daughter, his daughter named Willa.

She didn't know how to explain that, she also didn't know how to explain how she had to stand there and watch as their future daughter laid there on the floor screaming out in pain. She didn't even have this daughter yet but witnessing that, it killed her.

Sirius placed a hand on her back and the other on the back of her head and softly ran his fingers through her hair, hoping to calm her down.

"It'll be alright Snow, it'll all be alright. You just need to calm down so we can talk about this." he spoke softly, continuing the action knowing she will calm down in time.

Octavia pulled away from him, looked at him for a moment before shaking her head and pacing back and forth in the dorm.

"Maybe you need to get some more sleep Snow," he suggested, not entirely shocked when she stopped and stared at him.

"No because as soon as I close my eyes I see her there laying on the ground screaming out in pain, I can't take seeing it anymore."

"See who?" Sirius questioned, grateful he now had some idea as to what she had seen.

"Nope, it doesn't matter." She shook her head before walking over and taking a seat on Sirius' bed, pulling her knees up to her chest.

She closed her eyes, hoping to take some deep breathes in hopes of calming down but all she saw was Willa on the floor withering in pain again and silent tears began running down her face again.

She still had her eyes closed when she felt Sirius sit down in front of her on the bed and he cupped her face, wiping away the tears.

"Is everything alright?" Octavia opened her eyes at the sound of Marlene's voice and Sirius removed his hands.

"Nothing just a nightmare, you two can go back to the party." Octavia spoke curling up in the bed, a bitter edge to her voice.

She might have missed it but Sirius caught sight of the look on Marlene's face as he stood up and followed her out of the dorm.

"What's that look for?" he questioned when they were out of the dorm, standing there in the middle of the staircase.

"She didn't seem happy that I interrupted whatever was happening between the two of you."

"You don't need to worry about that, now how about we go somewhere else?" Sirius questioned as he stepped closer to Marlene, following her as she took a step back until she was backed against the wall.

"Seriously, something obviously happened between you and-" Sirius cut her off with a kiss, placing his hands on her waist.

"Do you want to try saying that again?" he questioned, pulling away and placing soft kisses on her neck, grinning when he felt her shift under him to keep her balance.

Marlene gripped his hair and pulled his lips away from her neck, not wanting another hickey on her neck from him. "Alright let's go but you have to stop leaving hickeys on my neck."

"Done," he stated, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the stairs and out of the common room.

.oOo.

"Did you see them?"

"Of course I saw them, everyone saw them."

"Do you think?"

"Wait, who are you talking about?"

"Black and McKinnon obviously."

"What about them?"

"They were caught snogging in the boys' stairwell after the match against Ravenclaw."

Octavia sat there and listened as the fourth years gossiped about Sirius and Marlene and what they supposably did during the celebration party. It was obvious the fourth years had no idea that Octavia was sitting on the other side of the couch.

She had sat there, hoping to hide from the rest of the house since she just wanted a moment alone and the position of the couch blocked her from view and allowed her to hide away between the couch and the wall.

The longer she sat there, the more annoyed she got at what she was hearing.

She stood up and slammed her hands down on the back of the couch, in turn scaring the fourth years sitting there.

"Don't you all have something better to do then sit around gossiping all bloody day?" she snapped before storming off, having enough of having sit there and listen to what the fourth years thought Sirius and Marlene got up to.

.oOo.

Octavia almost cancelled her date with Bertram after having heard that Sirius was once again going on a date with Marlene, she had no idea what those two were doing now but she didn't like it. She knew that they didn't feel anything for each other but it didn't sit right with her.

It was Lilith, who in the end convinced Octavia to keep the date with Bertram, Lilith stated that if Octavia truly believed nothing could happen with Sirius then the only way to get over her so called crush was to spend time with other boys that weren't Sirius, James, Remus or Peter.

Their day in Hogsmeade was almost over and Octavia was glad she didn't cancelled her date with Bertram, she really enjoyed spending the day with him, was glad she had listened to Lilith.

"What happened after the game last week love? You landed after catching the Snitch and practically collapsed against Black." Bertram questioned, giving Octavia's hand a squeeze.

The two of them were walking down Main Street of Hogmeades with Honeydukes in mind as their destination since Octavia claimed she needed some more sweets.

"I was just exhausted, I couldn't sleep properly the night before." She explained, watching as he nodded in her peripheral vision.

"You could have been seriously hurt you know."

"I know, Frank was furious after the game. I was literally thrown into the shower before being dragged back to my bed."

"I don't know why you insisted on playing Octavia," she turned looked at him, with a smile on her face and she batted her eyelashes at him.

"But I had to play, had to prove I can still kick your ass Bertram."

Bertram let out a laugh before letting go of her hand and placing it around her shoulders before pulling her close, "you, my love, have one mean competitive streak."

"Oh come on, I grew up along aside Sirius, I had no choice but to have a competitive streak." She responded with an innocent smile on her face.

"How many people actually believe that look you put on right there?" he waved a finger in front of her face and she laughed.

"More than you think, the fact that you've seen right through it is shocking." She responded while stepping in closer to him, wanting the heat from him knowing she couldn't warm herself up like she normally would with him so close.

"Come on, let's go this way." Bertram led Octavia down one of the side streets, stopping in an alley way that blocked the freezing cold wind that had all of a sudden appeared.

"Now why have you pulled me down here, plan on hiding me away somewhere?" she teased slightly and he shook his head before placing his hands on her neck.

"Not at all love," he spoke, his voice low as he lowered his face towards her, stopping briefly before their lips met giving her the chance to close the gap if a kiss is what she wanted.

Octavia leaned up, closing the gap and pressed her lips against his, grateful when he quickly took the lead.

She opened her eyes and smiled at Bertram when he pulled away, but the smile was only there for a few moments before she caught sight of Sirius.

Sirius made a grab for her arm and pulled her away from Bertram, "what do you think you're doing Black?" Bertram called out but Sirius didn't respond.

"Padfoot," Octavia growled at him but he didn't stop, just continued dragging her along.

"What the hell is your problem Padfoot?" Octavia yelled at Sirius when he finally stopped dragging her through Main Street of Hogsmeade, stopping in one of the clearings.

"My problem? What the hell is your problem openly snogging someone like that in public!"

"You're bloody kidding me right? You have a problem with me dating, I thought once Amycus graduated I would be rid of the stupid older brother act but now I'm getting it from you!"

"Snow…" Sirius spoke, hoping to calm her down.

"What? Are you bloody jealous or something?" She questioned but didn't get a response, "just butt out of my life Padfoot!" she yelled once again before storming off.

Sirius stood there for a moment, contemplating what he's just done before he walked over and punched the trunk of a tree. Once he was done he shook out his hand and flexed his knuckles hoping to get rid of some of the pain.

"What have you done this time Padfoot?" Sirius looked up to find James standing there, he knew there was nothing he could keep from his best friends. James might have seen straight through and realised this straight away but Octavia had yet to see what was happening in front of her.

"What makes you think I did anything?"

"Oh come on Padfoot, I know you, I know about this crush you have on her, I also heard her muttering, 'stupid bloody prat thinking he can dictate my life'." James spoke, preventing Sirius from walking past him.

"Are you going to move?" Sirius questioned, starting to get annoyed by James' actions.

"You butt into her life when she starts dating someone new."

"I didn't realise we began talking about you and Evans," Sirius smirked, not even bothered by James' glare.

"We're not, we're talking about you and your insane jealously whenever Snow starts dating someone new. She won't be able to take it much longer, she will push you away completely."

"You're talking like I'm jealous because she's dating someone else, I know that nothing will ever happen between Snow and I while we are both still living at home. What do you think will happen if our parents find out that we are dating, the only reason they let us remain friends is because we both claim we are just friends.

Regardless of us having an arranged marriage set up, we are allowed to date to a degree, it's why Snow is doing what she's doing but if we do it with each other we won't be allowed to see each other during breaks. I will be prevented from turning up at her house whenever I want during the summer." 'I won't be able to protect her anymore…' Sirius thought to himself knowing it would just raise more questions if he spoke allowed.

"Then what are you jealous of Padfoot, because honestly, it all looks the same to me. You all claim that I get jealous of Lily spending all her time with Snivellus and I do, I admit that, but she won't even give me the time of day."

"I get jealous when someone else has her attention. It's not even because I'm needy or insecure. I just don't want someone else to realise how amazing she is and for them to steal her away from me. I just…really do not want to lose her to someone else. She means too much to me for that to happen."

"That sounds a lot like you don't want her to date to anyone else…"

"She's my best mate, regardless of anything I feel towards her, I just don't want to lose her." Sirius spoke, averting his gaze from James not wanting to let him know just how scared he was that one day he will lose Octavia and he hated that one day it will most likely be his own flesh and blood, his younger brother.

"You won't, you and Snow are the only ones that truly understand how your home lives are. Myself and the rest of our friends have all gotten used to the fact that you both share secrets and we told ourselves it was what made your lives different to ours. Just stop butting into Snow's dating life and she won't leave, you keep butting in and she may just walk." James explained, looking at Sirius wishing more than anything his best mate hadn't perfected the mask both him and Octavia held up on their faces most of the time, he just wished he could have some more insight into what Sirius was feeling and keeping bottled up.

It was only in the rare moments that it slipped, but that was becoming rarer these days as he was trying to hide his feelings towards Octavia.

"Come on, I know where Snivellus and Avery are, let's get some stuff from Zonko's before aiming for them." James spoke, glad to see the gears working away in Sirius' eyes as he formulated a plan.

"Can we get Aubrey instead?"

"Snow will kill us if we do, come on Snivellus and Avery will do."

"You know Evans may be nicer to you if you stop calling him Snivellus," Sirius pointed out, James was silent for a moment, almost as if he had never been told that before.

"It's Snivellus, I will be nice to Blake and everyone other one of her friends, but Snivellus, kill me first Padfoot."

Sirius just laughed before walking off, "come on lets go find Wormtail and search for the snakes."

.oOo.

It was a couple of days after the Hogsmeade weekend and Octavia was searching out Bertram in hopes of apologising for what Sirius did since she didn't have the chance to after she was pulled away from him, she was unable to find him.

"Hi Bertram," Octavia spoke softly as she sat down next to him.

She had found him sitting in one of the empty rooms near the Ravenclaw Tower that the Ravenclaw students usually used when they were studying.

"Octavia, hi," he spoke, sounding startled and Octavia knew why. He didn't expect her to come up to him anytime soon.

"I just wanted to apologise about Sirius, I have no idea why he pulled me away from you." She spoke and he nodded before looking back down at his book.

"You really have no idea why he pulled you away?" he questioned after some silence between the two of them, in fact if it kept going Octavia would have gotten up and left, giving up on the idea of trying to fix things between the two of them.

"He doesn't like you?" she shrugged, "it's Sirius, I'm one of his best friends and I have no idea what goes on in his mind half the time. I really do want a do over with you, that's not how I wanted it to end."

"I didn't either love," Bertram responded, finally giving her a smile.

"I'm glad we got that all sorted."

"Me too Octavia but as for now, I really don't want to be rude but I have Transfiguration test tomorrow morning, can I come find you later?" Octavia nodded, Bertram giving her a smile before he leaned over and softly kissed her. "Perfect."

Octavia smiled at him before standing up and leaving the room, letting him study.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Why not, everyone else does it?**

 **Katie** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Hopefully you're early night wasn't of importance. I also really appreciate you stating that you enjoy my writing style, it means a lot to me since writing has never been a strong suit of mine.**


	52. Broken Hearts and Reassurances

Chapter 51: Broken Hearts and Reassurances

"Have you been in here all day?" Sirius questioned as he entered the hidden room and found Octavia standing in the middle of the room, he looked around, confused at all the furniture being pushed the sides.

"Yeah sorry, been practising my magic." Octavia responded, turning and looking at him and he frowned, noticing how tired she seemed to be.

"Please don't tell me you aren't sleeping again, I thought we were passed your issues with Evans and Blake being in your dorm." Sirius spoke, walking over and taking a seat on the couch, still unsure as to how it ended up on this side of the room considering yesterday it was in the middle where it usually sits.

"No, well I am partially passed it but it's not why I'm not sleeping."

"What's going on Snow?" he questioned but she didn't respond, instead an evil grin appeared on her face and he was unsure as to what was happening.

Sirius sat there on the couch, completely confused as to what just happened.

One minute he was sitting on the couch that was on one side of the room and then all of a sudden it was pushed across the room.

"Do it again," Sirius spoke, realising it was her moving the couch across the room.

"Let's try this instead," she ran over and jumped onto the couch beside him.

"You're not doing anything," he whispered when they didn't move.

"Just give me a minute," she spoke and he laughed before leaning back against the couch and watched her with amusement.

She eventually got it and the two of them went flying across the room, both of them laughing as she pushed the two of them around the room on the couch.

"That's awesome! I can join you?" They heard James' voice and shifted on the couch to look over the back of it and found him standing there.

"Sure, more the merrier." Octavia spoke before turning back around.

Before James could get the chance to take a seat on the couch, Octavia pushed the couch away from him.

A scowl appeared on James' face while Octavia and Sirius burst into a fit of laughter.

This then became the new game, James attempting to join them on the couch while Octavia pushed the couch around the room.

"Okay, seriously, this isn't fair." James complained but Sirius was in hysterics finding the whole thing hilarious while Octavia twisted and laid down on the couch, feeling utterly drained.

"You alright Snow?" James questioned, noticing the look on her face.

"Yeah just used a lot of magic doing that, but I have one more in me if you want to join us on the couch."

She responded, carefully sitting up and making room for James.

The couch came to a stop and James looked over at the two of them with a massive grin on his face. "Okay, that was a lot of fun."

Octavia nodded as she stood up from the couch, her steps faltering as she became dizzy and light headed.

She passed out just as James and Sirius stood up from the couch.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned softly, placing Octavia on the couch.

"What happened?" James questioned, watching as Sirius knelt beside her and brushed the hair out of her face.

"She used too much magic, it pushed her over the edge. She always claimed she just needs to build up the stamina to use her magic but she didn't realise she had used that much magic today."

"Should we take her to the Hospital Wing?" James questioned and Sirius didn't respond at first, just softly stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Hey she'll be alright, just used too much magic. If you are really that worried, let's take her to the Hospital Wing, if Dumbledore knows the truth surely the rest of the Professors know, including Pomfrey."

"Alright then," Sirius stood up and carefully picked her up.

The whole way to the Hospital Wing, Sirius was hoping they didn't run into anyone they knew, or Octavia knew because he didn't know how to explain what happened.

Sirius walked in and placed her on one of the beds near the back, knowing Remus was still in his bed, while James went and got Pomfrey.

When the day following the Full Moon was a weekend Pomfrey was more inclined to keep him in the Hospital Wing longer than if he had classes the following day and since today was a Sunday, he was still in there.

Sirius walked over and pulled back the shades blocking Remus' bed from view and Remus was shocked at seeing Octavia on the bed.

"What happened?" Remus questioned, attempting to get off his bed and move closer to Octavia's.

"We think she passed out from using too much magic." Sirius explained, putting Octavia's hand in his own and he softly kissed her knuckles.

"You really do care for her don't you?" he questioned.

Sirius nodded, "more than you know or more than I thought was possible." Sirius turned his head at the sound of footsteps and found both Pomfrey and James standing there.

"What happened to Miss Carrow?" Pomfrey questioned, James and Remus looked at Sirius knowing he would know how Octavia would want this handled.

"Can you please get Professor Dumbledore?" Sirius questioned and they all watched as Pomfrey looked at Octavia, taking in the strange request.

Pomfrey eventually turned and headed back towards her office, leaving them alone.

"Why did you ask for Dumbledore?" James questioned and Sirius took a seat in one of the armchairs.

"He is the only one we know for sure that knows the truth about Snow, even if Pomfrey did know the truth would she know what was wrong."

Remus walked over and got back in his bed while James walked over and joined him, they all sat there and made small talk.

Sirius could tell Remus wanted to ask what they were doing that caused Octavia to use so much magic but Sirius was glad he didn't because he was unsure as to what Dumbledore would think about the two of them riding the couch in one of Hogwarts hidden rooms.

Sirius took notice as soon as Dumbledore entered the room, Dumbledore headed straight for where they were sitting and took one look at Octavia, before heading back to where Pomfrey was in her office.

The two of them came back out and Sirius gave one last look at Octavia before standing up.

"What happened?" Dumbledore questioned and Sirius looked over at Pomfrey. "Madam Pomfrey does know the extent to Miss Carrow's magical abilities if that is what you are worried about Mr Black."

"She was using her wandless magic, we believe she used too much and that caused her to pass out." Sirius explained and Dumbledore nodded.

"It can happen, especially when they are younger and attempting to learn control of their magic. Dreamers in the past have been home schooled by their parents so they have the time to practise more often. Octavia will gain a better control over her magic in time, there is nothing physically wrong with her she is just exhausted and after a few hours of sleep she will wake up and be perfectly fine. If this happens again in the future she doesn't need to be brought down here, just placed somewhere she can sleep for a little while."

Sirius nodded and looked back over at Octavia, now knowing she was asleep. "So nothing's wrong? She just pushed herself too far." Sirius spoke.

"That is what I believe, remember I haven't seen a Dreamer in real life, just learnt about them. I'm learning their full capabilities just like you all are. The research stated it was common for young Dreamers to collapse from exhaustion after a large amount of magic used, as for if she will be physically fine I'm not 100% sure but Poppy will run diagnostic spells to make sure but this is Octavia we are talking about, she is a lot stronger then we all believe."

Sirius looked over at Dumbledore, it was the way he said the last sentence that made Sirius believe that Dumbledore knew more of what was going on in their home lives than either of them had realised.

When Octavia woke up, she could hear the noise of a conversation happening around her and as she attempted to pull the blanket over her head to block out the noise she realised there was something pinning the blanket down.

"Snow's awake," Octavia cracked an eye opened and found her friends looking at her, quickly taking in her surroundings, she realised she was in the Hospital Wing, again.

"What the bloody hell happened," she complained attempting to sit up in the bed.

"Dumbledore thinks you overexerted yourself." Sirius explained shifting on the bed as Octavia made herself comfortable.

"I feel fine," she argued.

"Octavia it's past dinner, you been asleep all day." She snapped her head around and stared at Peter, finally taking in notice of all her friends sitting around in the Hospital Wing.

"I'm going to get Pomfrey," Sirius spoke as he pulled away from Octavia and headed towards the back.

"I've been asleep all day?" she questioned and they all nodded. "Bloody hell."

"Hey at least it was fun on the couch," James piped in and Octavia laughed.

"The couch?" Peter questioned, looking a little upset at being left out.

"I may have been pushing the couch in our room around," she explained with a smile on her face but Remus just shook his head. "Next time you can join us Worms." She gave Peter a small and he looked eager at joining in.

"No wonder you passed out," Remus concluded and Octavia nodded, looking over where she heard a door shut and saw Pomfrey and Sirius heading their way.

"Miss Carrow, I'm glad to see you are awake, how are you feeling?" Pomfrey spoke as she stood beside the bed.

"I feel fine, still tired but otherwise completely fine." Octavia responded, looking over at Sirius knowing he would have worried worse than the others due to everything else that she has been through.

"That's good to know, I will let Dumbledore know, he will be interested to know you are completely fine. Now you are free to leave and return to your common room as it is almost curfew, next time, don't over work yourself."

"Can't make any promises," Octavia responded and Pomfrey just gave her a pointed look in respond before telling them all to leave.

The Marauders all left the Hospital Wing and started heading back to the Gryffindor common room making small talk, the others catching Octavia up on anything she had missed out on while she was asleep.

It was until Sirius noticed Octavia take a turn, that wasn't the right way that he noticed she was up to something. "Snow where do you think you're going?" he had a warning edge to his voice and Octavia just looked up at him innocently.

"I've got an idea for a prank, but need to find the spell." She responded, hoping that the lure of a prank would get him to agree to her not going back to her dorm.

"Nope, you can search for it tomorrow. Right now you're going back to the common room." Sirius walked over and laced his fingers through hers, making sure she can't take off on him.

Octavia looked over at Lilith, it was like the two girls could read each other's mind, Sirius was acting weird.

The four boys stood at the bottom of the girls' staircase to make sure that Octavia made her way up to her dorm, knowing that Lilith would make sure that she stayed in her bed.

The two girls entered the dorm and heard the conversation from the other two girls in their dorm, coming from the bathroom.

"I still can't believe you are dating Mason O'Conner, how did you manage to score him," they shared a look as Blake spoke, which meant that Evans was dating Mason O'Connor.

Octavia looked at Lilith and shook her head, knowing that the other girl wanted to say something.

"We have Arithmancy together, we've been sitting together in that class and there are also the few core classes we have shared with Ravenclaw."

"But it's Mason O'Connor, I've heard the fourth years gossiping, they are so jealous of you!"

"Oh come on Kara, we both know that the fourth years spend more time gossiping about the supposed relationship going between McKinnon and Black but yet I heard the sixth years talking about how all they do is have sex."

"You're kidding!"

"That's not all of it, he's been seen running off to whatever hidden part of the castle with random girls."

Octavia's stomach dropped at hearing that, she had no idea if it was just a rumour or not but the fact that it was being said at all meant there had to be some sort of truth to it and that hurt.

"Oh god, I would love to see Carrow's face." Blake spoke and Octavia looked at Lilith, seeing the compassion on her face.

Octavia shook her head once again and put her mask up as Evans and Blake turned to leave the bathroom.

"You two finished in there?" Octavia snapped and she could tell Blake wasn't happy with the lack of emotion written all over Octavia face and for once she was incredibly grateful for the etiquette training she had.

At first they didn't move, Octavia just walked over grabbing the quill and parchment off her bedside table, grateful that the one she shared with Sirius was still there.

"Move," she warned, the two girls still blocking the bathroom door.

They moved, knowing who she was and what she capable of and Octavia entered the bathroom slamming the door behind her.

 _O – How much truth is there to the rumours about you and Marlene shagging all over the Castle?_

She sat there on the bathroom floor leaning against the door waiting for his reply.

 _S – Snow…_

 _O – Tell me!_

 _S – Yes_

 _O – So the rumours about you going off with the other girls as well are also true?_

 _S – Yes but Snow you have to understand._

 _O – What is there to understand, you're doing exactly what our parents are letting us do, have fun._

She threw the parchment and quill across the room, it landing on the other side of the bathroom. If it was at all possible for her to ripe that piece of parchment, she would, but the spell that linked them made it impossible.

After a long hot shower she finally left the bathroom, throwing the parchment in her trunk, ignoring the message from Sirius.

She didn't even look at Lilith as she crawled into her bed pulling the curtains closed.

Sirius was sitting with the other boys having breakfast in the Great Hall, they were all waiting for Lilith and Octavia to join them since usually it was the other way round.

"You don't think something is wrong do you?" James questioned.

"They're girls, who knows what is up with them?" Peter responded and Sirius grunted in agreement, still unsure as to what was going to happen after the conversation he had with Octavia the previous night.

He knew the boys knew about what he was doing with Marlene on the odd occasion, even the other girls.

Remus out right refused to even consider going on a date with a girl because of his condition and Peter, well the boys were convinced he was a little behind in that department despite him having two girl best friends. All while James was too busy hung up on Evans.

But Sirius hadn't told Octavia or Lilith what he was up to with the girls of Hogwarts, he didn't see the point. He had left his talk of girls with the boys while he assumed Octavia and Lilith had their conversations concerning boys away from them.

He didn't understand why she was so angry when she confronted him about it.

"Finally," James spoke with a mouth of food noticing the girls enter the Great Hall.

Sirius looked up and locked eyes with Octavia, but she quickly turned her head and grabbing Lilith's arm to drag her further down the table sitting in the spare seats next to a bunch of second years.

"Alright Padfoot, what did you do?" Remus questioned, pointing his fork at the boy in question.

"What makes you think I did anything?"

"Well because despite the fact that Snow and Prongs do fight with each other and get into arguments, it's only when you and Snow fight that the two girls refuse to sit with us." Remus explained and Sirius shook his head.

"I was with you all last night when Lilith and Snow went up to their dorm, what could I have done?" Sirius lied, hoping more than anything that she wasn't actually mad at him because he hates it when those two don't talk.

The other boys took the answer as it was, knowing what Sirius said was true, they all stood there at the bottom of the girls' staircase and watched as Lilith took Octavia up to her dorm and then the four of them went up to their own to spend the rest of the time in there working on homework, Remus was working on homework they were given on Friday while the others were working on homework that was due today.

It was only one day that Lilith and Octavia isolated themselves from the boys, the boys let them be figuring they were just talking about something or wanted time to themselves since it wouldn't be the first time the girls had made jokes about being sick and tired of always spending time with a bunch of boys.

Even though they were all sitting together again Octavia hasn't said much to Sirius, she just kept their conversations class related and she answered his questioned but there was none of their usual teasing banter between them.

"Pads?" Octavia spoke quietly since they were in Muggle Studies.

Sirius looked up at her and blinked in surprise, this being the first time in three days that she had spoken to him first.

"Yes?" he responded and she looked at her book before looking back up.

"I don't get it, I don't get the moving picture thingy we are meant to be reading about."

"You mean the television?" he questioned and she nodded. He pulled the book over so it was resting between them and he began explaining the use of a television.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out, cutting Sirius off from what he was saying.

"Whatever for?" he replied with a smirk and she shook her head. "Its fine, I didn't realise you would want to know about that part of my life. You keep the boy talk to Lilith, so I figured I would do the same."

"You talk boys with Lilith?" she teased and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You're funny Snow, but I means girls with the boys." He spoke, his voice low and warning.

"But Pads, you spend more time on your hair than I do." She continued to tease him and he just flicked his hair over his shoulder and out of his face.

"You're just jealous that my hair is better than yours." He spoke proudly and she just giggled at him before leaning against him.

"Miss Carrow, Mr Black you two better be working back there." Smith spoke from the front of the classroom.

"Now why would we do something like that?" Sirius' remark made Octavia just shake her head knowing the two of them would definitely end up in detention.

"I will see you both after dinner tonight then." Smith responded and Sirius just continued to keep the cocky grin on his face, even has he looked at Octavia.

The two of them left the classroom and Sirius walked over, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry as well, I didn't realise that was something you wanted to know."

"Well no not really, I was just annoyed that I had to hear it from Evans and Blake who in turn heard it from the gossiping fourth years."

"Next time I'll tell you," Sirius leaned over and kissed the top of her head, laughing when he caught the look that seemed like she was sucking on a lemon.

"Please don't, just tell me when you do something different so I don't have to hear it on the rumour mill." She responded and Sirius nodded.

"So Snow, have you had sex?" he questioned, his voice hoarse with fear but she didn't pick up on it, just smirked at him before pulling away.

"Oh Padfoot, you will never hear that one from me," she spoke with the smirk still in place before she turned and made a run for it, knowing full well that he would chase after her demanding an answer.

The rest of their friends were surprised when a puffed out Octavia entered the hidden room, having to stop and place her hands on her thighs as she attempted to catch her breath while moments later Sirius entered behind her, dumping his bag on the floor before running over to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder earning a squeal from her.

"I see those two are talking again," Remus spoke, barely looking up to notice what was happening between the two.

"Maybe Snow should have been a cat instead of a wolf, since they fight like cat and dog." Lilith threw in and they all went back to doing what they were doing before Sirius and Octavia burst into the room.

Since they weren't paying attention to Sirius and Octavia anymore, they had also missed both Sirius and Octavia transform into their animals.

Sirius made his way over before jumping up on the couch and laying his overly large form on top of them all while Octavia just licked the side of Lilith's face earning a squeal from the girl.

"Alright that's enough you two, turn back." Remus spoke, but just leaned forward and placed his head in his hands when James jumped up and transformed as well.

"Why are we friends with them? They're rather immature." Lilith questioned and Remus looked at her.

"No idea, but I'm leaving before a fight breaks out and one of them breaks something again." Remus spoke pushing Sirius off his lap and standing up, looking over at Lilith to see if she was going to follow him.

Lilith decided to follow Remus but before they could reach the entrance Octavia was standing in front of them, blocking their path.

"Seriously Snow, are you honestly going to be this immature?" Octavia cocked her to the side at Remus' comment but a bark behind them distracted her and they both took the time to slip out of the room.

"So are you finally going to tell me what happened?" Remus questioned and Lilith took a deep breath before looking at him.

"Snow found out about Padfoot having sex with Marlene by means of us overhearing a conversation between Evans and Blake." Lilith explained and Remus nodded.

"I see, was she annoyed or hurt by that fact?"

"I want to say annoyed and feel like I'm not betraying her but she wouldn't even talk to me about it so I'm not too sure but the look on her face as Evans said it all, she was completely hurt. I've never seen her look so vulnerable, yes we have all seen moments where her mask has slipped but it was completely gone in that moment."

"They'll be alright Lil," Remus grabbed Lilith's hand and gave it a squeeze. "We all know that they have more secrets then any of us combined, we've heard them say it's the two of them against the world. If Snow is hurt by something like that, she won't let it ruin her friendship with Padfoot."

"I know Moony."

"Padfoot wouldn't either."

"We'll see what happens," Lilith muttered, hoping Remus didn't hear her but he didn't make a response to know if he did or not.

Lilith looked down at where Remus was still holding her hand and felt her face heat up, happy when Remus didn't let go, just moved their hands so their fingers linked together.

Back in the hidden room Peter was sitting on the couch watching the other three animals run around the room, it didn't take long for Octavia to transform back and join Peter on the couch.

"You alright Worms?" she questioned softly and he nodded.

"I'm just so small compared to you three, I can't exactly join in when you all fight like that." Octavia placed a hand on his and softly patted it.

"But that's not you Worms, it's why you are a small animal like the rat. If you were a different animal, a large animal, your personality would be completely different."

"But I'm so different from you all, I over hear everyone talk and they question how I'm friends with you all. Padfoot and Prongs get so much attention from girls, even Moony who tries to shy away from it all gets attention. You and Lilith are stunningly beautiful and guys follow you both around like lost puppies…and then there's me." Peter spoke sounding so dejected and Octavia felt for him.

"But you're so different and you don't have to be like Prongs and Padfoot, those two are prats anyway. Prongs is head over heels in love with Evans but yet she calls him an arrogant toerag and claims she would rather date the giant squid instead of him. I've heard a few girls say a few things about you, Mary MacDonald and Dorcas Meadowes have always said nice things about you." Octavia gave him a smile as he fell silent, taking in the information.

"Budge over mate," Sirius spoke as he and James joined them both on the couch.

"Oh Prongs I have some bad news for you." Octavia spoke, holding in her laugh at the look on his face.

"What is it?" he questioned.

"Turns out Evans is dating Mason O'Connor…"

"Seriously? She's dating that Prat? She calls me an arrogant toerag but yet that guy is a complete and utter prat!" James spoke and they could tell he wasn't happy.

Sirius patted him on the back, "back luck mate. Sorry Worms, we have practise."

"Screw practise, I'm finding O'Connor." James muttered and Sirius and Octavia shared a look.

Octavia shook her head before heading for the entrance, leaving Sirius to deal with James and make sure he made it to practise, knowing Frank wouldn't be happy if one of them skive practise.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	53. What Have I Done?

Chapter 52: What Have I Done?

"Octavia wait up!"

"Come find us later?" Sirius spoke quietly giving her a small smile and continued along the path with the rest of the students, while Octavia turned around and smiled brightly at Bertram as he made his way over.

"I see you're staying at Hogwarts then," she spoke and he nodded before giving her a kiss.

It's the end of term and although they haven't seen much of each other due to both of them studying for their mid-year exams, things had been progressing smoothly for them.

Octavia was enjoying the time she spent with him, also grateful that Sirius had kept his nose out of her business ever since the incident the last Hogsmeade weekend.

"My parents are going to visit relatives in Romania, I wasn't up for spending countless hours at a Dragon Reserve, so I opted to spend Christmas here."

"But spending countless hours at a Dragon Reserve sounds like lots of fun, can I spend Christmas with your family?" she questioned and he laughed.

"Oh god do I wish you were joking but I know you aren't, you are a complete weirdo when it comes animals." She just frowned at him but all he did was wrap his arms around her and pulled her close.

"That's not very nice," she complained but he just grinned at her before softly kissing her.

"You know I'm only joking, so stop pouting." She grinned at him, "seriously why do I put up with you?"

"No clue, but I have to go otherwise I will miss the train. I will see you when I return." She quickly kissed his cheek before running off to catch up with her friends.

"Did you snog him senseless?" Sirius teased when Octavia finally caught up to them but Octavia shot him a glare.

"You're just jealous Padfoot," she stuck her tongue out before linking her arm with Lilith's and pulling her forward.

"Maybe he is jealous Snow," Lilith commented but Octavia didn't respond.

"I heard that!" they both heard Sirius yell out behind them and they both launched into a fit of laughter before rushing ahead, hoping to get far enough away so Sirius couldn't over hear them.

"So did you snog him senseless?" Lilith questioned and Octavia laughed.

"No, the prat made fun of me because of my weird obsession with animals."

"But yet now we believe your weird obsession with animals is because you are a Dreamer, didn't the information you and Padfoot mention something about that? You're even top of Care of Magical Creatures class."

"I know, it's weird sometimes not knowing if what I'm good at or what I'm doing, hell even what I enjoy is because it's who I am or if it's because I'm a Dreamer. Would I still enjoy Charms or Care of Magical Creatures if I wasn't one?"

"No idea Snow, but you are always going to be one from now, it's who you are and we've all accepted that, have you?"

Octavia didn't respond, just fell silent at her and Lilith walked towards Hogsmeade station.

Octavia didn't know how to respond to that question, maybe if it wasn't for Voldemort being so interested in her, maybe if she didn't have her dreams of so much death and destruction and maybe if she can a control of her magic then maybe she would be able to accept the fact that she was the way she was but those three things scare and terrify her.

"Hey it'll be alright, we'll all learning about them just like you are." Lilith spoke softly, giving Octavia's hand a squeeze.

"I know, it's just there is so much going on with it all."

"We will work it all out, let's get on the train and wait for the boys where it will be warmer."

"Does this help?" Octavia wrapped her arms around her best friend and warmed them both up, laughing when she noticed a smile appear on the other girl's face and she enjoyed the warmth.

"Okay now I know why Padfoot always makes a deal about not being able to sit next you." Lilith responded and Octavia laughed once more.

"Why am I making a big deal out of things?" They heard Sirius' voice and the girls turned around to find all four boys standing there.

Sirius noticing the flushed cheeks on Octavia, a small sign that she was generating heat and a scowl appeared on his face as he walked over and hugged her from the other side, "you have to share her you know." Sirius stated.

Lilith scoffed before speaking, "like you do."

"Come on lets get inside before a fight breaks out," Remus ordered leading them all onto the train, but all Sirius and Lilith did was stick their tongues out at each other causing Remus to just roll his eyes at their immature actions.

Octavia pulled away and walked over to the shivering blonde boy and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "come on hurry up and move, some of us are getting cold, aren't we Worms?" she gave him a smile and Peter easily returned it.

They all made their way onto the train and found a compartment, easily falling into a game of exploding snap between them.

"Alright I need the bathroom, let me up Pads." Octavia complained and he reluctantly let her go.

Sirius had been complaining he was cold ever since they had gotten into the compartment and pushed himself to sit beside her so she could keep him warm.

The action didn't entirely surprise her, he had always been on susceptible to the cold and always complained about it.

It was on her way back from the bathroom that something caught her eye, the flash of red hair that indicated Evans was in there.

Octavia has never in the four and a half years she had been at Hogwarts taken notice of who Evans was friends with, apart from Blake, but now looking in the compartment she wasn't entirely surprised to see her sitting in there laughing with her own friends. Although it did surprise her that Snape wasn't in there.

Octavia took in everyone who was sitting in that compartment and knew who they were, mostly they were people who usually turned their noses up at her and her friends, or people like Mary MacDonald and Dorcas Meadows who were friends with everyone, too nice for their own good.

She continued back along the corridor but stopped when another compartment door opened and a body stepped out, she was instantly displeased at the sight of this body. Four and a half years at Hogwarts and most of the Slytherin students ignored her, except Regulus and Makenna, as well as her own siblings when they were still at Hogwarts but this particular person, had shown great interest in her in recent weeks.

"Rosier," she spoke, keeping her face neutral.

"Now, Octavia don't you think we are friendly enough to be on a first name basis."

"Fine, Evan, what do you want?" she questioned and a grin appeared on his face, it was the same cocky, smug grin that was regularly seen on the older Slytherins.

It didn't matter if Octavia trusted Makenna, who was somewhat loosely related to Evan, she didn't trust Evan. The Rosier family were probably one of the last families that weren't so inbred like some of the others, especially the Black and the Carrows due to the fact that they mostly raised males leaving them with no choice but to reach out into the other families. The two of them may have the same surname and be a part of the same sacred family but you have to go back a few generations before you actually find their connection.

"I was hoping I could be graced with your presence," he leaned against the wall, partially blocking the corridor and preventing her from slipping past him.

"Why is that? Our families don't associate with each other, you like the rest of the Slytherin students all but leave me alone while I'm at Hogwarts, why the change now?"

"Heard you were dating Aubrey, didn't realise Black was loosening your leash."

"What's your point Evan, I'm allowed to date despite what Regulus may think. There is nothing wrong with Bertram, he is from a Pure Blood family, just not a sacred one." Octavia spoke, feeling uneasy as Evan pushed away from the wall and stepped closer to her.

"My point is, if I knew you were fair game I would have thrown my hat in the ring." Evan spoke, trying to sound seductive as he whispered in her ear but Octavia just felt repulsed.

She couldn't deny that the angular features and chiselled jaw made Evan attractive, she had heard the rumours through some of the other girls at Hogwarts, she agreed with them when they said he was hot but she also knew the things they didn't, the things about his family or the people he associated with.

Just because her family didn't associate with his, it didn't meant that they didn't associate with common families and information spread through that way.

"I bet Amycus would have a field day with that Evan."

"Amycus and I are friends Octavia or are you forgetting that we were both Beaters for a couple of years, I'm sure he would rather hear of us dating then you and Aubrey." Evan threatened but Octavia just smiled at him knowing the truth, knowing that Amycus knew the truth about her and Sirius about how one day they may pull away from their families completely if Voldemort kept going the way he did.

"I don't think Amycus likes the idea of me dating anyone, being his baby sister and all. You should see the looks he gives Regulus across the dinner table." Octavia lied, knowing that Amycus had no problem with the youngest Black, Amycus had no problem with either of the Black brothers. Octavia just wished the Black brothers didn't have a problem with each other.

"We'll see about that," Evan's voice was low as he lowered his head.

Octavia attempted to back away from Evan, but him placing his hands on her arms prevented her from walking away because he was stronger.

Evan pressed his lips against her, kissing her.

Octavia attempted to push against his chest but she wasn't strong enough, she felt and heard him chuckle at the action.

"Oi Rosier!" Evan finally pulled away and Octavia was thankful Regulus had appeared. "Get your hands off her," Regulus snarled and Evan finally let go of her.

"Come on now Black, if you're sharing her, why not send her my way? At least keep her within the house."

"Who said I'm sharing her?" he spoke, his voice low and commanding.

Evan nodded before turning around and walking away, until that moment Octavia had no idea how much control the Blacks had within the Slytherin house but she supposed with the more powerful and influential families like the Carrow, Malfoy and Lestrange having no current children in the house left most of the control to Regulus, despite him being a fourth year.

"Are you okay?" he questioned softly, turning and facing her.

"I am now, thank you." She gave him a soft smile.

"Come on, lets return you to my brother before he accuses me of doing something." Regulus turned and started walking but she quickly reached out and grabbed his hand to stop him.

"What did you mean by 'who said I'm sharing her'?" she questioned and Regulus looked at her before hanging his head and scrubbing his face, this being the first time in so long that she hadn't seen him so composed.

"Do you really want to have that conversation? I've heard both you and Sirius make jokes at my expense at how possessive I can be, especially when it comes to you, so no I'm not happy that you are dating that Aubrey fellow from Ravenclaw but I also know you, if I tell you that you can't do something you most likely will." Octavia nodded, knowing that what he said was true.

"Come on O," Regulus spoke softly once more and she stepped forward to link her arm through his out stretched one, hoping that if Evan was hiding around somewhere Regulus would provide some form of security.

"For what it means, I was told I was allowed to do what I want while we are at Hogwarts." Octavia spoke softly, noticing the tense jaw of Regulus.

"I know, I was told the same thing, but I've always been this way, you know this."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry O, come on which compartment?" Regulus questioned and Octavia took the lead, opening the compartment instantly knowing that her friends were worried at what took her so long.

"What's going on here?" Sirius questioned, not like the closeness between Octavia and Regulus.

"Just doing my heroic duty and making sure O here makes it back to her compartment in one piece," Regulus spoke, smirking at Sirius before he turned and faced Octavia. "I'm sure I will see you later tonight, stay safe O." Regulus kissed Octavia's cheek before he turned, allowing her to enter the compartment fully.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Sirius questioned but Octavia let out a laugh.

"Reg was just messing with you Pads, I ran into him the corridor on my way back and he decided to mess with you."

"Then what took so long Snow?" Peter questioned.

She shrugged, "we're girls, we have a habit of taking forever. Now who's winning Exploding Snap?" she quickly questioned hoping for a change of subject but she caught Sirius' eye and did the only thing she could think of that would get him to drop it, she mouthed later.

It wasn't until after dinner that night, it being the usual welcome home from Hogwarts dinner that the Black and Carrow families shared, that Sirius was finally able to confront Octavia about what happened.

"Alright so what really happened with Regulus today?" Sirius questioned as they entered the living room and she shook her head before taking a seat in front of the fire.

"I don't even get five minutes of peace do I?" she questioned, looking over at him and noticing the face. "I ran into Evan Rosier, he may have made some suggestive comments before kissing me and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't push him away. It was only when Regulus turned up that he finally stopped."

Octavia watched as Sirius' jaw locked before he stood up to leave but stopped when the door opened revealing Regulus.

"Thank you," Sirius spoke and Octavia stood up, unsure as to what would happen between the two brothers.

"I didn't do it for you brother, I did it for her. You feeling better O?" he questioned and she nodded. "Good to hear, I actually came to tell you we are leaving Sirius."

"Go home Sirius, we'll talk later." Octavia spoke noticing the standoff the two brothers were having, he nodded before turning and looking at her and she could see the troubled look in his eyes.

She knew he wanted to talk more about what happened with Evan but he had to go home, he had to go home, she would sneak up to her room and sit by her parchment and wait for his response.

.oOo.

"What are you doing here Padfoot?" James questioned when Sirius appeared out of the fireplace along with his trunk.

"I just couldn't take with them and their ways anymore, I had to leave. I just couldn't sit there at the bloody dining table for one more minute and listen to them go on and on about how perfect this bloody Voldemort person is!" Sirius yelled before throwing himself down onto the couch and scream out in frustration into the cushion his face was buried in.

"Not that I have a problem with it, we should probably check with my parents as well but what about Snow?" James questioned and Sirius instantly sat up.

"Holy fucking shit…." Sirius' face paled at the thought of Octavia stuck at home after what he did.

"What is it Padfoot?"

"I can't believe I didn't even think of Snow in all of this, our families are close, incredibly bloody close and me taking off won't end well for her because they will assume she knows where I am."

"How bad will it get?"

Sirius fell silent, unsure as to what will happen if he tells James. For years both him and Octavia decided it was better to not tell their friends, but now, maybe he had no choice especially now he walked out of his house after telling his parents where to shove their ideals.

"Very bad, my parents haven't touched me or aimed their wands at my brother or I since we were young but Snow, god her parents still hit her and use their wands. Godric how could I be so bloody stupid to not think of her when I pulled this fucking stunt." Sirius placed his face in his hands while James sat there in shock.

"You mean her parents hurt her, both her mum and dad?" he questioned and Sirius nodded in response. "What about her brother and sister?"

"Well yeah when they were in trouble they did as well."

"No I meant do they do treat her the same way?" Sirius finally lifted his head and looked at James, he wasn't even sure if he should repeat this but if it helped get her out of her house then maybe…

"They have a couple of times…"

"Physically or magically?"

"James…"

"Don't start Sirius. I need to know how bad it will be for Snow, we need to know if she needs to get out of that house and if she does we need to come up with a way to get in there and get her out. How bad can it get?"

Sirius looked at James and took a deep breath, he had no idea how James will react to what he was about to say.

"I know they've both caused her copious amounts of pain."

"Bloody hell…" James spoke before leaving Sirius alone in the living room.

"This is where Snow grew up?" James questioned when they stepped out of the fireplace.

They were currently standing in the Carrow family home, it was early in the morning and they were planning on getting Octavia out of her house and back to the Potter's. Sirius told James that the later they went the better to make sure that both of her parents were asleep.

"It is, we have to be quiet otherwi-" Sirius was interrupted by the sound of a crack and a house elf was standing in front of them.

"Mister Sirius what are you doing here, with an unknown guest at that." The elf looked at James, wary of his presence but Sirius instantly recognised the elf.

"Dinky, we came to visit Octavia." Sirius spoke and the elf shook her head.

"Misses Tavia isn't suitable for guests at the moment." Dinky spoke and Sirius instantly noticed the familiar pained expression on her face.

Dinky really cared for Octavia and was always upset herself when Octavia was in pain caused by her parents but there was nothing Dinky can do about it because she was under the control of Octavia's parents.

"Is she okay Dinky? You've come and got me before when it was bad, how bad is it?" Sirius pleaded with the distressed elf, he knew he was in no place to get information out of her when he didn't own her in any shape or form.

Dinky shook her head as the tears welled up, "No Mister Sirius, she is not but I was told by Mistress and Master that she was to have no visitors."

Sirius got down on his knees so he was face to face with Dinky, he just wanted to make sure Octavia was safe. "We just want to take Octavia somewhere safe, will you let us? Will you let us help and protect her?"

They both watched as Dinky twisted her ratty apron in her hands before turning and looking behind her, almost as if she had heard something.

"Okay, come quick." Dinky spoke before turning around and rushing out of the room.

Sirius tilted his head to get James to follow him and Dinky and the three of them made their way up to Octavia's room.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect her Mister Sirius."

"It's okay Dinky you did the best you could and you helped her once it was done as always yes?" Dinky nodded. "Then that's all we could have asked of you and Octavia will be thankful for what you have done."

"I love Misses Tavia very much." Dinky gave a teary smile before disappearing with a crack.

Sirius' hand hesitated on the door handle for a moment. "Are you alright Padfoot?"

"I will be once Snow is out of here, it must be that bad that they ordered Dinky to not come and get me because Dinky has always gotten me in the past." Sirius opened the door and they both entered Octavia's room.

"Oh god Snow…" Sirius spoke softly as he rushed towards her bed.

Octavia was covered in bruises as well as welts from burns all over the exposed skin, when she moved in her sleep it was obvious she was in pain by the expression on her face.

"What do we do?"

"Let's just get her out of here and then worry about that," Sirius pulled out his wand and pointed it at her, he hoped silencing her will prevent whatever screams will come out of her mouth when they begin moving her.

"Do I want to know why you silenced her?"

"No, come on help me carry her."

"Won't it hurt her?"

"Hence the silencing charm Prongs, we don't need to alert her parents. Dinky won't tell on us, she loves Snow more than her parents. Worse case scenario is she tells them that I turned up and took Snow, that's all she knows." James nodded and moved over to help Octavia out of her bed.

Sirius was grateful that the charm worked, Octavia's mouth was opened but there was no sound coming out. Sirius noticed the alarmed expression on her face, it killed him to see her like this.

"We're getting you out of here, it will be okay. I silenced you so your screams won't wake your parents, okay?" Octavia didn't do anything of recognition, she just leaned against Sirius and allowed him and James to get her out of there.

They managed to make it back to the Potter's without incident and Octavia was resting on the couch while James and Sirius were pacing while trying to work out what to do with her, they needed to find a way to heal her without taking her to St Mungo's.

They may have been practising their healing charms but the extent of Octavia's injuries were so severe compared to what they were used to having as a result of being out during a Full Moon.

"God why couldn't my mum be a Healer instead of working in the Ministry…" James complained but Sirius perked up.

"That's it!"

"What is?" James questioned, unsure of what Sirius had finally come up with.

"Lilith's dad is a Healer," Sirius looked over at Octavia, "now is the fireplace to their house the same as the Potters, you just say Longbottom Manor?" Octavia nodded.

They still had the silencing charm placed on her, they didn't want to wake up James' parents in case they fretted over Octavia especially because they would just force her to go to St Mungo's and that was the last thing Sirius wanted.

Hell even James had questioned it as soon as they made it back to his house but Sirius instantly shut it down explaining how they knew Octavia's parents had connections within St Mungo's and it's how she was healed in the past. James took the answer, saying it made sense and decided against St Mungo's

"Are we moving her again?" James questioned and Sirius nodded but there was another alarmed look on her face.

"I'm sorry Snow but we have too if you want to feel better." Sirius explained as he walked over and carefully pulled her up so the two of them entered the fireplace with James trailing behind them.

When they stepped out on the other side they were met by another house elf.

"Does Lilith Longbottom live here?" James questioned and the elf nodded.

"I'm James Potter and this is Sirius Black and Octavia Carrow, we are friends of hers from Hogwarts. Can you please get her for us, it's an emergency?" the elf looked at where Octavia was leaning against Sirius, having trouble standing up on her own.

The elf didn't say anything, it just disappeared. They had no idea if the elf was getting Lilith or not and they were unsure as to if they should just step back through the fireplace.

Just as they were about to give up and leave Lilith finally entered the room yawning, but she clearly fully woke up at the sight of Octavia.

"What happened?"

"It's a long story where's your dad?"

"He's not home, he's at St Mungo's for the night. He doesn't finish till 3."

"Lucky for us it's almost 3, we need him to heal her but we can't take her to St Mungo's. We can trust your parents yes?"

"I don't know guys…" Lilith looked a little unsure of her parents agreeing to this.

"You've understood better than anyone about the ways of our families because your grandmother came from one of these families, surely you understand what their form of punishment would be. They did this to her because I took off, you have to help her. Please Lilith, we can't take her to St Mungo's because we all know which side her parents are on and we don't know who is inside St Mungo's." Sirius pleaded with Lilith but before she even had the chance to respond the fireplace lit up.

"What's going on here Lilith?" Mr Longbottom spoke, clearly annoyed with the unwarranted guests early in the morning.

"These are my friends from Hogwarts, they came to ask us for a favour." Lilith explained and they watched as Mr Longbottom walked around and stood in front of the three of them, his eyes lingered on Octavia, the boys hoped that the part of him that always needed to help the injure will win over the need to take her to St Mungo's.

"Octavia what have you gotten yourself into now?" he questioned and the boys exchanged a look, they weren't sure what was going to happen.

"I don't know what's going on daddy, the boys were just about to tell me." Lilith and the boys looked at Mr Longbottom, filled with hope.

"Alright come on put her on the couch and I will see what I can do." He ordered and relief washed through the two boys, grateful that she can get the help she desperately needs. "Am I right in assuming she has a silencing charm on her?" the boys nodded. "Good I don't need to wake up Frank or Augusta."

"Thank you so much for this Mr Longbottom." Sirius thanked him.

"You're welcome but I do hope I get an explanation after this, Lilith why don't you take the boys into the kitchen get them something to drink while I work."

"Of course daddy," she gave him a smile before grabbing each of the boys' arms and dragged them into the kitchen.

"Dad might not be too curious as to what happened for now but I sure as hell am." Lilith questioned when she placed the tea on the table they were sitting at.

"After some much arguing with my parents I took off, I'm assuming my parents went to hers and in turn they turned on her. They would have assumed that Snow knew where I was."

"Wait Snow's parents did this to her?" she questioned, the shock on her face clearly evident and Sirius nodded. "How long?"

"Well she's fifteen, so fifteen years."

"Bloody hell why didn't she come to us? My parents would have taken her in."

"Mine as well but I think there is more to it then what Padfoot is telling us." James added and Sirius nodded.

"She loves her family, once she's healed she'll claim she has to go home. Her cutting her family off completely will be hard, just when she's about ready to cut them off one of them does something to redeem themselves. When Alecto was hexing her Amycus was on the sidelines trying to protect her, when her father did something to her Alecto was there to help her."

"But she clearly knows what side they're on and is on the other side."

"She knows this but regardless she loves her family."

"But they treat her like shit Padfoot, how can you let her go home to that every break!" Lilith yelled before standing up and pointing a finger at him.

"Because I had no choice! It was either that or she cut me off completely, with her cutting me off I stopped getting told everything. I've been trying, slowly over the years to convince her that once we could we'd be gone and away from our family but it's been hard. What would you have done in my spot Lilith?" Lilith sat down realising that Sirius was right, she knew him well enough to know that he would do everything he could to convince her what was going on.

"What else don't we know?"

"Remember that summer before second year when we didn't hear from her the whole time?" Sirius questioned and watched as they were quiet, thinking back to that summer.

"Isn't that the same summer she got that scar?" Lilith responded.

"It is, we also didn't know where she had gotten it and she was acting very odd the first few weeks of term." Said James.

"You're both right, she spent that summer with Voldemort, that scar on her arm is from him. She had her parchment with her but was too terrified to pull it out. Her parents happily handed over an eleven year old to someone like him."

Both Lilith and James stared at Sirius like he had grown a second head, neither had any idea as to what to say. Hearing that Octavia's parents abused her but hearing that they happily shipped her off to spend the summer with Voldemort disgusted them.

"She's not going back there." James spoke sharply and Lilith nodded in agreement.

"I know but we have to convince her she's better off somewhere else."

"Has she ever been this bad before?" Lilith questioned and Sirius shook his head before standing up and heading to the doorway and looking in on where Mr Longbottom was working on Octavia.

"Do I get to hear the full story this time Sirius?" he questioned and Sirius stepped closer to the couch, knowing James and Lilith were trailing behind him.

"I honestly don't know what happened this time, I took off and went to James', we then went to hers in attempts to remove her from her house in hopes that her parents hadn't turned on her yet but they had."

"What about what happened during the summer, what truly happened?" he questioned, briefly looking up at him.

"Like she said, Cruciatus Curse from Death Eaters except we know which Death Eater it was, it was her brother Amycus." Sirius heard the gasps from behind him and she looked down at Octavia, noting she wasn't conscious anymore.

"Why wasn't I told of this, or the Aurors when she was in St Mungo's?"

"Dad why didn't you tell me that O was in St Mungo's during the summer?" Lilith spoke, cutting into the conversation, completely shocked that her father had kept the information from her.

"Because your friends asked me not to, Sirius?"

"Both O and Amycus claim that if he didn't do it, Voldemort would have killed him on the spot, in the long run that would have hurt her more. He's the only one that has been protecting her in the family, he's the only one that hasn't turned on her for his own choice, he did what he did because he was requested to, he thought that in long run it won't hurt as much for her." Sirius explained and he felt Lilith grab his hand, softly rubbing her hand up and down his forearm.

"Very well, it's not like I can exactly tell the Aurors what happened now, after four months because it will look bad on me. Now Octavia will be just fine after some rest, healing and sleep, she will be in a great deal of pain. Now am I right in assuming that she has been abused by her parents her whole life?" Mr Longbottom stood up and faced Sirius, he nodded. "Any reactions to pain potions?"

"Yes, but they just make her tired, if she's in enough pain she will take them but she definitely can't take Pepper Up potions, they make her violently ill. You won't tell anyone she's here will you Mr Longbottom?"

"I will keep that in mind, no I won't tell anyone if it means she won't be taken back to that house. Now I understand you two will be spending some time here until Octavia is well enough to move and decide where she would like to stay, so please call me Liam."

"I'm staying with the Potters now, so most likely." Sirius explained and Liam nodded.

"Very well, for now you are to either go home to get some sleep or use the guest room upstairs. Octavia will be fine here on the couch, I will be sealing the room so no one can get in and disturb her."

Sirius nodded before walking around the couch and softly brushing the hair out of her face, softly kissing her forehead before heading upstairs with James.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **So here you have it, both Sirius and Octavia have left their homes.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. But you and I both know he did it.**


	54. The True Sense of Family

Chapter 53: The True Sense of Family

It was two days before Liam decided Octavia had healed enough to decide where she wanted to stay for the rest of her recovery, the only reason she said the Potters was because Sirius would be there, and she felt safer around him.

She was still placed on a number of pain potions, since she was still in pain and spent a lot of the time sleeping but at least she was able to move now without being in a ridicules amount of pain.

Octavia opened her eyes and found her friends sitting on the couch Euphemia had transfigured in the room, this was a usual sight. Ever since she arrived at the Potter's she had been waking up to a combination of James, Sirius and Lilith in her room, they were all worried about her and were spending most of their time in the room keeping an eye on her but this morning Remus had joined them.

"I'm guessing you've told him everything," she muttered, carefully rolling over. They all knew she was referring to Remus.

"Well turns out he already knew about the abuse," James snapped and moments later Octavia heard the soft thud of someone hitting him with a pillow.

"I told him I was getting abused at home in exchange for him telling me he was a Werewolf, but he didn't know everything. How much have you told them Pads?" Octavia opened her eyes again and stared at the glass of water sitting on the bedside table, she wanted it but didn't have the energy to lean over.

Sirius noticing the stare stood up and grabbed the glass for her, he sat down beside her and helped her drink from the glass. This was the worst he had ever seen her but then again she was on a large amount of pain potions.

"I started to but they were asking so many questions, I figured it would be best to wait until you were awake, it will be better coming from both of us." Sirius explained placing the glass back on the table.

"Sounds fair, where are we starting?"

"Why did you feel like you couldn't trust us?" Lilith questioned and Octavia laughed.

"Jump right into the big one why don't you, it's more that we didn't trust you because we do there but is just so much more to it. Prongs' parents work within the Ministry, Lilith's dad works in St Mungo's, the last thing we wanted was for one of our parents' connections to realise where we are and put your families in danger. We both knew that if you knew the truth you would force us to move out. It's honestly not been this bad in the past."

"Padfoot mentioned something about copious amounts of physical pain from your siblings."

"Alecto has perfected a non-verbal spell that causes physical pain, she hasn't used it on me for years but first year I had it a couple of times from her and then during the summer Amycus used the Cruciatus Curse on me, it was either that or Voldemort would have killed him then and there." She didn't look at her friends as she spoke, not wanting to see the looks on their faces but she knew them well enough to know what they were thinking.

They all sat there on the beds for pretty much the whole day asking Sirius and Octavia their questions and letting them explain their actions or answer.

Octavia had fallen asleep against Sirius, preventing him from leaving the bed but he was shocked she managed to stay awake for as long as she did.

"We need to keep her away from there Padfoot," Sirius looked up as Remus spoke, not realising he had come back in the room.

Remus, James and Lilith had left with the idea of heading downstairs and getting some food, but it seems as though Remus had a different plan.

"You don't think I know that Moony, I just don't know what to say to convince her otherwise. I was lucky I got her to agree to us running away the moment I turned 17 if I didn't get everything." Sirius explained as Remus took a seat on the end of the bed.

"You'll work it out, Lilith stated that she wanted to stay here because you were here, she needs you. I have to head home, I will try and come back tomorrow." Sirius nodded and looked back down where Octavia was asleep against him. "You got her out of there and Liam said she will heal, that's all that matters."

Sirius shifted down the bed and laid beside Octavia, letting her get comfortable against him. He needed to find a way to convince her that it will be best to stay out of her family's home, he hoped her fear for being alone with her parents will help.

"I don't want to go home," Octavia mumbled softly.

"No one will force you," Sirius softly kissed her forehead, carefully placing his arms around her.

.oOo.

"Where are we going Padfoot?" Octavia grumbled as Sirius walked beside her down the stairs.

Octavia still had a few cuts and welts on her body, those ones were taking longer to heal because they were deeper than the others but Liam kept reassuring them all that she will be just fine, just needs time to heal.

Sirius had entered her room and told her to shower and get changed because he had plans for them today but refused to tell her what.

It wasn't until they were standing out the front of the Potters and the Knight Bus turned up and Octavia pulled on Sirius' arm.

"Where are you taking me Pads?" She questioned, Sirius turned and placed a hand on her face, softly stroking her cheek.

"Not home, I promise it will be fine. Come on." Sirius spoke, hating that she was terrified of leaving the house.

Octavia nodded and grabbed Sirius' hand as he led them on the Knight Bus, handing over the money and the address and she was utterly confused.

She had no idea where she was going and that partly scared her but she trusted Sirius, what she didn't like was the stares she was getting from the other riders on the bus but she just hoped it was because they knew she was a Carrow and Sirius was a Black.

"Come on, this is us." Sirius squeezed her hand to get her attention and led her off the bus.

Octavia was confused, from what she could tell, they were standing in a completely normal and muggle neighbourhood.

"What are we doing here?"

"Come on, where is your inner Gryffindor?" he teased but she just narrowed her eyes at him before pulling her hand free from his.

Sirius knocked on the door and when it opened, it revealed a man neither of them had seen before but he smiled brightly at them.

"You two must be Sirius and Octavia, come in." he spoke and stood to the side while Sirius pulled Octavia in.

"Sirius," she hissed but he stopped for a moment, a little shocked at hearing his name after the last couple of days but just shook his head and kept walking.

"Who would have thought Octavia was scared of an adventure," Octavia looked at Sirius before turning around and looking at where Andromeda was standing.

"Dromeda it's so good to see you," she walked over and hugged Andromeda, automatically tensing up when pressure would put on sore spot on her back.

"Its good to see you as well, though I do wish you were in a better condition," Andromeda placed a hand on Octavia's chin and turned her head to get a better look at her neck, noticing the bruise and welt. "What happened?"

"He took off and I got the fallout." Octavia explained, laughing when Andromeda gave Sirius a look that said it all.

"So I made a mistake and didn't think through as to what would happen, but you've been saying for too long that we both needed to get out."

"Not at the expense of either of your health's."

"Mummy who are they?" Octavia looked down at the sound of the young voice and found a little girl standing there pulling on Andromeda's pants.

Octavia gave Andromeda a smile before kneeling down so she was face to face with the young girl. "Hi my name is Octavia and that over there is Sirius, what's your name?" she questioned.

"Nymphadora, you have pretty hair." Nymphadora spoke as her hair changed colour, to a colour to match Octavia's shocking both her and Sirius.

"You won't tell anyone?" was all Andromeda said, Octavia looked up at her.

"Never, you're family."

"Still can't believe you named her Nymphadora," Sirius muttered.

"Better than a dog," Nymphadora spoke and Octavia couldn't help but laugh while Sirius looked down right annoyed.

"You told her to say that didn't you?" he grumbled and Octavia still laughed, even as Nymphadora grabbed her arm and pulled her into the other room.

"Nymphadora, be careful with her," Andromeda warned before walking over to where Sirius was standing, "I knew you would make a comment about her name, how is she doing?"

"I honestly have no idea, despite our friends now knowing what we have been keeping from them all these years, it's a habit to not question some things in front of them. That and she's been sleeping a lot because of the pain potions, she stopped taking them yesterday and it's why I wanted us to come out today, get her out of the house."

"She's gotten so good at perfecting her mask I can't even tell anymore like I used to be able to with you two, should I be worried about her wanting to return home?" Andromeda questioned, looking at where Octavia was sitting on the floor playing with Nymphadora.

Sirius knew how similar Andromeda and Octavia were, Andromeda loved her family and knew it would have killed her to leave them for her marriage with Ted. Sirius knew if anyone could get Octavia to see reason in regards to her family it would be Andromeda, it was partly why he wanted this visit to happen before they returned to Hogwarts.

"I am, I'm surprised I got her to agree to run away the moment I turn 17 if I don't inherit everything. I just don't know what to do to help her see reason, yes this is the worst she's been hurt but it's always the same, she still loves them. I've gotten Amycus to agree to convince his parents that they're better off without her when she decides to leave, but I have to get her to want to leave them." Sirius spoke and Andromeda nodded.

"Come on, let's have lunch and then afterwards I will get Ted to take Nymphadora to his parents' house so we can talk properly because she is too curious for her own good."

"A Gryffindor in the making," Sirius spoke proudly but followed Andromeda into the kitchen.

Lunch was finished and true to Andromeda's word Ted had taken Nymphadora off to his parents' house leaving Sirius, Octavia and Andromeda to talk freely.

"What was the final straw for you to leave Sirius?" Andromeda questioned.

Octavia looked over at Sirius, she wanted to know as well but every time she tried to ask he would just say later, it didn't help that their friends were around a fair bit.

"It was the usual blood supremacy things but they kept going on about how I should make myself known to Voldemort so I can get my task since I turn 17 next year. I told them I wouldn't and it went downhill from there."

"What would you have done if Voldemort had given you a task? I know you mentioned something about being at a party with him this past summer."

Octavia looked at him once again, they both knew that not everyone would be as lucky as her.

"No idea, doubt I would be as lucky as O."

Andromeda looked at Octavia, "what does he mean O?"

Octavia took a deep breath, "he means I got my task from Voldemort when I was 11, just before my 12th birthday. I've refused twice and only been tortured out of it."

"Why? You read about it all the time, people who defy him end up dead."

"Because he wants me, he worked out I was different from everyone else, he worked out the one thing I've tried incredibly hard to hide from everyone, especially my parents."

"What is that O?"

Octavia hesitated, she trusted Andromeda, both her and Sirius did because it was why they were here. Andromeda obviously trusted them since she let them know about Nymphadora and the fact that she was a Metamorphmagus.

"I'm a Dreamer."

"That's something different," they could see the shock on her face, wary as to what would happen next. "How did he work it out?"

"I can only assume he saw my wand that summer I was out in the woods with Bella and Alecto. Rumours are that he is an extremely skilled Legilimens, so if he got into my mind he would have seen the moments when I didn't have control over my magic."

"What about now, do you have control?"

"I'm slowly learning, the ones that were the worst to begin with I have control over and the rest is slowly falling into place. I just don't know what is going to happen once I graduate, Voldemort told his inner circle not to repeat my nature to anyone and Dumbledore knows, I'm unsure as to what will happen and if I will have to register like a werewolf would."

"O I believe with the way our lives are right now, it won't be requested of you. Dumbledore may protect you, just focus on the war so you and all your friends get out safe and sound."

Octavia looked over at Sirius, her heart breaking knowing that in one possible future James and Peter won't make it out of the war alive and that terrified her.

"We'll change it, don't fret on that, I already told you I won't betray any of you." Sirius spoke, knowing exactly what she was thinking.

"What am I missing you two?" Andromeda questioned, noticing the look shared between the two.

"I've seen an outcome of the war and not all of our friends make it out alive and Sirius betrays us."

"Now come on, even I believe that is a bit farfetched. After everything you two have been through Sirius has stuck by your side, even after he left his own home, he risked his life to get you out. Don't believe for a second that he will ever betray." Andromeda spoke and a grin appeared on Sirius' face.

"It's not me he betrays, he betrays the ones who end up dead." Octavia explained, looking away from them both.

"I don't believe it though, this is Sirius. If it wasn't for those dreams would you ever believe he would do that?"

"No."

"Exactly, so just forget about it, focus on the present. I can't imagine what you go through when you see those things but don't focus on them, focus on the present with hopes of changing it all. Save your friends, keep them close and don't ever think you would all betray each other, especially considering they are friends with a werewolf and keeping your secret."

"See O, I'm not the only one who thinks that dream is stupid."

"No you thought it was stupid because that dream also revealed you had a daughter." A dark look appeared on his face and Octavia laughed.

"Oh Sirius, you become a dad, that is great news. I believe you will be an amazing dad." Andromeda spoke with a fond smile while Octavia had a smirk on her face.

"Nope, never, ever having kids, it's complete bogus, she must have seen it wrong." Sirius spoke harshly, while the two girls shared a knowing look.

.oOo.

It was Christmas morning and Octavia headed downstairs, she was completely unaware of what traditions the Potters had between themselves as a family on this family holiday but she had spent the last couple of days locked in her room, really thinking things over.

She walked into the living room, completely shocked at the look of it.

It looked so much like Hogwarts did when she stayed back for Christmas break two years ago, it was so different to what she remembered the Longbottoms to look like when she joined them for their Christmas party.

What shocked her most of all, was the obvious family moment happening between James and his parents, sitting in front of the Christmas tree.

She heard Sirius walk up behind her, she didn't even bother trying to turn around, she continued to watch the scene in front of them completely unsure as to if she was intruding but she was so curious about the whole thing.

"So that is what a happy family does on Christmas morning," she spoke.

"Looks like it," he responded and she finally looked over at him. "Merry Christmas Snow."

"Merry Christmas Padfoot," she gave him a small smile before walking over and giving him a hug.

"You know if you return home, this won't happen, we don't have moments like these with our family." Sirius spoke softly and she nodded against him before pulling away.

"I know but this isn't our family," she spoke before turning and heading towards the kitchen.

Octavia was sitting at the kitchen table, not really paying attention to what the elves were doing, instead she sat there with a cup of tea in her hands, warming her up.

"Octavia what are you doing in here?" Euphemia questioned and Octavia looked up and smiled.

"You, Fleamont and James looked like you were in the middle of something, I didn't want to intrude."

"Why would you think you would intrude? It's Christmas and you're living here now, our family traditions now include you."

"But Sirius and I aren't family." Octavia spoke, at first Euphemia didn't say anything, just walked over and sat beside her at the table.

"Sweetheart you are family, James loves both of you, despite him claiming you are a good for nothing girl. Fleamont and I may have only just met you recently but the stories we've heard from James, or even Sirius when he spent the summer before your fourth year with us was enough for us to understand what type of person you are. Both Fleamont and I already care for both you and Sirius, it's why we agreed to take both of you in, none of us want you to return to that house with your parents."

Octavia put the cup down on the table and wiped away her tears, looking over and catching sight of both James and Sirius standing in the doorway.

"You'll really take both me and Sirius in?" she questioned.

"Already have, I knew the moment Sirius turned up and spent that summer with us that one day both of you would turn up. James might not have ever mentioned the abuse you receive from your parents but the other things we've heard, it was enough to know you weren't happy there."

"Thank you," Octavia spoke softly, shocked when Euphemia leaned over and hugged her.

Octavia looked over and locked eyes with James, mouthing thank you to him but all he did was grin at her before pulling Sirius out of the kitchen.

"It isn't a problem sweetheart, now come and open your presents."

"You brought me presents?" she questioned in shock.

"I raised a son, having no girls to buy presents for, of course I jumped at the idea of buying you Christmas presents. I meant what I said, Fleamont and I consider both you and Sirius family."

Octavia smiled before standing up and following Euphemia back into the living room.

.oOo.

"Snow what do you think you are doing?" Sirius questioned as he entered the bedroom Octavia had been using as her own while they had been staying at the Potters.

"Packing, what does it look like?" She responded but refused to turn around and face him, she didn't want him to see the fear in her eyes.

"And why are you packing? Dinky risked a lot to send you your things, she probably would have been punished just like you will be when you return."

Octavia spun around and faced him, allowing him to see what she was truly feeling.

"You don't think I know that, that I don't know what I risk being here, what you and Prongs risked by removing me from that house!" She yelled at him and he closed his eyes before stepping forward. "They're my family Pads."

"Snow they aren't family, family is someone who is there to put us to bed at night, read us bedtime stories as children, they show that they love us. We never had any of that as children, if we wanted a bedtime story it came from Dinky. What is the bet that every single one of our friends had all that as children plus more? There is so much we have missed out on because of the family we were born into, we left because of the things they said and did and we don't have to go back."

"No Padfoot you are forgetting something, _you_ took me from my home. I didn't decide anything!" She snapped at him.

Sirius watched her as she walked around collecting her things that had been spread out around the room. He didn't know why she was like this, for the past few years they both have questioned on more than one occasion as to why they can't just away but it's always been the same response, they were waiting until Sirius turned 17 so he had access to the Black vaults, but he changed everything the moment he walked out that door telling his parents to shove all their views where the sun doesn't shine and that he couldn't deal listening to their bigoted ways anymore.

"I took you to keep you safe, to protect you from them because I knew with no one around to be there for you things will get worse, they did get worse or are you forgetting all the burns you had?"

"They were because of you! You left and they thought I would know where the hell you went! Why the hell couldn't you let me in on your stupid plan! Why the bloody hell did I have to deal with the repercussions on my own!" She yelled at him as the tears silently ran down her cheek.

"Snow…" He spoke as he stepped forward in attempts to comfort her but instead she took a step back from him.

"Get the hell out!"

Sirius left knowing just how close he was for her to push him away completely, he knew if he pushed her too far she will return in the middle of the night with no one awake to stop her. He just had to find a way for her to see reason, to see that she was better off away from her family and their so called punishment because he hates to think what would happen without him there to back up her, he knows Regulus won't do anything.

"Sirius?" he looked up and found Euphemia standing across from him the hallway. "Should I be worried about you two fighting in my house?"

Sirius stood up and shook his head, "no, we rarely fight these days. She's packing."

"For what, you still have a few days before you return to Hogwarts."

"She thinks she has to go home."

"You and James removed her from that house because she wasn't safe, do you honestly believe I will let her return to that house?" Euphemia spoke and he nodded, walking over to the door that led to Octavia's bedroom, hoping to hear something on the other side.

"I know this, I don't want her to return there either. I've been trying for years to get her out of there but it's hard even now, I don't know what more to do. I'm at a complete loss, I thought she finally agreed after what you said to her at Christmas but I don't know what's changed." Sirius slid down the wall and placed his face in his hands.

"I'll talk to her, won't don't you and James go for a fly?" Euphemia suggested and Sirius nodded before standing up and heading down the hall to where James' bedroom was.

Euphemia carefully opened the door and noticed Octavia was indeed packing, "sweetheart what are you doing?" Octavia jumped at the sound of Euphemia's voice.

"I'm packing, I've way overstayed my welcome. I should be getting home but thank you for letting me stay here while I recovered."

"You had to recover because your parents hurt you in the first place." Euphemia walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Tell me, why do you want to go back home to a place where your family hurts you."

"Because I love them, they're my family…" Octavia's voice broke as she spoke.

"But do you think they love you with what they do, do they treat your brother and sister the same way they do you?" Euphemia spoke and Octavia hung her head attempting to hide the fact that tears were brimming in her eyes.

"No but they're family, don't they have to love me either way."

"Not necessarily, but blood doesn't determine who your family is. Doesn't Sirius care deeply about you? You two aren't family, what about the rest of your friends?" Euphemia placed a comforting hand on Octavia's leg and she looked up in response.

"They do but if I don't go home they'll disown me and I'll have nowhere to go."

"Sweetie, you've been gone for almost all of Christmas break. At least stay here until you are due back at Hogwarts, what will happen when you go home now?" A shudder went through Octavia before she stood up and entered the bathroom attached to the room she was staying in.

"Octavia you will be safe here, none of your family will find you here, I promise you that. Both Fleamont and I consider both you and Sirius a part of the family and we protect family, you are more than welcome back here during the summer and we won't turn you away if you need somewhere to live so you can be safe from your family." Euphemia spoke before leaving the room.

When Octavia was alone she collapsed to the floor of the bathroom as the tears escaped and ran down her face.

She loved her family, but hated that they obviously didn't love her. She had always hoped that with time, or if she did enough to prove that she was still the same little girl she was before she started at Hogwarts that her parents will stop treating her the way they did but nothing ever changed.

She knew it was inevitable, she would have to return eventually right, she can't really run away from home at the age of fifteen can she?

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Lilian123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. As you can see, that is how Octavia reacted to the situation she was put in.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Yes they have finally left, as for Regulus, we only ever heard things about him from Sirius before it was revealed as to what he did to try and take down Voldemort so obviously has some good in him.**


	55. A Sense of Change

Chapter 54: A Sense of Change

Octavia was sitting in the compartment waiting to go back to Hogwarts and completely unsure as to where Sirius and James had gotten too, they said something about what they were doing but they were half-way out the door and she had missed half of it, the loud thud of the closing compartment door cutting them off.

She was terrified to even come to the station, she was hoping they could floo to Hogsmeade later in the afternoon and ride down with the rest of the students, making it seem like they were in fact on the train. But Sirius convinced her that she would be safe.

But yet here she was sitting on the train staring out the window looking for any sign of her parents, still scared that they are going to pop up and drag her home, but so far she hadn't seen anything.

The opening of the compartment door startled her and spun around with her wand out.

"Jeez Snow put that bloody thing down," Sirius muttered with a frown on his face. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Octavia nodded and lowered her wand, turning to look back out the window.

That lasted all of five seconds before she was dragged away from the window.

"Stop looking out there, you'll make yourself sick with worry. Your parents aren't coming, what did I tell you? Your parents are probably thrilled you're gone, just like mine are. I get you love your family but they don't love you, Amycus is the only one and we know where he stands, he's even stated that he has always suspected that at some stage we'll leave, he knows this and loves you regardless. He's the only one Snow."

Octavia nodded as Sirius spoke, relaxing against him.

"Maybe we should have done what Fleamont suggested, tell Dumbledore what happened and I could have stayed at the Potters for another couple of days while my back heals."

"Do you really want to confirm what they probably already suspect?" she shook her head. "Exactly, you said yesterday your back was fine to return, no different to when your father ripped it to shreds. We will be fine, you're just scared of what's going to happen but nothing will, the Slytherin students will ignore us like they usually do."

"I know you Sirius, and I know you'll go around boasting about living with the Potter but I don't want that, I don't want anyone but our friends to know where I am, I don't want to put them in danger."

"Then we won't, as simple as that." Sirius softly kissed the top of her head, grateful when she relaxed fully against him.

"Just have to convince Bertram it was a boring Christmas at home and hope he leaves it at that." Octavia pulled away from Sirius, realising the situation they were in, she was with Bertram and shouldn't technically be doing what they were.

"What's the matter Snow?" he questioned, noticing the action she did.

"I'm with Bertram, he won't be as understanding as Marlene was." She spoke softly, twisting around to lean against the window. "Seriously where are our friends?" she questioned.

"Come on, they're saying goodbye to their parents. You were the one that wanted to hide out on the train." Sirius explained and she nodded before resting her head against the seat and closing her eyes.

"Do you honestly believe the Slytherins will leave us alone?" she questioned quietly, still not opening her eyes.

There was no response from Sirius and she opened her eyes, afraid that he had left her alone again but she found him sitting in a similar position across from her on the bench seat.

"A few of them would, like they always have but Regulus won't leave you alone and Evan Rosier has shown this weird interest in you, Snivellus, Avery and Mulciber have always willingly spoken to us."

"They aren't exactly nice things though Pads."

"You just asked if they would leave us alone, not if they would have nice conversations with us." Sirius smirked at her but it quickly dropped when her eyes welled up once again. "We'll get through it like we have everything else, I promise. It's you and me against the world, like it's been for as long as we can remember." Sirius spoke and she nodded before closing her eyes and pushing back the tears.

Slowly but surely the rest of their friends arrived and entered the compartment, not saying anything when they took of Octavia already sound asleep in the compartment, one look at Sirius and they all knew something had happened while they were out saying goodbye to their parents.

Several games of Exploding Snap later and conversations filling Peter in on their Christmas breaks since he was the only one absent from arriving at the Potters, he claimed he was visiting family that weren't connected to the Floo network.

The train pulled into Hogsmeade and they all start to pile off the train, leaving Sirius to wake up Octavia.

"We're at Hogsmeade already?" she questioned and he nodded.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" he questioned and she shook her head. "Come on then, let's head in and you can find Bertram, hopefully he will help you forget our break."

Octavia stood up and straightened her robes before following Sirius off the train, her earlier fears were still sitting there, she had no idea how the other students would react to what transpired over Christmas. She knew the Slytherin students would have heard about her and Sirius leaving home, it would have been something that would have spread like wild fire amongst the families, they loved gossip.

Octavia entered the Entrance Hall, a few steps behind the rest of her friends, not really wanting to pay attention to the conversation they were having.

She was startled when a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her backwards.

Panic filled her, "I missed you," she relaxed at the sound of Bertram's voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." His face was soft and she smiled as she took a step closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"It's fine, I was just stuck in my head and didn't notice you is all," she leaned up and softly kissed him, earning a smile from him when she pulled away. "I really need a shower after spending all day on the train, can I find you later?"

"Of course, I'll be in one of the unused rooms near the Ravenclaw Tower." Bertram softly kissed Octavia before letting her pull away from him and head up the stairs, definitely wanting a hot shower.

oOo

"Snow?" Octavia was startled by the sound of Remus' voice and turned around to find him standing at the bottom of the boys' staircase in the Gryffindor common room.

"Hi Moony," she spoke softly before turning back around and making herself comfortable again.

"What's wrong?" he questioned, walking over and taking a seat beside her on the couch, pleased she had kept the fire going.

"Nothing just can't sleep, I slept all day on the train. What are you doing awake?"

"Full Moon, I was planning on going to the kitchens and getting something to eat, I know where Prongs keeps his invisibility cloak." Octavia nodded, the Full Moon was in a couple of days.

She had read that the Full Moon can keep werewolves awake at night due to the inner wolf in them attempting to take control but she had never really questioned Remus on it.

"Is that the book I got you for Christmas?" Remus questioned noticing the book in her hand, he had gotten her a Charms book for Christmas.

The boys laughed at the present, thinking it was strange but Octavia had appreciated it. She enjoyed Charms immensely and in return had given Remus a book on Dark Magical Creatures since it was something he enjoyed.

"It is, half of these Charms I've never even heard of before." She explained before leaning her head on the back of the couch and she looked up at the roof.

"I thought that might be the case, its why I grabbed it when I saw it. How come you stayed awake last night instead of sleeping?"

"Couldn't sleep is all, come on lets go to the kitchens. I'm pretty sure the two of us will fit under there." Octavia spoke before standing up and putting the fire out.

"Sounds good to me." Remus responded, standing up and following Octavia to the portrait hole.

.oOo.

"O please stop," Regulus spoke as he attempted to catch Octavia.

She had hoped she could sneak out the Quidditch Pitch and get in a fly, having not had access to her broom for all of Christmas Break. She just wanted to float up in the air and have the wind blow through her hair.

"Regulus," she turned and looked at him, unsure as to what he was going to say or even react to what her and Sirius did over the break.

"Why'd you do it?" he questioned softly and she turned around and continued walking.

She didn't want to tell him that she had no choice in leaving, Sirius and James kidnapped her in the middle of the night and when she woke up one morning her things were in the Potter's living room, making her and Sirius assume that Dinky had delivered them, giving them the idea that she hadn't been disowned at that point in time because Dinky was able to find her.

"Octavia," Regulus snapped with an air of authority to his voice as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back towards him.

"What?" she spoke softly averting her gaze from Regulus and he let out a sigh before letting go of her wrist.

"Why won't you tell me why you left?"

"Why does it matter? We weren't happy at home and we left," she spoke softly before turning and continuing along to the Quidditch Pitch.

"Why now after all these years?" Regulus questioned, grabbing hold of her broom and preventing her from walking off again.

"Why do you care Regulus? You only speak to me because of our arranged marriage, you ignore Sirius and despite the fact that he refused to pull any sort of prank on you when we hit the rest of the Slytherins you do nothing to convince your friends to leave us alone. Why do you care now all of a sudden!" Octavia yelled before snatching the broom away and soaring up to the sky, wanting to get away from him, and everyone else.

Hearing Sirius' voice snapped Octavia out of her daze and when she looked below she saw that he had joined her in the Quidditch Pitch and that Regulus hadn't left.

She landed on the ground further behind the two brothers just as they started throwing spells at each other, it shocked her. Despite how many times they had exchanged harsh words between them since Regulus started at Hogwarts or even the small number of times wands were raised this was the first time spells were thrown between them.

It seems as though Sirius leaving home was the nail in the coffin of Sirius and Regulus' relationship.

"Stop!" Octavia yelled from the sidelines, afraid of getting in between them.

Regulus aimed a hex at Sirius and it knocked him to the ground, she rushed over to help him up, shooting Regulus a glare.

"O…" Regulus spoke, finally noticing her there but she shook her head before helping Sirius stand up.

"What was the point of all of this, we were the ones that left and yet you did that to him." She snapped leading Sirius away from the younger Black brother with her broom still in her hand.

"Are you alright?" she questioned softly, glancing at him, noticing the pained look on his face.

"What did he say to you?" Sirius responded, avoiding the question.

"He just kept trying to find out why we left, I just told him we weren't happy."

"Good, we don't need him prying into why we left."

"Pads, you left because you weren't happy and in turn you and Prongs kidnapped me," she spoke and it caused him to grin.

She hit across the chest and he doubled over in pain, causing her to frown. "Come on, let's get you up your dorm and get you healed up. Pomfrey will ask too many questions."

"Agreed," Sirius muttered and allowed Octavia to help him upstairs.

Octavia entered the dorm, startling James. "What the hell happened to him?" James questioned, rushing over to help Octavia when she entered the dorm.

"Regulus was being a prat, I don't even know what started it all." She explained, dropping Sirius onto his bed.

James looked up at her, "wait did I hear you correctly Snow, did you just talk badly about Regulus?"

"Oh shove off Prongs, lets get Pads patched up." She rolled her eyes before pulling her wand out and cast the appropriate healing spells.

James checked over her work, casting a couple that she had either didn't cast or didn't cast correctly and finished the job off.

Octavia climbed on to the bed beside Sirius, ignoring the look James was giving her and he eventually gave up looking at her and walked back over to his own bed.

"What really happened out there Snow?" James questioned and she finally looked up at him.

"I don't know Prongs, Regulus was bothering me about why Sirius and I left, I snapped at him and took off on my broom. When I looked down at the ground those two were moments away from duelling." She explained, casting another glance at Sirius.

She wondered if this was how he felt every time she was injured, whether it be by her parents or the two occasions she had been injured while at Hogwarts.

When she looked back up she noticed the grin on James' face, "you know what, I'm going to find Lilith. You can watch him."

Octavia quickly stood up and left the boys' dorm heading to her own hoping Lilith was around, a quick look in the room indicated it was empty and she headed up to the Sixth years dorm, trying them next but only found Marlene in there.

"Funny seeing you around O, you like to hide out in your dorm or the boys'." Marlene teased and she grinned in response.

"Just don't feel like being around a lot of people." Octavia spoke as she walked over and sat on the end of Marlene's bed.

"I've noticed how you and the rest of your friends don't spend a lot of time in the Great Hall anymore. What happened over Christmas Break?" Marlene questioned, noticing the strangeness that was surrounding the other girl.

"If I said I was kidnapped from my own home would it sound really strange?" Octavia questioned and Marlene raised an eyebrow.

"Well considering you are here at Hogwarts the kidnapping didn't turn out to be such a bad thing."

"Sirius and James kidnapped me from my home."

"What happened for them to do that?" Marlene questioned and Octavia hung her head, taking a deep breath before filling Marlene in on everything.

The two girls left Marlene's dorm after Octavia explained everything and made their way to the boys' dorm hoping the rest of the boys had turned up and joined James and Sirius in their dorm.

The rest of the boys had turned up, even Lilith was in there and they were all sitting on the floor playing Exploding Snap, Octavia was happy to see that Sirius was awake now.

"I know something we didn't get around to telling you guys," Octavia spoke as her and Marlene took a seat on the floor.

Sirius looked at Octavia and noticed the slight smirk on her face and knew what was about to come out, the fact that Marlene was in the room as well didn't help. "Don't do it O." he warned her and it turned into a full on grin as she shared a look with Marlene

"What are you on about?" Remus questioned, confused by what was happening between three of the people in the room.

"I get the feeling Sirius doesn't want Octavia to speak but yet Marlene knows what is going on," Lilith added in.

Octavia opened her mouth to speak but all that happened was Sirius threw himself across the gap and placed a hand over her mouth, the others laughing at his actions.

"I said don't," Sirius growled out and Marlene laughed.

They all laughed even harder when Octavia licked Sirius' hand and he pulled it away in disgust, glaring at her.

"Oh come on Sirius what is so bad about telling them that our relationship was fake?" Marlene questioned innocently.

Sirius threw his hands up before throwing himself back on the ground and the rest of them stared at the two of them in shock, all laughed ceased.

"Why?" Peter questioned and Octavia looked over at where Sirius was still laying on the ground.

"Our parents were getting suspicious of our friendship, we've told you all on a number of occasions that our parents wouldn't approve of our friendship if they thought there was something more going on then what there was." Octavia started and Sirius finally sat up, she couldn't' read the look on his face but ignored it. "The Christmas break of fourth year we spent most of the time in rooms where they could easily find us, we discussed that maybe it would be a smart idea for us to start dating other people."

"I went to Marlene because she knew the truth about the abuse, I didn't actually want to date anyone but all she's claimed all along is that she just wanted to help." Sirius finished noticing that Octavia went eerily silent.

"How did you work it out?" Lilith questioned and Octavia looked over at her.

Lilith hadn't voiced it to anyone but Octavia had a feeling that Lilith was annoyed with herself for not realising it, not realised that Octavia was the only one in the dorm that got changed in the bathroom, refusing to get changed in front of the other girls.

"Quidditch practise, I figured in the dorm she would hide away in the bathroom but the girls change room is open with nowhere to hide except behind the door that lead towards the open showers and even then she couldn't lock the door. My mother suffered the same abuse when she was younger, it wasn't hard for me to put it together seeing the scars and seeing similar ones on my mother." Marlene explained.

Lilith nodded before standing and leaving the room, Octavia looked at the rest of them before getting up and following her, straight out of the Gryffindor common room.

"Lilith, what's going on?" Octavia questioned when the two of them were alone in the corridor.

"I feel like such a bad friend," Lilith's eyes filled with tears and Octavia stepped forward and hugged the girl.

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't work it out like Marlene did," Lilith spoke and Octavia could tell she was attempting to keep the tears in.

"Even if you did catch sight of my scars at any time you wouldn't even think of that as a possibility, if we hadn't told you the truth about my parents would you have ever thought that mine abuse me, and that it is a possibility that parents out there do that?" Lilith shook her head and Octavia softly rubbed her back, hoping to calm her best friend down.

"I feel like a shitty friend." Lilith finally spoke and Octavia pulled away and looked at her.

Octavia gave her a slight shake of her head as there was a small smile on her face, "far from it Lilith, you have been there for me from day one at Hogwarts. You never once judged me for who my parents are like other people have, you've taken me as I am even though I come up with some pretty crazy ideas. Regardless of you not working out the truth, I'm the bad friend for not telling you, for not trusting you with something like this."

"But you said-" Lilith started and Octavia gave a shrug.

"I know what I said, I trusted you enough that you would believe me but I didn't trust you to not tell anyone. I was terrified of what would happen once the truth was there. I'm so sorry for not telling you."

"But look what happened, we got you out of there, away from people who hurt you and into a home where you can be loved and you are safe."

"Maybe we're both bad friends," Octavia laughed and Lilith shook her head the two girls hugged again. "I really am sorry for not telling you sooner."

"Don't worry about it, the only thing that matters is that I know now and you are somewhere safe," Lilith said in response. "Come on, let's go to the kitchens," Lilith pulled away and Octavia nodded in response before the two of them headed downstairs.

.oOo.

Octavia was ecstatic, she had finally found it and couldn't believe she found it in the book Remus had given her for Christmas.

She rushed over to where the boys were sitting in the corner of the Gryffindor common room and she placed the book in front of them, opened to the page that had the charm she needed on it.

"What's with the book Snow?" Sirius questioned and she rolled her eyes.

"Just read it you idiot," she commented, taking a seat beside him.

"Do you think it will work?" Remus questioned.

"What will work?" Peter spoke sounding confused.

"Did you not read it?" Octavia questioned

"I don't understand it," Peter mumbled, his cheeks going a little pink.

"Only one way to find out if it works," James spoke before standing up and heading up to his dorm.

"Should we follow him?" Remus questioned and Sirius finally looked at Octavia.

"Can someone just tell me what it does instead of reading?" he questioned and she laughed before standing up and following after James, eager to see if it will work.

She entered the dorm and found James searching the room, she shook her head as she made herself comfortable on Sirius' bed and he made his way over and climbed in beside her.

"So what did Remus and James read because whatever it was caused him to rip the room apart in search of something." Sirius spoke and Octavia let out a giggle at the sight of James making the room more of a mess than usual.

Octavia looked at Sirius with a soft smile on her face, "I believe James is looking for the map."

Sirius' jaw dropped as he realised what was happening, Octavia had finally found the spell they had been eagerly looking for.

Ever since they had finished drawing the map they had been searching for something to make it animated like Octavia had seen in her dream a couple of years back but they had no luck so far and they were beginning to think it wasn't possible, that Octavia didn't know what she saw.

"No way!" He exclaimed and she started laughing, leaning against him watching as James was still managing to make a mess of the dorm.

"Where is the bloody thing?" James spoke to no one in particular as he sat on the floor crossing his arms over his chest, looking like a two year throwing a tantrum.

"I'm pretty sure I saw Lilith with it last," Octavia spoke and James' head snapped up so fast she thought he would have gotten whiplash.

"And you're only telling me this now?" He spoke, anger lacing his voice and a sweet smile appeared on her face.

"But Prongs, you never asked." She responded, leaning forward on the bed so she was closer to the edge where he was sitting on the floor.

"I what, you never," he stuttered, narrowing his eyes and she continued to smile at him.

"Now Prongs, don't be like that." She replied sweetly, tapping him on the nose before rolling off the bed and heading for the door to leave.

Except she barely made it three steps before she was tackled to the ground, she landed with a huff of annoyance.

"What the?" Remus questioned as he entered the dorm, taking in the mess that the dorm was in and James and Octavia, clearing tackling each other on the floor.

"Moony hel-" Octavia started but James put a hand over her mouth and muffled her voice.

"What are those two fighting about now?" Remus questioned as he stepped over the two bodies on the floor.

"Prongs was looking for the map but Snow knew Lilith had it all along," Sirius explained, laughing as Octavia threw an elbow into James' side earning a groan from the boy.

"You mean Lilith had the map," Remus spoke, holding the map up and James' head snapped up before he pried himself free from Octavia and stood up to grab the map from his hands.

"Thank you Moony," James spoke before hugging the boy and going over to his bed.

"And you know what you are doing how?" Octavia questioned as she stood up and straightened her robes, narrowing her eyes in annoyance.

James looked at her for a moment before sitting up on his knees and flashing her, which would be a lousy attempt at looking sweet and innocent, Octavia just laughed before walking over and taking a seat on Sirius' bed.

"Snow," James whined but she just laughed, making herself comfortable against Sirius. "Moony?" James questioned looking over at Remus but he just shrugged before heading towards the bathroom.

"Sorry mate, we all have our preferred subjects, if you really want it to work. You may have to apologise to Snow for tackling her to the ground." Remus entered the bathroom as James turned and faced Octavia again.

"Why can't you try it Prongs?" Peter questioned.

James didn't respond at first, he continued looking at Octavia who in turn didn't respond, she just closed her eyes faking a yawn.

"Because compared to her I suck at Charms."

"We all suck at Charms compared to her," Peter added in before he walked over and sat on the edge of Sirius' bed, he was just as eager to see this map work as the rest of them.

Sirius elbowed Octavia and she made a noise of complaint before opening her eyes and finding James and Peter sitting at the end of the bed looking at her with pleading eyes.

"You tackled me to the ground Prongs," she spoke angrily and he shuffled his way up the bed.

"I'm sorry Snow, I truly am, will you pretty please cast this charm so we can see the map in action. Please, I will be your friend." James begged and she hung her head letting out a groan.

"Hand it over," Octavia held her hand out as she sat up away from Sirius.

James and Peter had massive grins on their faces as James handed the map over.

Octavia pulled her wand out with the idea of casting the charm but before she could do anything, Sirius placed a hand over her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing Sirius?" she complained swatting his hand away.

Octavia realised what Sirius was attempting to do when she spotted Remus standing there naked, "holy shit," she spoke slapping her own hands over her face.

"I did try to prevent you from seeing that," Sirius spoke and she growled at him.

"Do you all just walk around naked in here or something?" she questioned.

"Well Prongs and Padfoot have meas-" Peter's voice was cut off by James placing a hand over his mouth and Octavia raised an eyebrow.

"They have measured what?" she questioned.

"You really don't want to know Snow," Remus cut in. "I also apologise for not giving you warning about coming out."

"It's fine Moony but what were they measuring?" she questioned again, completely missing the look the boys shared.

"Snow stop asking," Sirius spoke this time and she turned her head with the plan to glare at him but her hands were still covering her eyes.

"Why what's so wrong," she started but stopped talking when she realised why they wouldn't tell her. "Oh my godric, you two are disgusting." She spoke in shock as she climbed off the bed.

"Snow watch out for-" Sirius started but stopped when Octavia walked into one of the bed posts.

Remus feeling sorry for her placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around so she was facing the door.

"You're all bloody disgusting, walking around naked, measuring your penises and making fun of the poor girl who has no idea." She snapped before opening the door and slamming it behind her.

"She didn't do the map," Peter spoke in shock, looking at the others and they just laughed.

"Let her be, she'll probably plan on hiding for who knows how long after what just happened." Sirius explained as he moved the map to his bedside table.

The knock at the door pulled them all from their own activities they had fallen into after Octavia left, unsure as to who would be knocking on their door.

"Come in," Remus called out and the door opened to reveal a very annoyed looking Lilith.

"You're all a bunch of prats you know that," she snapped at them as she placed her hands on her hips.

"How bad is she?" Sirius spoke grabbing the map of his bedside table and walking over to where Lilith was standing.

"She's just locked herself in the bathroom, mentioned something about finding the charm needed for the map though." Lilith grabbed the map before smiling at Sirius. "Thanks, now she can perform the charm and we can keep it in our dorm where you can't get to it." Lilith spoke sweetly before turning on her heel and leaving the dorm.

"Bloody girls," James muttered and the others laughed.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Lilian123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I do promise that things will eventually improve for Octavia. That's awesome, what was the quote?**


	56. Revenge

Chapter 55: Revenge

Octavia was sitting in front of the fire wondering where things had gone wrong.

Ever since returning from Hogwarts it seemed as though things were perfect and nothing was amiss but yet earlier that day, or yesterday if you want to be technical, everything changed.

Octavia was startled as someone wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, she quickly wiped away her tears before looking beside her and found James sitting there.

"Figured you heard me, or smelt me which I still find really creepy." James spoke and she shook her head. "What's wrong?" he questioned but she didn't respond, just leaned into him.

"How'd you know I was down here, it's the middle of the night."

"I was actually planning on going to the kitchens, I woke up feeling incredibly hungry, since our Hogsmeade visit is next weekend there are no sweets in the dorm."

"Ah," Octavia spoke, closing her eyes as the tears started up again.

"Come on Snow what's wrong? I know I'm not Padfoot or god forbid Lilith, mind you I would look pretty good as a girl, I would have an awesome pair of tits." James spoke and Octavia couldn't help but laugh at the way he was acting.

"Bertram," was all she said and James wrapped an arm around her.

"What happened?" he questioned and she pulled away slightly and grabbed the parchment she had placed under the table. When she unfolded it James' jaw fell open. "You told us it didn't work," he hissed but she just grinned at him.

"That's what you get for all being disgusting prats and at first it didn't work, it took a few goes to get it to work anyway. Now I'm just attempting to get a password to work on it so it's not always visible."

"Wouldn't it be safer if it was in our dorm then?" James questioned but Octavia ignored it as she ran her fingers along the map looking for something.

"There," she pointed and James looked down.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing, according to the map Bertram Aubrey was in a room with Nicole Gilmore.

"It's 3am!" he yelled and she winced, hoping no one heard them.

"I know this, I couldn't sleep and I was looking at it wondering how I would go getting to the kitchens on my own without your invisibility cloak and it was then I spotted the two of them."

James quickly pulled away and stood up, holding out a hand for her, "come on." He ordered and she raised an eyebrow, but grabbed the out stretched hand anyway.

"Where are we going?"

"To see how well this map works, if they aren't in there then we know it doesn't work and if they are, well we know it works and then we will spend a few days working to find a way to punish him." James explained and she nodded wiping away a few stray tears.

"Thank you," she spoke softly and he didn't say anything, just threw the invisibility cloak over them.

They were silent most of the way as they walked through Hogwarts in the middle of the night with the aid of the map to help avoid Professors that were doing their rounds to make sure no students were out of their beds after curfew.

They were both shocked to see that the map even picked up Mrs Norris and were grateful they had the invisibility cloak with them as they had ran into the annoying cat, Mrs Norris may have been able to sniff them out but she couldn't see them and she eventually gave up and left.

"How serious was it between you two?" James questioned, getting partially annoyed with the silence.

Octavia didn't answer, she knew it would just make things worse or worse yet, he would tell Sirius and that was the last thing she wanted.

"I won't tell Padfoot."

"You promise?" she questioned, seeing the hesitation before he nodded. "We had sex."

"Snow, Padfoot would be furious, he deserves to know you were treated like that."

"You promised Prongs."

James let out a sigh before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close, "I know and I won't tell him but he deserves to know."

"Why it's like the worse thing ever, I finally give up my virginity to some guy and then he stops talking to me and then I see that on the map." Octavia spoke softly and James tightened the hug.

"What really happened today when you went to go see him?" he questioned, remembering what she had said that morning at breakfast about seeing him.

"The Ravenclaw girls in the room were sniggering behind my back at the fact he was barely talking to me, standing out in the snow is warmer then the treatment I received. I then proceeded to hide out in the Forest in my wolf form." Octavia explained pulling away from James, waiting for him to get the hint that she wanted to keep walking.

"I really am sorry that happened to you Snow," James spoke softly and she shrugged before taking a step forward. "Alright fine I get it, you don't want to talk about it anymore," he stepped forward and gave her hand a squeeze.

The two of them continued along in silence, James kept sneaking glances at Octavia and he could tell she was on the verge of crying again but she managed to keep them at bay the rest of the way to where Bertram was according to the map.

"You ready Snow?" James questioned as they stood on the other side of the door.

Octavia nodded but refused to move her hand towards the door handle, afraid of what was on the other side.

James noticing her hesitation placed his hand on the door handle and looked at her for confirmation of this was something she really wanted, opening the door when she nodded.

The pair crept into the room and Octavia slapped a hand over her mouth when they saw that Bertram and Nicole were cuddled up on the couch together, a blanket covering them but it was obvious that they had little clothing on.

James tugged on Octavia's arm to pull her out of the room but she shrugged him off before facing the couple.

"Snow," James hissed, realising what she was attempting to do.

Octavia was standing there attempting to blow a gust of wind at the two of them but it was obvious her emotions were getting in the way.

Octavia eventually got the gust of wind to start up in the room and the couch was pushed forcefully against the wall, abruptly waking them up.

James quickly stepped in behind Octavia, wrapping an arm around her waist and placing a hand over her mouth realising she was about to say something.

"Fuck, I can't believe we fell asleep." Bertram spoke.

"Seriously you're more concerned with us falling asleep instead of how the couch was slammed against the wall."

"Calm down Nic, it was probably just Peeves messing with us. Come on I'll help you get back to your common room."

James frowned but didn't budge as he felt wetness run down his hand indicating that Octavia was crying once more at the sight of Bertram and Nicole kissing.

He waited until the other two were gone before he pulled away from her but she quickly turned around and buried her face against his chest and he had no choice but to wrap his arms around her and hug her.

"It'll be alright, we'll come up with something to get back at him." James spoke as he rubbed his hand up and down her back.

The two of them stood like that for a few minutes while Octavia calm down before they returned to the Gryffindor common room, Octavia didn't even say anything as she headed up the girls' staircase.

The following morning it didn't go amiss to the rest of the Marauders that it was obvious James and Octavia were sleep deprived but looking around the Great Hall it was clear as day that nothing had happened, that no prank was put in place the previous.

"Alright, why are you two so tired?" Sirius questioned, not able to take it anymore.

"Filch was hovering near the Fat Lady Portrait after I went to the kitchens, ended up camping out waiting for him to leave." James spoke and Sirius took it as the answer before looking at Octavia.

"I'm not that hungry," Octavia spoke pushing her plate away.

"Snow," Sirius spoke again, worry filling him.

He wasn't the only one worried though, they all knew that Octavia had a healthy appetite, she was never one to starve herself to try and please people around her and she generally ate what she wanted when she wanted it.

The group hearing that she wasn't hungry was generally a sign that something was wrong.

Octavia not being able to stand the look that Sirius was giving her anymore, stood up and went to leave the Great Hall.

Sirius grabbed her wrist as she walked past but she just looked at him, attempting to plead with him. He reluctantly let go and she was able to leave the Great Hall.

"So what did you and Prongs really do last night?" Lilith questioned as she appeared beside Octavia out in the corridor.

"Bertram was in an empty classroom with Nicole Gilmore last night, Prongs and I went looking to see if the map was actually correct in what we saw. They were and I threw the couch they were on against the back wall."

"You could have hurt them," Lilith spoke sounding annoyed and Octavia rolled her eyes.

"I startled them more than anything, Bertram didn't even end things with me, just stopped talking to me before he went and shagged the next person."

"So you told Prongs what happened?" Octavia nodded in response, "is he going to tell Padfoot?"

"He promised he wouldn't but just like you, Prongs was convinced that he should know but no I'm not going to tell him."

"Why won't you tell Padfoot Snow?" Lilith questioned, annoyed that she was having to follow Octavia outside.

"Because why should I have to tell Padfoot that I had sex with Bertram when I had to find out from the bloody rumour mill that he was having sex with Marlene and who knows who else." Octavia snapped at Lilith.

"We have classes today Snow," Lilith called out, not wanting to follow Octavia out into the snow fall.

"I know this, I also know we have a double free period. See you later." Octavia responded, heading towards the Forest.

Lilith stood there and watched as Octavia practically disappeared in front of her eyes, but Lilith knew the truth. She knew Octavia transformed into her wolf form and blended in with the snow.

Lilith returned to the Great Hall and return to her seat at the Gryffindor table.

"Where is she?" Sirius questioned.

"Hiding in the snow," Lilith responded and the boys all nodded knowing she would turn up at some point during the day, they just hoped it would be when their first class of the day starts.

Octavia walked in and took her seat beside Sirius in Muggle Studies, unsure as to how he was going to react to her taking off so she stayed quiet.

"Feeling better?" Sirius questioned and she nodded.

She gave him a soft nudge with her elbow and he smiled at her before paying attention to where Smith was standing at the front.

.oOo.

"Why does it look like she's planning something?"

"Because she is always planning something, I'm glad I always stay on her good side."

"Oh whatever mate, I swear you two have more lover corrals than an actual couple."

Octavia slammed her book down on the table and looked at James and Sirius who were sitting across from her.

"If you two prats don't shut up I may just consider sitting in the required classroom for our study periods," she snapped and they fake pouted at her and she rolled her eyes before picking her book back up.

"Four and a half years of free periods and you haven't once sat in the required study period locations Snow." Sirius spoke and she placed the book down again.

"Merlin you two are annoying today, what is with you? Did Moony put itching powder in your clothes again?"

"He knows not to do that again," Sirius growled, his voice low and menacing.

"Seriously what is up with you two?" She questioned once more and they both grinned at her and she instantly knew that look.

"You're planning something against Aubrey for breaking up with you, we want in." Sirius spoke and the way his voice sounded Octavia was afraid that James had broken his promise.

But she knew Sirius, if he knew the truth Bertram would be a walking dead man. It's why she didn't want him to know in the first place, Sirius wouldn't be happy with just any old prank, no he would want to make sure he felt pain.

"Why you would think I would be planning something?" she responded.

"Because it's you Snow, you set Snape's robes on fire when he dropped you on your head." Sirius spoke.

"What was I going to do, let him get away with it? I get that I blew up his potion but that doesn't mean he was allowed to almost kill me like that." Octavia snapped and Sirius took a deep breath before reaching across the table and pulling the book from her hands.

"Just let it go Snow, we know you are planning something and we want to help." James butted in, knowing the two of them were moments away from a heated argument.

"Can I have my book back?" Octavia questioned, holding a hand out for her book.

When Sirius didn't budge, James grabbed it from him and handed it over.

It was in that moment that Octavia was a little grateful that James had pulled out what was wrong with her the other night and that he was now to prevent her from yelling it out in frustration to Sirius.

And she was incredibly grateful that these two boys knew her incredibly well and were on board with any plan she had no questions asked.

She flipped through the book, looking for the spell she had found earlier and turned it around so they could have a look at what she was planning.

"Snow, this could go very wrong." James pointed out and she shrugged.

"What's the worst that could happen?" She questioned and the both shrugged, unsure as to what could happen.

"Exactly," she grinned at them and it only took seconds for a grin to appear on each of their faces because they began planning out the plan Octavia came up with.

Days passed as the trio perfected the plan, making sure they could come up with every possibility that could go wrong with the plan that Octavia had come up with.

Sirius and James were well known for doing something ridicules like this, they had pulled stunts similar to that on the Slytherin students but this was different, Octavia was getting revenge for a broken heart.

Octavia was standing in one of the corridors near the Ravenclaw Tower hoping to catch sight of Bertram as he was either coming and going, she spotted him exit the entrance to their common room and placed a smile on her face as she walked over to him.

"Bertram, I was hoping we could talk." She spoke, keeping her soft and sweet sounding, hoping he wouldn't deny her.

"Of course, lead the way." He replied, waving an arm.

She linked her arm with his and began leading him down the corridor to where Sirius and James were camped out and it all had to go to plan.

"I've been meaning to talk to you Octavia," Bertram spoke after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Oh," she spoke, looking at him through the corner of her eye.

"Yes, I wanted to apologise. I know I should have spoken to you instead of ignoring you, no hard feelings?" he spoke and she stopped, pulling her arm from his grasp.

"You think ignoring me for a week and then apologising because I sought you out, fixes things?" she spoke, her voice no longer soft and sweet like it was moments earlier.

Bertram took a few steps away from Octavia, he noticed that something wasn't right here, he felt like it was a carefully constructed plan she had led him into.

"Look I really am sorry Octavia, I didn't mean to hurt you." He stuttered out, continuing to take steps away from her.

"Apologies don't mean anything to me now Aubrey," the deathly tone in Octavia's voice caused him to gulp before turning and starting to run away.

Octavia quickly followed him around the corner and threw up the invisible wall preventing him from running away knowing that Sirius and James were hiding under the invisibility cloak.

"You're rarely far from your friends, where are they?" he questioned and Octavia shook her head.

Octavia looked over where she knew Sirius and James to be, she just hoped they were watching her, for this spell to work all three of them need to do it together.

She pulled her wand out and pointed it at him, seeing the fear in his face.

Bertram Aubrey would have to be an idiot to not know anything about the rumours going around Hogwarts about Octavia and her friends, the group now slowly starting to be called Marauders. He knew what they were capable of and he knew that despite their rebellious or laid back attitudes, sometimes disguised as lazy attitude they were all incredibly bright students when they felt like it, all incredibly talented at what they put their minds to.

Octavia spoke the spell and watched as Bertram's head grew to being twice its size, she couldn't help it when she doubled over in laughter, soon hearing laughter coming from Sirius and James from where they were under the invisibility cloak.

Her laughter died down as she heard the voices belonging to Professor McGonagall and Flitwick, not far behind them around the corner.

She couldn't hear Sirius or James laughing anymore either and suspected that Sirius had heard the same thing she did and had told James.

They both appeared before running over and throwing the invisibility cloak over her head, "run," Sirius hissed.

"Pads," she responded and earned a shove from him.

Octavia couldn't leave, she couldn't let them get all the blame for this, she couldn't even believe that they did this.

So against what they told her to do, she stayed there and waited until Flitwick and McGonagall rounded the corner.

Their voices were getting louder and Octavia was briefly able to hear their conversation but she wasn't interested, she wanted to know why Sirius and James made sure she didn't get the blame for this when Bertram knew who did this.

"Oh, my," Flitwick squeaked.

"Potter, Black! Explain yourselves," McGonagall demanded, taking in the scene.

Octavia went to step forward but James and Sirius and spoke up first. "We did it Professor, it was all us." they both said in unison causing Octavia to frown.

"Very well, come with me, Filius why don't you take Mr Aubrey to Poppy." McGonagall spoke and both boys walked over to her, not before giving Octavia a glance of their shoulders.

Octavia stood there, for as long as possible until she thought the coast was clear, it didn't matter if she had the invisibility cloak on her at the moment. It was during the day and she couldn't sneak around and then all of a sudden appear.

She pulled the cloak off her and slowly headed back to the Gryffindor common room, waiting for Sirius and James to return and find out what their punishment was before dealing with them and their strange desire to take the blame for something she came up with.

She was pacing in their dorm, unsure as to where the rest of her friends were and knew the moment Remus, Lilith and/or Peter entered the dorm they would easily be able to tell something was wrong, the others had no idea about the prank. Although Lilith suspected something was in the works, but she didn't pry, Lilith never wanted to.

"Snow," Octavia stopped pacing at the sound of Sirius' voice, she turned and faced him, narrowing her eyes at the sight of massive grins on both of their faces.

"You bloody idiots," she walked over and hit Sirius across the arm. "Why did you have to do that? I thought we agreed that the three of us would take the blame together if something went wrong?"

"Because," Sirius grabbed both of wrists, having a feeling she would hit him once more. "Because, we thought it was the right thing to do. You wanted to do this because he hurt you, we believe that is a valid reason and you shouldn't be punished for that."

"You're a fucking idiot," she ripped her hands from his grasp and pushed past them to leave the dorm.

Octavia didn't show herself again until it was time for dinner and she sat down in her usual seat beside Sirius, causing him to give her a second glance.

"Do you still hate me?" Sirius' question caused Octavia to laugh.

"How could I ever hate you? You're my best friend and you've done so much for me, I was just angry that you and Prongs took the blame for it." She responded with a smile and he returned it.

"I will never leave you behind Snow, never."

Octavia knew the underlying comment of Sirius' statement, remembering the conversation at Christmas when they visited Andromeda and met her new family. Sirius was reminding her once again that he would never betray them, he wouldn't leave them alone.

.oOo.

"Alright do again, but please try to put me on the couch this time Snow," Sirius spoke and Octavia frowned at him.

"Why? Why can't I do this with a bunch of transfigured rocks or something, why do I have to do this with you?" She questioned, once for more the fifth time this afternoon.

"Because I am heavier than a bunch of rocks, if you want to be able to practise throwing someone across the room then this is the only way to do it Snow. Nothing is broken yet, I'm fine."

"Frank is going to kill me if I injure you," she huffed out before concentrating on Sirius.

Octavia understood why her and Sirius were doing this, why she practising using her wandless magic to throw a person across the room. They thought it would be useful for her to practise, in case the war is still going once they graduated and Sirius didn't want her to leave Hogwarts and not have a handle on her wandless magic but Octavia hated that she was potentially hurting Sirius.

"Like we're going to be stupid enough to tell him what happened, remember if something bad happens we tell Pomfrey a Bludger knocked me off my broom. We'll take the detention for getting them out when we aren't allowed too." Sirius spoke and she nodded.

"You ready?" she questioned feeling her magic surge through her body and Sirius nodded.

Octavia pushed her hands out and watched as Sirius was pushed back through the room and on to the couch.

Her jaw dropped as she watched Sirius get pushed into the back of the couch and push it over, she ran over to the couch to make sure he was okay.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to put so much energy behind it." She jumped over the back of the couch and glared at Sirius when she found that he was laughing. "It's not funny, I could have really hurt you."

"I'm sorry but it is actually funny, it was quite fun being thrown into the couch like that." He grinned at her.

"Nope, no more. I could have seriously hurt you, I'm going back to rocks and cushions." Octavia went to jump back over the back of the couch but Sirius grabbed her waist and pulled her back down beside him.

"Come on Snow, don't be like that. I didn't get hurt and I actually had fun, remember when we were sitting on the couch as you pushed it across the room?" Sirius questioned and Octavia realised just how close they were sitting, she felt uneasy. The discomfort became worse when he leaned his head closer to hers.

She quickly backed away from him, "doing that and me throwing you across the room is completely different. I might practise with cushions and rocks, trying different things before I go back to throwing you across the room." She spoke softly, backing away further and jumping up before he could stop her.

"You alright?" he questioned and she nodded.

"Fine, fine, fine." She responded. A smirk appeared on her face as Sirius popped his head up above the couch.

"What are you planning?" he questioned, but she didn't respond instead she lifted Sirius up into the air.

"Still think it's fun?" she questioned but he didn't say anything, he just crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at her, she laughed.

"Put me down Snow, please." Sirius pleaded with her and her breath caught in her throat at seeing him look like that.

She may be the only one that saw him when he let his mask down and look vulnerable, but this right now, there was so much emotion coming through on his face and she didn't even know what to think of it, or even what emotion he was showing right now.

She carefully lowered him back down to the ground, "I'll see you later." She muttered and turned and left, shaking her head on the way out.

Sirius stood there and watched as Octavia left.

He wanted to kick himself for almost kissing Octavia like that, he couldn't believe he let his feelings get the better of him, it wasn't the way he was raised.

He could see the discomfort she was in as she pulled away, he hated he did that to her.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I love that quote, at first I thought it was in reference to what I wrote in the chapter. Yes boys are crazy aren't they? But as you can see, despite how crazy they both James and Sirius are protective over her.**

 **For the Guest who left a review way back on the chapter titled Break Ups, thank for your review. As for being disgusted about Sirius having sex with Marlene, I can see why you have your reason but I have no issues with casual sex and there for will write about casual sex. If you have continued to read the chapters between then and now, the relationship that consisted between Marlene and Sirius helped feed the jealously that Octavia housed and will lead towards a future chapter.**


	57. Sickening Feelings

Chapter 56: Sickening Feelings

"Where have you been all night Pads?" Octavia questioned as Sirius sat down beside her on the couch in the Gryffindor common room.

Yesterday they had won their match against Hufflepuff and they had spent the afternoon and well into the night celebrating, Octavia had also noticed the moment Sirius had disappeared, her happiness over their win disappearing with his disappearance with Marlene.

"Spent the night with Marlene," judging by the grin on his face, she instantly knew what he meant by spent the night.

"You're disgusting," was her only response, she didn't know what else to think.

"And why is that Snow?"

"Because all you seem to do is go around shagging whoever catches your fancy," she snapped, hoping she didn't come across as jealous.

"Are you jealous Snow?" he questioned with a smirk on his face and she just scoffed in response. "Just so you know Snow, I've only had sex with Marlene. You never let me explain what the truth was behind those other rumours."

"Well then I feel sorry for whatever poor girl you finally decide to date because honestly having to live up to Marlene is cruel and you know it. Everyone already thinks you two are dating again and are destined to be together but yet I know all you both care about is getting your rocks off. Just because you like the attention you receive doesn't mean the same for that poor girl." Octavia stood up to leave but Sirius prevented her from doing so, he grabbed her waist and pulled her down so she was sitting on his lap.

"You sound like you're jealous to me," he whispered quietly, winking at her.

"You're bloody disgusting Padfoot!" she hissed, pulling away from him and storming up the girls' staircase.

"Are you alright?" she looked up at the sound of Lilith's voice, she shook her head as her vision blurred. "What happened?"

"Padfoot, I don't know if I'm more annoyed that he slept with Marlene again, the fact that he threw it out like it was no big deal or he was flirting with me while telling me."

"He's a guy Snow-"

"No," Octavia cut her off. "Prongs, Moony and Wormtail don't go around acting like he does, he's bloody disgusting."

"This is Padfoot we are talking about, he's not that bad. We've heard rumours about worse guys out there. If all he's doing is having sex with Marlene, it could be a lot worse."

"You know I told him that I feel sorry for the girl he finally decides to date? Told him that whoever she may be won't like the attention he receives or gives out to the other girls." She spoke quietly before walking over to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

There was something off with Octavia as she pulled away from Sirius and he realised it straight away, a sickening feeling appeared in his stomach.

He didn't understand fully, but something he either said or did just thing hurt her and he hated himself for it.

"What's wrong with you? You look like someone kicked your dog." James questioned as Sirius entered the dorm, noticing the look on his face.

"Well it does feel like Snow kicked me and I am a dog," Sirius muttered, instantly taking notice of Peter who was still asleep on his bed, catching up on missed sleep from the night before.

"What did you just say?" James questioned, not having heard Sirius completely.

"I said it feels like Snow just kicked me." Sirius spoke more clearly as he laid face down on his bed.

"What did you do to her?" James spoke as he walked over and took a seat on the bed beside him.

"I honestly have no idea," Sirius mumbled into his pillow before lifting his head up and looking at James. "She knows about me and Marlene and I thought she was perfectly fine with it but yet she just left and I could tell something was wrong."

"Can't help you there mate," James patted Sirius on the back before going back to his own bed.

Sirius let out a groan as he buried his face back into his bed.

"What's his problem?" Remus questioned, entering the dorm noticing Sirius' action.

"Him?" James questioned pointing at Sirius.

"Yes him, who else him?" he responded and a grin appeared on James' face before pointing at himself.

"Me?"

Remus shook his head, "I meant Padfoot, what is his problem?" Remus questioned again and James shrugged.

"Who knows with that idiot?"

"Good point, seen the girls?" Remus questioned and another groan came from Sirius and Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Check the map," James responded, pointing to the map sitting on his trunk.

"When is Snow putting a password on it?" Remus questioned picking it up and noticing that both Lilith and Octavia were in their dorm.

"She said she hasn't found the required spell yet, hence why it has to stay in the dorm." James responded and Remus nodded before putting the map back on James' trunk and entering the bathroom.

"You could just tell Moony, he may have some insight since we've all noticed how close Lilith and him are." James spoke, waiting to see if Sirius will have an intelligent conversation with him.

"If you won't tell my secrets to anyone and I won't tell yours, what makes you think Lilith will talk about Snow's?" Sirius snapped and James took to throwing a pillow at him. "Prat," Sirius mumbled before placing the pillow over his head.

They all ended up spending the rest of the day hiding out in their dorms, last night was the first celebration party when the older Gryffindors had handed over the Fire Whiskey for the fifth years to try. Sirius and Octavia who weren't shy to the Fire Whiskey had had some before, took to it easier than the others and weren't as affected by the alcohol.

Octavia and Lilith retired to bed early, worn out from the late night the previous night and wanted to get a decent night's sleep so they would make it through classes the following day.

But Octavia's rare magical ability had a different plan in mind, it decided to give her another sneak peek at their future.

 _Octavia stood there, in an unknown location and she instantly felt unsettled. She didn't know how many times she turned around hoping to catch sight of something that was familiar to her, but no luck._

 _She wrapped her arms around her, unsure as to if she felt the cold in these visions or if she was shivering from the uneasy feeling in her stomach._

 _She turned around on the spot, unsure as to what she was meant to be seeing, unsure as to where she was. It almost looked like she was in the Forbidden Forest, but yet the trees weren't lush looking, they all looked dead._

 _"You need to run," she spun around as she heard Amycus' voice and found both him and herself standing._

 _"Why Am? Why can't I fight?" herself questioned and Amycus shook his head._

 _"Because he wants you dead O, I need you alive, I need you to make out of here alive and this war."_

 _"I WANT THE GIRL'S BODY!" a voice roared through the forest and Octavia shivered, watching the two figures in front of her._

 _"You were lured out here for a reason, you're out here alone, you need to run far enough that you can Apparate home."_

 _"What about you?" herself asked but branches were being broken in the distance, the noises getting closer._

 _"Run, now!" Amycus hissed, pleading with her._

 _Octavia stood there and watched as her future self turned and ran through the forest but yet she was still able to stand there and watch the scene._

 _Octavia stood there and watched as stray spells came her way, but they just passed through her, leaving her unarmed and answering the question her and Sirius have both had in the past, can she be hurt in her dreams?_

 _"Avada Kedavra," a voice called out and Octavia watched as the green light hit her brother square in the back, him instantly dropping to the ground._

Octavia shot up in her bed and it took a moment for her to realise she was safe in her dorm, she leaned her forehead against her knees, hoping to calm down enough to go back to sleep but the tears kept silently coming.

She climbed out of her bed and headed for the dorm, freezing when she remembered what happened with Sirius earlier today. Did she really want to crawl into his bed after what happened earlier?

She stood like that, frozen to the spot for a couple of moments before she gave in, the imagine of Amycus falling to the ground like that was a lot worse then what happened with Sirius.

Octavia entered the boys' dorm and crawled straight into Sirius' bed, grateful that he was rolled over onto one half of the bed and she didn't have to wake him up. She knew he would know that she was in there come the morning, but she didn't want to talk about what she saw right now, she just wanted the sense of safety that came from being near Sirius.

Sirius woke up the following morning and was confused at first, he could have sworn he could smell Octavia but when he opened his eyes, his bed was empty.

"She snuck out about five minutes ago," Remus spoke noticing the confused look on Sirius' face.

"Who's this she you're talking about?" Sirius questioned sitting up on his bed, facing Remus.

"Really? I was awake and saw Octavia in your bed, I also saw her attempt to sneak out of the dorm, why was she in your bed last night?"

"I have no idea, she didn't even wake me up." Sirius responded, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

He couldn't believe that Octavia snuck into his bed during the night and then snuck out in the morning, the only time she ever got into his bed was when she was panicked about one of her future dreams.

He climbed out of his bed and grabbed the map to see where Octavia had gone, unsure as to if he was annoyed that she was back in her own dorm or glad that she hadn't gone and hidden somewhere.

"Find her?" Remus questioned and Sirius nodded before quickly getting dressed and brushing his teeth and hair, heading down stairs in attempts to catch her before she left the common room.

Sirius wasn't sitting in the common room for long before Octavia showed herself, he jumped up from the armchair and walked over to her, instantly taking notice of the makeup she had put on to hide the fact that she had been crying.

"First things first, I'm sorry for whatever I said or did yesterday that upset you." Sirius spoke and she looked up at him and nodded.

"I'm sorry for calling you a disgusting pig."

"It's fine, now let's talk about what you saw that caused you to crawl into my bed in the middle of the night." Sirius spoke, not happy when Octavia burst into tears again. "Snow?" he questioned but she shook her head before stepping closer to him and pressing her face against his chest.

He stood there attempting to calm her down but nothing was working, he was worried about what she saw that had set her off so bad, set someone who tried so hard to hide their emotions off and he wasn't able to calm down her.

In the end Sirius decided to take her to the Hospital Wing, hoping Pomfrey had something that could help calm her down.

When he entered the Hospital Wing, he instantly noticing the group of first years sitting on a group of beds and pulled Octavia towards Pomfrey's office, knowing they could talk privatively in there and not worry about first years spreading gossip that may or may not be true about Octavia.

"You know I deal with sick and injured students not crying students?" Pomfrey questioned taking noticed of the two Gryffindors standing there.

"I know but she saw something last night in a dream and I can't get out of her as to what it was, she just keeps crying. I was hoping you had something that would help."

"And by saw, you mean?"

"I mean she saw something from a possible future, Dumbledore said it's unusual that she got the ability to see the future at a young age but we think because of the war that Voldemort has brought into our world, it forced her to see the future so young."

"That makes perfect sense Mr Black, I'm hoping a Calming Draught will help calm her down enough, but I believe sleep is the last thing she needs because it may just cause her to witness whatever it was that set her off in the first place."

Sirius nodded and led Octavia over to the arm chair and guided her to sit down in it, worried when he realised that she wasn't taking him in, she wasn't here mentally and that she was stuck in whatever she saw last night.

He knelt in front of her and placed a hand on her neck and softly stroked her cheek and jaw with his thumb, "Snow?" he questioned softly, glad when she blinked a couple of times and finally looked at him.

"I saw Amycus die," she manage to sob out before she leaned forward and started crying against Sirius once more.

Sirius was shocked at hearing that, at least it made as to why she was so distraught. What Sirius didn't understand was what happened that caused Amycus' death and why she saw it, yes she had a dream that mentioned James, Peter and Evans had been killed but she didn't have to witness that one.

"Sh, it'll be alright, remember what the books said, your dreams are only a possible future and Amycus may live and make it through the war. You just need to calm down and breathe," Sirius softly ran his fingers through her hair.

"Here you go, I've also had the elves bring some breakfast up for you two." Sirius turned his head and watched as Pomfrey placed a tray on her desk before leaving the two of them alone.

Sirius pulled away and grabbed the goblet that held the Calming Draught that Octavia needed, "here drink this please."

She nodded and drank the potion, instantly feeling the effects it had as she calmed down enough to stop crying.

"Now please tell me what you saw," Sirius questioned as he piled all the bacon on a plate and handed it to her while he grabbed the pancakes and took a seat on the floor in front of her.

"I was standing in the middle of some forest, but it wasn't the Forbidden Forest, well maybe it could be but the trees were all dead. Amycus was trying to get me to run because someone wanted my body, I kept trying to ask about him but he would brush it off. I think him protecting me gets him killed in the future, he gets killed the moment I turn and run. He dies because of me Pads."

"Hey, you don't know that, you don't know why they killed Amycus, it may not have anything to do with you." Sirius spoke and she looked at him, shaking her head.

"He said I was lured out there for whatever it reason, it was a trap. I walked into a trap but yet manage to walk out, what if he risked everything to get me out?"

"Then we will change the future," Sirius placed his plate on the ground and knelt in front of her again, wiping away her tears. "We will find a way that helps you keep in contact with Amycus if it's what you want, a way that no one will be able to see it so that way if communication comes from him any other way then we know it won't be him. If something does happen and you have to go to him, we make sure you don't go alone, okay? We will change our futures, just like we're changing them so Prongs and Worms don't die okay?"

"Okay, I can't lose Amycus."

"I know Snow and you won't, we will keep him alive."

"You can't promise that."

"I know but we can try incredibly hard Snow." Sirius gave her a smile before he stood up and placed their plates back on the tray. "Come on, we have classes."

.oOo.

Sirius was confused as an owl dropped a letter in front of him before taking off, he knew it wasn't Andromeda's owl since normally Archimedes stayed for some food before taking off again, that and Archimedes delivered a letter only yesterday.

He reached over and grabbed the letter, knowing full what would be in the letter as soon as he realised that the letter was from Gringotts. He wasn't even surprised he hadn't received a letter from his parents informing him.

 _Mr Black,_

 _We regret to inform you that the following trust transfer have been stopped._

\- _Black Family Trust_

 _You still have access to what is currently in your vault…_

Sirius scrunched up the letter, not really seeing the point in reading the rest. He knew it would happened eventually, he just couldn't believe it took this long for his parents to disown him and cut off his trust that he was receiving from the family vault.

"What was that?" James questioned.

"Nothing of importance," Sirius responded and for once he was grateful that he didn't have to lie about a letter regarding his family.

.oOo.

"You haven't happened to receive any letters from Gringotts or your family that I haven't seen or heard about?" Sirius questioned as he sat down beside Octavia on the couch.

Octavia looked up at him, unsure as to what was going on and why he was all of a sudden questioning this. They knew what would happen the moment they left their homes and family behind.

"No, why, have you?" she questioned

"May have."

"When?" She questioned while placing her things on the table in front of them and leaning back against the couch and Sirius.

Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "a couple of weeks ago I received one from Gringotts and a couple of days later I received one from mother." You could hear the distaste in his voice as he said the word 'mother'.

"What did they say?"

"The Gringotts one was the usual formal one informing me that I'm not longer receiving my Black family trust."

She nudged him before looking up at him, "you're leaving something out Pads."

"It doesn't matter what was written in the one I received from my mother, all that matters is that I have officially broken ties with them."

"No chance you'll tell me?" Sirius shook his head before quickly standing up causing Octavia to fall over. "Padfoot," she growled out, frowning when she noticed him walking off with Marlene.

Octavia laid there on the couch for a moment and watched as Sirius and Marlene left the room, hurting at the fact that he was still going to her for sex.

There was a part of Octavia that hoped that maybe now they were away from their parents that something could happen between her and Sirius, maybe she was just crazy for thinking something like that, maybe Sirius only saw her as a sister and couldn't even view her in same light he did with Marlene.

"You alright Snow?" Octavia looked over and found James looking down at her, worry written all over his face.

"Yeah fine," she sat back up on the couch and patted the spot next to her for him to sit beside her. "It's just been a long year." She spoke softly as she leaned against him.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you have feelings towards Padfoot?" he questioned and she scoffed in response.

"You're being an idiot Prongs."

"Am I? I see the way you look at him, even the way you look at him when you see him go off with Marlene," Octavia pulled away from James and twisted around on the couch and looked at him.

"I'm that obvious?" James shrugged, "has he noticed then?"

"I don't think so Snow, but I have to ask, why have you been dating other people even though you feel something for him?"

"There was always an attraction with the guys and until this past Christmas nothing serious could ever happen and I just hoped that one of them would be able to squish the feelings I had for him but no one ever could. A part from the way things ended with Aubrey, it was the same. The relationship may have distracted me from the feelings but they were still there the moment things ended." Octavia explained and James nodded.

"I can understand that one," Octavia couldn't help but laugh.

"You barely know Evans, this is completely different."

James narrowed his eyes but she just laughed once more. "I know enough Snow, I know she is the person I want to marry one day."

Octavia fell silent, thinking back on one of her dreams.

It was the one where her and Remus got into an argument about Sirius betraying them and how James, Peter and Evans were dead.

There was still a part of her that was confused about the mention of Evans, she didn't understand how Evans became friends with them all.

What happened between now and the moment that dream took placed for things to change? Or was James right when he said that he will marry her one day, do they all change enough that her views of them change as well?

"Who knows what will happen in the future Prongs," Octavia teased, hinting at the unknown, smiling when his eyes lit up in excitement.

"Have you seen something Snow?" he questioned and she shook her head.

"You know I won't tell you anything that I've seen from now on."

"But you tell Padfoot," he retorted.

"I know Prongs, but I need to tell someone. I need to have someone I can trust with what I see, I need someone I can talk to. If it wasn't for Pads making that slip in front of you all I wouldn't have even dreamed of telling you all that not all of you make it out of the war, I never intended for you to worry about who may or may not die."

"I know and I can't imagine how bad it is seeing those things, I do not want to be in your position. Yes there are moments where I see what you can do with your magic and wish I could do the same thing but I definitely don't want your dreams, the ability to see the future."

"I don't even want these, at first when they seemed all fun and innocent like seeing the map or seeing my future daughter." Octavia spoke but James' face lit up again at the mention of a daughter.

"Hey! I wonder if you will still have that daughter now that you and Sirius left your families, obviously the one you saw was with Regulus." James questioned and Octavia shrugged.

She knew that was the one fact she had always kept from Sirius, she wouldn't even know how to explain that or everything she had seen regarding the daughter she still believed he shared with him.

"Who knows Prongs, maybe I stay single forever and adopt a daughter."

"I get to be honorary uncle," James spoke with a massive smile on his face and she couldn't help but return the gesture.

"Of course Prongs, I wouldn't have it any of way."

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I think when it comes to Luna and her fabulous one liners, they may relate to all chapters.**


	58. Dead Man Walking

Chapter 57: Dead Man Walking

Octavia was sitting in the Great Hall for dinner, the hall was louder than usual due to the Hogsmeade visit that they had that day.

She was laughing about something with her friends when she felt someone tap on her shoulder and her friends all instantly stopped laughing.

She slowly turned around and came face to face with Regulus, "yes?"

"Come with me…" he ordered as he grabbed his arm to pull her up from her seat.

Octavia looked at Sirius and found he was already standing up. "Let her go Regulus," Sirius growled at his brother, but he didn't even flinch.

"Or what Sirius, you'll run away again? I would just like a word with her, that's all."

"Pads just let it go…" Octavia whispered, hoping he would sit down.

Octavia was unsure as to what Regulus could want to talk about, in recent years the two of them have gotten along better than the two brothers but she hasn't had a single conversation with the youngest Black since the duel broke out between Sirius and Regulus about why her and Sirius left home.

Sharing looks with Regulus in the corridors, Great Hall or the library often resulted in a slight glare on his end and it confused Octavia but she just put it down to her and Sirius leaving both their homes.

She thought that with her leaving it tore the friendship they had apart, making it become more like the lack of one between the brothers.

"Come on then," Regulus pulled Octavia away from the table.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I heard you had a date today."

"And your point?"

"Is that you are my fiancé, you aren't allowed to date anyone else."

"Shove of Regulus, we aren't anything." Octavia tried to pull away from him but he was stronger, the grip on her arm was too tight.

Regulus gripped both of her arms before he kissed her, hoping to scare off any other boys that planned on asking her on a date to Hogsmeade. His family needed this marriage to happen and he would do anything to keep them happy.

Octavia quickly pulled away from Regulus and managed to slap him across the face causing the Great Hall to become deafening silent as they all watched what would happen next.

"Do that again you'll be wishing you didn't," Octavia threatened before walking back to her seat, it only took moments for her friends to start making a lot of noise.

She couldn't believe he had kissed her, never once had Regulus shown anymore affection then the occasion hug, making it seem like their future marriage may be loveless, something she didn't want. She was confused by the action of him kissing her, it didn't make sense to her as to why he pulled something like this in front of the entire student body.

Nothing was making sense to her anymore and she hated the strange twists her life was now taking.

It was within the noise her friends were making that everyone else began making noise, whether they were talking amongst each other, returning to their original conversations or about what just happened.

"Holy fucking shit…" Octavia whispered as she sat back down in her seat beside Sirius.

"It'll be alright, just breath and don't hide. What you did was incredible." Sirius praised her and she smiled before focusing back on her dinner.

"Miss Carrow if you would come with me please," Octavia jumped at the sound of McGonagall's voice, she had been hoping she could make it through dinner before being requested by McGonagall, she knew what would happen the moment her hand connected with Regulus' face in front of everyone like that.

"Can it wait until I've eaten?"

"Oh Miss Carrow I'm sure by now you and your friends know where the kitchens are, come now."

"Yes Professor." She nodded before standing up and following McGonagall out of the Great Hall, she also noticed that Regulus was following Slughorn out as well and she was quite pleased with herself at the sight of the red handprint on his face.

"We're going to Professor Dumbledore's office?" Octavia questioned when she recognised the gargoyle statues appearing in the distance, how could her slapping Regulus promote a visit to the headmaster's office?

"Cockroach clusters." Was all McGonagall said, not answering Octavia's question.

She noticed the glare Regulus sent at her but all she did was grin, she was still pleased with herself for the slap managing to stick up for herself but the grin instantly dropped the moment Regulus wasn't looking at her, she felt guilty that she had slapped him but he was seeming to be so cold towards and she had no choice but to put a wall up between them now.

"Ah Minerva, I apologise for missing dinner and leaving you in charge, Barty has only just left." Dumbledore spoke before looking at Octavia and Regulus. "Ah Miss Carrow and Mr Black, not the usual pair I'm used to seeing in trouble. What did I happen to miss during dinner?"

"Mr Black kissed Miss Carrow and in return she slapped him." McGonagall explained and Octavia swore she saw a hint of a smile on his face.

"I see, I think a couple of detentions seem to suffice don't you think Minerva, Horace?" Dumbledore looked at the two briefly before facing their Heads of House.

"I do believe there is more to it then we know Albus, considering Mr Black was pulling Miss Carrow out of the Great Hall."

"I see, Mr Black would you like to explain your actions tonight?" Dumbledore asked and Regulus hesitated while Octavia smirked, she knew Regulus couldn't explain fully as to why he kissed her. The professors couldn't know about the arranged marriage between the two of them, the arranged marriages between the sacred families aren't meant to be common practise, instead they are kept quiet until the marriage is done.

"Go on Regulus, do tell. Tell them why you dragged me away from my friends and kissed me in front of the entire student body." Octavia urged him on but he didn't budge, he stayed quiet.

"Come on my boy, spill now." Slughorn urged and Regulus shifted in his seat to look at Octavia, she spotted that slight smirk on his face and she knew he worked it out.

"I was jealous, I know I acted wrongly but I was just jealous. I had heard from some of the other students about her date with Jeremy O'Connor, I had grown up with her and have held feelings towards her ever since but she won't notice me, she only sees me as Sirius' baby brother. Her slapping me made me realise my mistake, I deeply apologise for my actions Octavia." Octavia glared at Regulus, she couldn't believe he came up with this and now she had no choice but to apologise for slapping him, when she didn't really want too.

"I apologise for slapping you," she gritted through her teeth.

"There all sorted, you two will also serve a detention for your actions tonight. You may leave, Minerva if you would please stay, I have something I wish to discuss with you." Dumbledore spoke, Octavia quickly stood up and left the office, hoping to get back to the common room before Regulus could do anything.

She only managed to get around one corner before her feet were glued to the floor, she turned her head and spotted Regulus coming her way.

"Now love, I do believe that your apology back there was forced and not sincere, I do hope you feel bad for slapping me." Regulus spoke softly and Octavia just wished she could leave, she didn't know what he was going to do.

"Not one bit."

"We'll see love, now do remember next time someone asks you out on a date. You are mine, you don't even want to think about what could happen the next time you go on out on a date. Remember come my graduation we are set to be married."

"I'm not allowed to have some fun before then? Remember you graduate the year after me, who knows what I could get up to, who knows what I get up to in my common room."

"Are you threatening me?"

"You threatened me first, who knows. I might spend that year having sex with Sirius, who knows maybe I am already having sex with Sirius." Octavia hissed at him, knowing that his brother was a sore spot since it was for both of them.

Octavia's vision became blurry as Regulus' hand connected with her face, "Don't even make jokes like that, you belong to me not my brother." Regulus spoke, his tone cold and deadly and it worried Octavia, she had no idea what was going to happen now.

Except nothing happened, Regulus just turned on his heel and walked over. Octavia was worried he wouldn't unglue her feet but just before he turned the corner her feet were able to move and she quickly made her way towards the Gryffindor common room.

When she entered the common room, everyone was staring at her and she had a feeling why. She might not be able to see her face but the heat and burning sensation coming from it helped her to make a guess at the fact that there was a bright red hand print on the side of her face.

She headed up to the boys' dorm hoping her friends would be in there, she had no idea what she was going to tell them. But she opened the door, glad to see Lilith was in there with them and carefully walked in shutting the door behind her.

"Snow what happened?"

"With McGonagall or the fact that your brother decide it would be good for us to have matching faces?"

"He's dead, absolutely dead for touching you. Prongs and I didn't risk our lives pulling you from your house to get you away from your abusive parents just to have my brother hit you here." Sirius stood up and went to storm past Octavia but she grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Don't Pads, I may have provoked him."

"How Snow? What did you say that warrants him slapping you?" Sirius growled at her, surprised when a sly smile appeared on her face.

"I may have suggested that we're having sex." Sirius burst out laughing while everyone looked confused.

"Oh the look on his face would have been hilarious, I know how possessive he can be and the fact that he thinks you are 'his'. Damn I wished I had seen that, but he's still a dead man for slapping you."

"Now who's being possessive?" James joked, Sirius glared at him and Octavia looked plain confused at the comment this caused everyone else to burst out laughing.

"Come on," Sirius gripped Octavia's hand and pulled her towards the bathroom, pushing her towards the toilet to sit down on while he grabbed a wash cloth and ran it under the cold water before placing it against the red side of her face.

"Thank you," she muttered softly and he gave her a small smile.

"What happened to the friendship you shared with him? What caused it to be so badly damaged?"

"I don't know, I'm assuming it's because we left. I haven't spoken to him since you two had that duel." Octavia spoke, her face falling at the thought of losing a friend.

Sirius placed the washcloth on the sink and carefully cupped her face, forcing her to look at him. "We always knew he was on their side, we had to have known that he wouldn't talk to us after we left like that."

Octavia scoffed before pulling her face out of his grasp, grabbing the washcloth and placing it back on her cheek. "You two don't even talk Pads."

"Regardless, you two always have."

"He told Dumbledore he was jealous over my date with O'Connor."

"Why did you agree to go on a date with that prat?"

"Because Blake is interested in him, something about her and Evans dating the O'Connor twins but yet, I thought Evans and the other O'Connor broke up, something that Prongs was parading around about."

"Yes I remember that day," Sirius smirked and she shook her head.

"Anyway, said he was jealous because I never saw him as anything other than your baby brother. Turned it all around so that I was the bad person in all of this."

"Yes well, he's a guy and he hit you, I don't care what anyone says he is the bad guy Snow," Sirius growled and Octavia's face softened, taking in the strange protective nature he was showing.

She was used to Sirius being protective over her, but this side of him was different, it was a different side of protective nature he was using in regards to her.

"Are you alright Pads?" she questioned, noticing that he was shocked at the question and his mask instantly went up and she frowned at him, not liking that he was obviously hiding something from her.

"I'm fine Snow," he muttered before standing up and leaving her alone in the bathroom.

She hated that he was obviously keeping something from her, she wondered if it was what was written in the letter he received from his parents or if there was something else going on amongst everything.

.oOo.

"Can we talk?" Octavia jumped at the sound of Regulus' voice, unsure of how this conversation was going to go after what happened with the incident in the Great Hall and what followed.

"Why, you feel like slapping me again?" Octavia snapped and Regulus frowned before taking a seat at the table she was sitting at in the library.

"I want to apologise and mean it, I didn't mean to slap you. I know it doesn't justify why I did it but I just got so angry at hearing you talk about having sex with Sirius."

"Why do you care? I took off during Christmas break, I left my home, I don't believe our marriage will still stand." Octavia questioned and watched a Regulus went silent, pondering the question.

"I've heard the rumours about my brother, I don't want to think about him treating you the same as other girls. I care about you O, I don't want him to treat you badly."

"He doesn't hit me like you did, did you know my parents abuse me? It's why I disappeared during Christmas break, I was punished because they thought I knew where Sirius went. He took me from my home to keep me safe, bet you didn't know that one." Octavia spoke bitterly, not even caring about the look on Regulus' face.

"No I didn't know, I thought your parents stopped when you were younger like mine did."

"No they didn't Reg, I was all for us trying to be friends but after you slapping me I don't know any more Reg…" Octavia spoke softly

"I really am sorry O, I don't know what I was thinking to even consider slapping you."

"But it wasn't just the slap Reg, you were talking to me differently, you sounded so angry." She frowned at him as she gathered up her books and went to leave.

Regulus reached out and softly wrapped a hand around her arm as she walked past him, "I honestly didn't know about the abuse and now I feel even worse for slapping you because now you think I'm as bad as them but O, I feel horrible for slapping you like that."

"Why do you care so much about whether or not I'm having sex with Sirius, why now after two years of me dating on and off do you suddenly care?"

Regulus let go of her arm and stood up, standing in front of her. He placed a hand on her cheek and softly stroked it.

"Because you will never give me a shot like them and that's what I hate." Regulus spoke, his voice low and quiet before he leaned down, softly kissing her.

Octavia quickly pulled away, now realising what the problem was and not wanting to hurt him anymore than she was about to. "I don't see you like that Reg, I'm sorry." Octavia spoke, seeing the hurt flash threw his eyes as he removed his hand from her face.

"I know O, it's why I settle for friendship because I would rather that than not have you at all. I really am sorry for slapping you, I just saw red and lashed out." Regulus apologised once more, he reached out and softly ran his thumb over the side of her face when he slapped her.

She jerked her head away from his hand, "you still hit me Reg, I would never have thought you would be the type of guy to hit a girl."

"The fact that you still call me Reg proves you aren't truly mad anymore," he smirked at her and she huffed in annoyance before turning around and walking off.

Octavia heard Regulus laugh behind her before he was walking beside her, "I hate that you know me so well." She grumbled and it just him to laugh again. "You're a prat," she snapped.

"Look I get that you and Sirius left, at least now I understand why but I do want us to be on good terms again O."

Octavia looked over at him and noticed the guilty look on his face, him showing his emotions instead of hiding them was a good sign for her. "We will Reg, I just need time and Merlin knows Sirius is fuming."

"I can handle him, it's you I'm worried about."

"Don't worry about me Reg," she placed a hand on his forearm and gave him a small smile. "I'm happier now that I'm out of there, I'm not constantly afraid of what could happen."

"That wasn't what I meant, I know you are someone who always has a Plan B. I meant I'm worried about you hating me."

"Since when do I hate people?"

"I believe Snape may have something to say about that," Regulus spoke and a look appeared on her face causing him to shake his head at her attempts to look innocent. "I have to head off, I really am sorry O."

"I know Reg," Octavia leaned up and softly kissed his cheek before turning and walking in the opposite direction to him.

She couldn't believe Regulus felt that way towards her, at least now she had an explanation for some of his stranger actions. It made her wonder how long he had felt this way, Sirius had always jokes regarding Regulus and his feelings towards her, was that why he asked for the Quidditch lesson, to spend time alone with her?

She knew Sirius would be furious if she so easily forgave him, but she did want to try and fix things with Regulus. Despite him hurting her like her parents have in the past, he only used his hands where as her parents were keener on using their wands and that was more painful.

"Password?" The Fat Lady's voice startled Octavia, she didn't even realise she made her way towards the Gryffindor common room, she walked the whole way there in a daze.

"Hinkypunk," Octavia responded and stepped through when the portrait swung open.

After dropping her things in her dorm, she headed up to the boys dorm but she quickly noticed the look on Sirius' face and noticed what was in his hands, the map.

"Don't even think about it," Sirius growled as he noticed Octavia take a couple of steps back out of the dorm.

Octavia turned and ran back down the boys' staircase before heading up the girls' staircase but she only made it halfway when the stairs turned into a slide.

"What's your problem?" Octavia complained as she pushed Sirius off her and stood up.

"My problem is after what happened with the prat, you stood there talking to him for way too long."

"Godric when did you become a guard dog Pads?" she snapped at him.

Sirius grabbed her arm to prevent her from walking away from him and she glared at him when she was pulled back to face him.

"He hit you Snow."

"I know this Pads, I was there remember? He apologised, something I've never heard you do. Now let me go," she growled at him and a low growl came from Sirius in response.

"Come on mate, let her go," James spoke clapping a hand on Sirius' shoulder noticing the interaction between two of his best friends. He dug his fingers into his shoulder when he didn't let go straight away.

Sirius let go of Octavia's arm and watched as she headed back up the girls' staircase, trying to ignore the pain that James was causing in her shoulder, he didn't even realise that James had walked over to them.

"He hit her Prongs and yet she stood there talking to him for way to long." He spoke when Octavia had disappeared around the bend of the girls' staircase.

"I know mate but you're acting way to territorial over someone who isn't yours, if you want her to be yours then suck it up and tell her how you feel," James suggested, a scowl appearing on Sirius' face.

"It's the stupid dog in me recognising her wolf, it's harder with her." Sirius complained and James shook his head.

"Don't blame it on the animal forms, you and I both know why you feel so territorial over Snow." James spoke pushing Sirius towards the boys' staircase hoping he would walk up them and go back to the dorm so he wouldn't camp out in the common room waiting for Octavia to come down back down.

"Fine if I admit I feel territorial over Snow because I feel something for her, but it's the dog making it worse will you drop the damn thing." Sirius spoke, looking over his shoulder at James, glaring at the sight of the massive grin on his face.

James didn't say anything else on the topic for the rest of the night.

.oOo.

A scream sounding through the boys' dorm caused everyone to sit up in their beds and wonder as to what was happening but then they caught sight of Octavia sitting there on the floor with a hand over her eyes.

"What happened?" James spoke while yawning.

"The prat was bloody well naked when I attempted to get in his bed," Octavia snapped and the boys started laughing. "What's so funny?" she yelled at them all.

"Do you really want to know that the reason Padfoot was naked because he probably wanked at some point during the night?" Peter spoke while yawning, wanting to get back to sleep.

"Don't be such a prat mate," Sirius spoke as he climbed out of his bed and knelt in front of Octavia. "Snow what's wrong?" he pulled her hand away from her eyes, letting her know he was dressed.

"Honestly, why the bloody hell am I friends with all you prats, if the number ever increases from 2 at how many I've seen naked I will hang you all up by your feet above the Black Lake!" She threatened before standing up and storming out of the room.

"Snow wait, please," Sirius called out as she entered the common room.

"Nope, I need to go and scrub my brain." She continued up the girls' staircase, missing the action where Sirius visibly flinched at her comment.

But what Sirius didn't realise was that she didn't mean what she said, she had to get away from Sirius standing there half naked not having to imagine how the rest of him looked before she did something stupid.

Octavia crawl back into her bed, the images of her nightmare long gone as her brain was filled with imagines of Sirius.

Everyone noticed it straight away the following morning when Octavia didn't take her usual seat beside Sirius, instead she sat down on the other side of Lilith leaving an open seat beside him.

"What am I missing?" Lilith questioned, noticing the empty seat between her and Sirius. Raising an eyebrow when they all began shovelling food into their mouths.

Octavia swallowed the large amount of food in her mouth, "turns out those prats like to sleep naked so they can have a wank when they please." Octavia spoke and Lilith's mouth fell open, "Oh it gets better, those two." She pointed at James and Sirius, narrowing her eyes, "have also measured said dicks. Now if you excuse me, I need fresh air." Octavia sat up and left the Great Hall.

"You know things have been a little quiet around here," James spoke as he looked around the Great Hall.

"No they haven't, you lot let off fireworks in here just last week." Lilith responded, rolling her eyes.

"I'm surprised you aren't following her Padfoot," Peter pointed out and Sirius shrugged.

"I'm the root of the cause here, don't think me following her right now is a good thing. I'll see you lot later," Sirius spoke before getting up and leaving the Great Hall as well but there was something off about him that worried the rest, making them think he was definitely not following Octavia.

"Alright so if I happen to say something and you happen to agree with me can we freely talk without feeling guilty about sharing secrets?" James questioned looking at Lilith as soon as Peter had left the table mentioning that he was following Sirius, James looked over at Remus knowing that he already suspected what was going on between the two.

"Depends, does this have anything to do with Sirius having feelings towards Octavia?" Lilith questioned.

"It may also have something to do with Octavia having feelings towards Sirius?" James questioned.

"Now that is all sorted, what are you planning Prongs?" Remus put in, looking at the boy not liking the smirk on his face.

"I've been trying to convince Padfoot to suck it up and tell her how he feels, but he refuses."

"She refuses as well, to hurt over what he's doing with Marlene."

"Those two haven't had sex since the Hufflepuff match," James pointed out and a look appeared on Lilith's face.

"But she's complained about seeing the two of them go off together."

"If it's the time I'm thinking of then it was in that moment I realised that she felt the same, Padfoot and Marlene are still friends and I believe in that particular instance he was telling her that he couldn't do it anymore." James explained.

"Whatever you two are planning, I don't want a part of." Remus spoke as he stood up and left, speaking to Evans about something a look crossed James' face.

"Don't, it'll make things worse. Moony talking to her and actually getting along with her is a good start, she's realised that he isn't as bad as she originally thought, she is maybe thinking the rest of us aren't as bad as she originally thought." Lilith spoke noticing that James close to standing up and going down there.

James scrubbed his face before looking at her again, "what are we going to do about Padfoot and Snow?"

"Lock them in a room together?" Lilith suggested sweetly with a shrug before getting up from the table.

"Would that actually work?"

"One of two things will happen, she will hex his ass thinking he had something behind it or it will work."

"Let's do it," James spoke with a grin on his face and she laughed.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the common room and walked over to where her friends were sitting, quickly noticing that Sirius was missing but didn't question it.

"Where's the map?" She questioned, as she joined them on the group of arm chairs.

"Why?" Remus questioned, unsure about the smile that appeared on her face.

"Because I think I have finally found the spell we need to put the password on it, I want to-"

"In the dorm," James cut Octavia off and she gave him a nod of thanks before she rushed up stairs.

"What was that about?" Lilith questioned, even more confused when James pulled the map out from behind him. "You just told Snow."

"I know what I just told her," James explained and placed it back behind his back as Sirius appeared. "Hey mate, can you grab the map for me, it's in the dorm?"

"Why can't- never mind," Sirius muttered before turning and heading up the stairs.

"Prongs, you've attempted this like five times over the past month. What makes you think it will work this time?" Remus accused and James tilted his head to the side.

"Well she hasn't hexed him yet," James responded before getting up and running up the stairs.

Octavia was searching through the usual places where the boys usually hid the map, confused as to why she kept coming up empty. She turned around at the sound of the door opening and found Sirius standing there.

"You know there is something unusual about how the two of us keep getting placed in empty rooms together," Sirius spoke as he stepped closer to Octavia and she took a step back.

She had also noticed the weird number of times it has happened, she was used to spending time alone with Sirius but it's been happening less and less since she had developed feelings for him and the fact that she can't get the images of him naked out of her mind but now, in the last month it seemed odd and the others were being odd around them.

"Do you think they're planning something?" she spoke, swallowing the lump that appeared in her throat as he continued to stalk her towards the wall, a soft gasp escaped her lips when her back hit the wall.

Sirius placed both hands on the wall, either side of her head and leaned down so there was barely a gap between their faces, breathing in the scent he had come to love that came from her, vanilla and cherry blossoms and something else he hadn't quite worked out what it was yet.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, her voice so low, afraid of startling him.

His face was so close to hers and she was incredibly tempted to lean up, closing the gap and kissing him but she had long ago convinced herself that he didn't see her like that, and this, what was happening right now was just him being the flirt he had always been since it wouldn't be the first time he has flirted with her.

"Something I've been wanting to do again for so long," he spoke, confusing her which quickly turned into shock when he kissed her.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I adore Luna. Are you happy?**

 **For the Guest who stated they were surprised that I was making Octavia get bullied, bullying happens every day. Octavia excludes herself from other students, because some people judge her because of what her family is like, it will happen over time.**

 **As for Mag and the unknown Guest that both made similar statements about Sirius being a man whore and treating Octavia like shit and she deserves better. I never once stated that Sirius suspected how Octavia felt, it was everyone around them that had noticed the feelings. As for Marlene saying she will stop having sex with Sirius because he feels something for Octavia, I didn't, I said that was why they stopped their fake relationship. Again this comes back to the casual sex, I will continue to write it about in my story because I have no issue with it. As for the double standards, if Octavia wasn't as shy as I wrote her to be then yes maybe I would have her having fun like Sirius, but she isn't that person.**


	59. About Time

Chapter 58: About Time

"What are you doing?" Octavia whispered, her voice so low, afraid of startling Sirius.

"Something I've been wanting to do again for so long," he spoke, confusing her which quickly turned into shock when he kissed her.

It was soft and careful at first, it wasn't until she wrapped her arms around his neck weaving one of her hands through his hair that it became more determined.

She pulled away when she realised what she was doing, she couldn't read the look on his face but it was something she had begun to see more of in recent weeks.

Sirius was afraid he went about this the wrong way, he didn't mean to kiss her like this, but coming up here and seeing her alone was just too easy and then when they were standing like that against the wall…he just couldn't help himself. It also didn't help that James had been putting ideas in his head recently.

"Snow?" he questioned softly but she shook her head placing her hands on his chest to push him away, she was beginning to feel suffocated.

It wasn't until she was almost at the door that he realised what was happening, he ran towards her, grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving.

"Please don't leave…" he spoke softly, with complete and utter vulnerability showing on his face and it shocked her, she rarely saw him looking that vulnerable.

"You just kissed me, what did you expect to happen? Please let me go."

Sirius didn't let go, in fact he pulled her closer before kissing her again. Octavia automatically wrapped her arms around his neck gripping his hair in hopes of closing what little gap there was between them.

Sirius pulled away and rested his forehead against hers, "please don't leave this time."

"You can't keep me locked up in here forever."

"Oh I don't know, this is pretty enjoyable." Sirius kissed her again, pleased with how quickly she was kissing him back, he had worried in the past that she wouldn't want this and push him away, claim that she didn't see him like that.

"Nope," Octavia shook her head as she pulled away. "You really need to stop doing that, otherwise I won't be able to think straight."

"Why would you need to be able to think straight?" he spoke with a smirk on his face and it made her feel uneasy.

She back away from him but he just followed her, it was like she was his prey.

"Snow…" he spoke softly but she just continued to shake her head.

Octavia jumped at the sound of the door opening, she turned around and found Remus standing there. "Moony!" she exclaimed, using this opportunity to turn and rush to his side.

"Snow, Padfoot, what's going on in here?" Remus took note of the tension in the air, the look on Sirius' face and the fact that Octavia looked put out, something he hadn't seen in a while.

"Nothing!" she exclaimed again and all but bolted for the door.

"What the bloody hell did you do to her Padfoot? I haven't seen her like that in a while." Remus questioned but Sirius just continued to grin.

"I kissed her."

Remus slightly shook his head before looking back at the boy in question, "you don't seem the slightest bit worried?"

"Nope, I got in three before you came in here."

"But yet she seemed way too excited about my arrival Padfoot…"

Sirius looked at Remus and shook his head, he knew what she was doing, she wanted to get away to think it through. Him kissing her was completely out of the blue, she needed time, despite the fact that they had kissed before, this was different and they both knew it. It wasn't because she didn't want to be kissing him, he had seen the consequences of what happens when you give her an unwanted kiss and it was something he was worried about happening.

"She'll be fine Moony, she didn't slap me like she did Regulus." This caused both of them to laugh at the memory, they will never forget the time Octavia slapped Regulus in front of everyone in the Great Hall.

"Fine but if she slaps you, back off…" Remus warned while slightly laughing knowing full well that Octavia can handle Sirius if she needs to.

Octavia had rushed out of the boys' dorm instantly spotting James and Lilith leaning against the adjacent wall looking incredibly guilty about something.

She ignored them and continued on out of the stairwell and headed towards her own dorm wanting a hot shower.

She couldn't believe Sirius kissed her like that, she couldn't believe he cornered her in the dorm like that and she couldn't believe he kept doing it.

The way she felt when he kissed her sent her on a high, something that was so much better than the high she got from flying, merlin she could even feel the heat from his hands as he gripped her waist.

But the thing that was forever burned into her memory was the look on his face after the first kiss, she had rarely seen that much vulnerability on his face and she was his best friend but he was always known for hiding his emotions.

None of it was making sense to her.

"Snow?" Lilith's timid voice break through Octavia's train of thought.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute." Octavia responded before turning the shower off and grabbing the towel to dry off.

She stepped out of the shower and was shocked at the sight of Lilith sitting on the floor leaning against the door. "Bloody hell, you can't even give me two minutes to get dressed?"

"Sorry, I was worried you were would hate me." Lilith spoke, staring at the floor and Octavia was confused.

"Why would I hate you?"

"Because Prongs and I have made a habit of shoving you and Padfoot into rooms together."

"Ohhh, that," Octavia smirked at Lilith when she finally looked up at her. "I hadn't noticed that at all, you know it could have backfired badly." Octavia walked over and sat down beside Lilith.

"It didn't?" Octavia shook her head, "You left their dorm looking like something bad had happened in then."

"It just, so much, you know what let me get dressed and we can talk." Lilith nodded and stood up, leaving Octavia alone in the dorm.

"So what happened?" Lilith spoke while slightly bouncing on her bed causing Octavia to laugh before she walked over and took a seat on the bed.

"I can't honestly believe you and Prongs were planning on doing that."

"Yes well haven't you noticed how much Evans hasn't complained about him in the last month?"

"That is a good, maybe we should get Prongs on the match making path." Octavia spoke as she climbed off the bed and walked over to her own bed.

"You're avoiding the conversation about what happened with Padfoot," Lilith spoke and Octavia sighed, laying back on the bed before filling her in on what happened with Sirius.

When Octavia entered the Great Hall for breakfast the following morning, she walked over and took her usual seat next to Sirius. He took this as a good sign that she was sitting next to him, but was a little hurt that she didn't even acknowledge him, she just continued on with her conversation with Lilith.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned hoping to gain her attention, it took a moment but she eventually turned around and faced him.

"Good morning," she gave him a smile before turning back around to face Lilith.

"Is that how it's going to be? You're just going to ignore me."

Octavia turned around and faced him, "what are you on about? I'm talking with Lilith, when did you get so clingy?" She teased while softly patting his cheek causing a low growl to escape.

"You know exactly what I'm on about…wait, you aren't going to ignore me you're just going to pretend it didn't happen." Sirius spoke and the smile dropped from Octavia's face when she heard his voice waver, he was hurt because of her and she hated that.

"What's going on?" James questioned and Octavia quickly muttered out a nothing while she continued to look at Sirius.

"Those two kissed last night, it seems as though Snow is going to pretend it didn't happen while Padfoot wants to talk about it." Remus responded, there was a variety of reactions but Octavia had narrowed her eyes at Sirius.

"Why'd you tell him?"

"What, you cannot tell me you didn't enjoy the kiss?" Sirius questioned but Octavia's gaze didn't falter.

"You can't be that mad Snow, you told me." Lilith pointed out and a groan came from Octavia but she continued to glare at Sirius.

"Woah, back up a minute, I think the rest of us need some clarification. You two finally kissed?" James questioned and Octavia instantly snapped her gaze towards James.

"What the bloody hell do you mean been by 'finally?" she snapped at him and he shrugged.

"Oh come Snow, we've been joking about something the between the two of you since first year, it was bound to happen. It's no big deal." Peter joined in on the conversation while the smug look on Sirius' face just got bigger, it was obvious the rest of them didn't care about a relationship between the two of them it was just Octavia that was in denial about it.

"It is a big deal because the prat kissed me," Octavia hissed at them all.

"And you enjoyed it otherwise you wouldn't have let me kiss you three times."

"Don't know what you are on about."

"Oh really? So you would have a problem if I did it right now?"

"Don't you dare Padfoot," she snarled at him but he just grinned before putting a hand on the back of her neck and pressing his lips against hers.

Octavia instantly fell into the kiss, kissing him back. It wasn't until she realised that there was no noise around her that she realised how much attention she had gathered by something like this. She quickly pulled away and noticed how many people around them were looking at her and the rest of her friends.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned softly, realising his mistake because she was still generally a very private person.

Octavia shook her head before getting up and leaving the Great Hall, she couldn't believe Sirius did something like, he kissed her in front of everyone that was present in the Great Hall.

He remembered the outcome of when Regulus kissed her in the Great Hall and a part of that was because she had also slapped him.

"Well go follow her," Lilith urged Sirius, he looked at the rest of their friends and they gave him the same look.

He felt bad for embarrassing her like that but he also felt hurt that she was pretending that it didn't happen.

Sirius left in search of Octavia, managing to catch her on her way to the kitchens. He knew she was hungry and she didn't get a chance to eat her breakfast before she took off.

"Please stop, I'm sorry." Octavia suddenly turned around startling Sirius.

"You're sorry! Why the hell did you do it in the first place, when I specifically told you not to?"

"Because I enjoy kissing you and I would much like to do it again." Octavia noticed the sincere tone to his voice as he took a step closer to where she had her back pressed against the wall.

"I thought I told you to stop kissing me?" She needed to be able to think this whole thing through, work out exactly what she wanted but she can't when he was constantly clouding her judgement.

"If you give me a proper reason, not that you can't think straight then I will."

Octavia fell silent, she had no idea what her reasons were for not wanting Sirius to kiss her. Everything will change and she doesn't know if she wants that, after everything she's been through Sirius has always been there for her and what if this ruins everything?

"What if everything changes?" she whispered back and a small smile appeared on his face.

"That's the whole point, everything is meant to change Snow. I will kiss you whenever I please, you will be mine and mine only."

"You never did learn to share your toys…" she teased and he shook his head.

"Why would I want to share you?"

"You might have too."

"We've both left our families, I honestly don't think our marriages stand anymore, Regulus has to learn to accept that." Sirius was standing in front of Octavia, she felt uneasy with how close they were.

"Why me and why now? We've both gone against our families and dated other people."

"Because you've always been different, it's always been you and me against the world." Octavia's knees went weak as she felt his warm breath on her neck as he nuzzled her neck. "And we don't have our parents to worry about anymore."

"Please stop…" Octavia managed to stutter out when he began softly kissing along her neck.

"Why? You still haven't given me a good reason as to why I should stop kissing you." Sirius pulled away and stood up straight, he couldn't help but notice the flustered look on her face.

"I can't think straight when you kiss me."

"But that's a good thing, please tell me you feel something otherwise I will stop, we will go back and act like it never happened."

"I can't act like it never happened…" Octavia whispered before she leaned up and kissed him, completely shocking him in turn.

"This means your mine now, you know that right." Octavia smiled before she realised something, she jumped up and down on the spot slightly and hit him over the chest.

"That's what Prongs meant by now who's being possessive after Regulus kissed me." She had a satisfied look on her face. "Why didn't you ever do something before now, they've been shoving us into rooms for a month?"

Sirius placed a hand on her neck and softly stroked her cheek. "I know but I had to be careful, I had no idea if you felt the same and I couldn't exactly go and ask Lilith. Me kissing you yesterday was a huge leap."

"I know we've kissed before Padfoot but what made you realise that it was different yesterday?"

Sirius didn't say anything at first, just kissed her again and she automatically put her arms around his neck and he pulled away, "that's how I knew it was different, the last two times we've kissed you haven't done that. You automatically fell into the kiss instead of pushing me away, you pushed Regulus away and slapped him, you didn't do that with me."

"Wouldn't want to ruin your pretty face now would we?" she teased as she reached up and placed a hand on the side of his face.

"You have before," his voice was low and she could tell he still wasn't happy about that but she just smiled at him.

"I was young and stupid, you've done stupid things."

"Come on, let's go back to breakfast." He spoke, lacing his fingers with hers but she pulled him back towards her.

"What's the matter Snow?"

"You kissed me in the Great Hall, in front of everyone Padfoot." She hissed but he just smiled before kissing her again.

"I plan on doing it again Snow," he responded but she just frowned at him. "Oh come on, don't look at me like that. You know exactly what it means if we start dating."

"Not if you keep kissing me in front of everyone like that."

Sirius took a deep breathing, knowing the two of them could continue arguing like this if one of them didn't back down. He placed both of his hands on her neck and softly ran his thumbs along her jaw. "Okay, no more public displays of affection," she raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed. "Okay, so I won't go public kissing you like that again but I will do this, kiss your cheek, hug you, hold your hand and everything else that comes with being a boyfriend."

"I'm sure I can deal with that but can we just go to the kitchens instead please?" she questioned, a frown appearing on his face.

"Why can't we sit in the Great Hall with our friends and finish breakfast?" Sirius questioned softly.

"Because you did something incredibly stupid and I can't go back in there, I can't face all those people after what you did."

Sirius took a deep breath and nodded before kissing her once more, "okay, we will have breakfast in the kitchen but you know we have to face everyone eventually, we do have classes." Sirius wanted to kick himself for mentioning classes.

Octavia had pulled away began muttering to herself as she headed towards the kitchen planning on actually having breakfast.

He could hear her talking to herself but it wasn't making sense to him, only picking out words like prat, student body and bloody rumours.

Taking defeat he walked over and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her face into his chest while he buried his face in her hair.

"Calm down Snow, it won't be as bad as you think it will be."

"Oh it will be bad, everyone is convinced you and Mar-" Octavia cut herself off as she realised something and pulled away from him, tears building up in her eyes.

"Snow?" he questioned, filling with dread and worry.

"I can't believe it, I didn't realise it. I chewed you out for how some girl may feel one day but yet I easily stepped into those shoes." She laughed bitterly but Sirius was still confused as to what was going on.

"What are you on about?" he questioned softly, noticing the troubled look on her face.

"I'm that poor girl," she spoke, her voice breaking.

Sirius tilted his head to the side, unsure as first as to what she was saying. He looked at her and watched as the tears silently escaped and ran down her cheeks and he remembered the last time he saw her like that, the morning after the Hufflepuff match when she chewed him out for constantly having sex with Marlene.

"Don't think for a second that you are some poor stupid girl that has to try and live up to Marlene, because you don't. Yes I had sex with Marlene, yes we did it more than once but she knew how I felt towards you from the start."

"You had sex with her while you felt something towards me?" she scrunched her face up and Sirius finally placed his hands on her face, cupping it again and she softened her face.

"Yes, but what about all those guys you went on dates with, or Bertram Aubrey, do I get to hear as to why we did what we did to him?" Sirius questioned softly, worried when she lowered her gaze and refused to look at him. "Snow?" he questioned again.

"I had sex with him and then once it happened he stopped talking to me, I convinced Prongs to not tell you. It's why we did what we did," she responded softly and he placed both of his hands on her face and forced her to look at him.

"I won't ever do that with you, it won't be like that with us. I told you, you're different, you mean different to me, please don't ever forget that." Sirius leaned forward and kissed her, glad when she smiled against him.

"I'm scared," she whispered softly.

"I know Snow, you hate having your life out there for everyone to know but surely even if I didn't kiss you like I did in the Great Hall like that something would have happened in the common room, those bloody fourth year gossiping girls would have seen something and by the following breakfast everyone would have heard about us and our relationship, we can't hide forever and we need to face them."

Octavia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Sirius, breathing in the familiar scent that always made her knees weak, coffee, the smell of burning wood and leather.

"Are you sniffing me?" he teased, glad that she laughed before nodding against his chest. "It's the wolf, it sounds so stupid I know but the wolf comes out more when it comes to you, it's territorial about you."

"I said the same thing about the dog and you to Prongs, it should make our relationship very interesting."

"Are we really going to do this? Have a relationship despite everything we've grown up to be told." Octavia questioned, pulling away slightly from Sirius and he frowned.

Sirius placed his hands on her neck, cupping her face, loving the smile on her face whenever he did that. "I want to yes, I want you to be mine and mine only," his voice came out low and almost like a growl and she laughed.

"Godric you are going to be territorial aren't you?" she questioned and he nodded, quickly burying his face in the crook of her neck quickly placing kisses along the exposed skin there.

"Alright stop, let's go to class." She pulled away from him, laughing at the pout clearly present on his face.

.oOo.

"I've noticed how often you've been absent from the Great Hall." Octavia's hand holding her quill froze at the sound of Regulus' voice.

She had been dreading his reaction to the news of her relationship with Sirius the most, she knew how he felt but refused to tell Sirius and now she was worried about how he feels towards the whole thing.

Sirius wasn't happy about the fact that she was forgiving to him, but after years of knowing him, he had never once hurt her, never once given her any reason to think the slap will be repeated in the future. After being told that Regulus felt something towards her, she now understand why he saw red, he was jealous at what she was saying as to what was happening between her and Sirius.

She forgave him under the pretence that it will never happen again, that he won't be like her parents and the fact he wasn't like her parents in the first place.

"Haven't felt like sitting in there for meals, but you shouldn't worry Reg I'm still eating."

"Considering how many of your pranks I've witnessed over the years came as a result of something being put into our goblets, I would also suggest you've made friends with the house elves," his statement earnt a grin from her but it quickly fell when she noticed the look in his eyes. "My brother, really O?"

"If this is going to be another one of your conversations where you don't approve of my relationship, I won't hesitate to slap you again and if you hit me back I won't stop Sirius this time." She snapped.

Regulus' face softened as he took a seat at the table beside her. "I hate that I did, even after I did it I hated myself for it, even more so once I found out the truth about your parents. I apologised for hitting you and am grateful you forgave me but O, I hear the rumours about him going girl to girl."

"He won't treat me like that." She stated, knowing full well that to begin with she had the same concerns.

"What makes you so sure?"

"The rest of my friends, they wouldn't let him and I doubt you would either." Regulus nodded in response before looking behind him, almost as if he heard someone but Octavia knew there was no one lurking in the shadows. "For what it's worth I am sorry if my decision hurt you in any way, but I meant what I said when I said I didn't see you that way." She explained, unsure as to if she was making it worse or not.

Regulus finally looked back at her, this time with his mask back up and she was unable to read him anymore. "It's always been him hasn't it?"

She slowly nodded, "even before we left."

"For what it's worth, now knowing the truth about your parents and what he did to get you out of there, how he was the one helping you for all those years, despite the differences we now have, I do believe he truly cares about you and will always protect you despite my concerns for how he may treat you compared to the other girls."

"Thank you Reg, that means a lot to me," Octavia gave him a smile and he nodded

"What about our parents though? They've always stated you two were off limits to each other," Regulus questioned and Octavia lowered her gaze.

"We left Reg, we decided to leave and they can't say anything about it." Octavia responded, quickly looking back up at him noticing his nod before standing up and leaving her alone at the table.

It didn't matter if the two brothers were slightly more civil towards each other these days but that may be down to the fact that they would just rather avoid each other instead of throw insults at each other, Octavia will never tell Sirius how Regulus feels about her.

Octavia sat there for a moment, waiting to make sure Regulus had left before she placed everything back in her bag and also left the Library to head back to the common room before Quidditch Practise.

Sirius entered the Quidditch Pitch for practise running a little late after having to deal with a detention from McGonagall for being seen come out of the girls' bathroom, regardless of the fact that he was checking to make sure Octavia was okay after bursting into tears, having enough of hearing one too many snide comments from other girls within Hogwarts about her relationship with Sirius.

The sight he saw when he entered the Pitch caused anger to start boiling within him.

Sirius stood there for a moment and watched as Tyler Kingsinton, the Gryffindor Keeper, was standing there flirting with Octavia.

Sirius stormed over to where they were standing and stood in between them, "what the hell do you think you are doing Kingsinton?" Sirius snapped at the sixth year.

"Padfoot," Octavia hissed but Sirius didn't budge from where he was glaring at Tyler.

"I'm flirting with Carrow here, what does it look like?" he responded with a smirk on his face.

"It looks like you're going to end up with a bloody nose if you're not careful," Sirius spoke a low growl and that was enough for Octavia.

Octavia wrapped her hand around Sirius' wrist and pulled him away from Kingsinton and towards the change rooms, hiding her smile at all the laughs coming the team behind them.

As soon as the doors closed behind them Sirius pulled on Octavia's arm and she was spun around to face him, barely not even able to get the chance to say anything because Sirius pressed his lips against hers.

"You owe me 3 Galleons Potter," Kingsinton spoke, a low growl coming from Sirius at the sound of the other boy's voice.

Octavia pulled away and gave Sirius a smile before turning and looking at where James was standing, handing over the Galleons, "you know if that punch had been thrown you would have been the one handling it right?" she questioned and he nodded with a smug look on his face.

"You set this up?" Sirius questioned, stepping around Octavia and walking over to where James was still standing.

"Sort of, Kingsinton asked about your relationship and I said it was true and how territorial you've been over her recently, he didn't believe me and that's the first part. I also said that if it went far enough you'd throw a punch, but he bet me that Snow would intervene before that happened."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at James before turning around and facing his girlfriend, instantly noticing the sweet smile on her face. "You knew about this," he spoke and she nodded before walking over to him.

"I warned them not to do it but this is Prongs, he's been waiting to find a moment to wind you up. Don't hit him too hard with the Bludger during practise," she softly kissed him before continuing along through the team room, grabbing Marlene's arm and pulling her through to the girls' change room.

"Padfoot?" James questioned wearily and Sirius took a deep breath.

"You better be in top form mate," he threatened before walking towards the boys' change room.

"Bad luck mate," Frank muttered as he clapped James on the shoulder before following Sirius.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Lisa** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I actually do like Regulus' character and I hate that I made him slap Octavia but I feel like it was the only way for her to open up and tell Regulus the truth behind her leaving her home. Regulus does redeem himself in the future.**


	60. Ordinary Wizarding Level Exams

Chapter 59: Ordinary Wizarding Level Exams

Easter break brought along a large amount of stress for the Fifth and Seventh years, as if all year they were oblivious to the upcoming exams they had, well most anyway.

The library was fuller than it normally was during the year, seeing an influx of students panicking because they no longer believe they are ready for their exams.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned while sitting up from the couch where he had fallen asleep.

Octavia was startled by the sound of his voice, not realising he had woken up.

Sirius caught sight of the watch on Octavia's wrist and the time, "Snow you said one more chapter three hours ago, why are you still awake?"

Octavia rubbed her eyes before looking at her watch herself, eyes going slightly wide before looking back at him. "I honestly didn't realise it got that late, I just kept reading and reading."

Sirius nodded and stood up, walking over to where she was sitting and grabbed the book from her hands and placing it on the table before grabbing her wrists and pulling her up from the armchair, noticing how her whole body tensed at the action.

"What's wrong?" he questioned, noticing the strange look in her eyes.

"Nothing, I'm just tired." She responded but when he reached out to softly stroke her cheek she jerked her head away from him and he instantly dropped his hand, as if she had burned him.

"Really just tired?" he questioned, watching her carefully.

Octavia closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before opening them and stepping closing to Sirius, wrapping her arms around his neck, a hand automatically weaving its way into his hair.

"I'm sorry, I guess I still have a couple of issues from the etiquette school. I think to begin with I got swept up with the notion of us being together." Octavia explained and Sirius nodded.

"I thought you were passed all those issues?" he questioned and she shrugged, causing him to frown before he leaned down and rested his forehead against hers, softly rubbing her back when she tensed up slightly. "I guess not huh?"

"I'm really sorry," she spoke softly, closing her eyes.

"I know you are, come on let's get some sleep, you may feel better in the morning after a good night's sleep." Sirius pulled away and softly kissed her forehead, allowing her to gather her things.

"Merlin, why didn't I begin studying for our OWLs so much earlier than now." Octavia complained.

"You're just panicking like everyone else, you are a brilliant witch Snow, I don't know why you are so stressed about them, you will do fine." Sirius reassured her but she didn't say anything, just shook her head.

"Snow are you forgetting something?" he questioned as she stepped onto the bottom step of the girls' staircase.

She turned around and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, realising what he was on about. "I'm sorry," she muttered as the tears built up in her eyes, turning and continuing up the stairs.

Sirius stood there leaning against the back of the couch watching his girlfriend disappear up the stairs, he wanted to be able to follow her but he couldn't and he hated that. For once in his life he wished that the girls' staircase didn't have that stupid spell on them, previously it never bothered him that he couldn't set foot on the stairs without turning them into a slide, yes he had made jokes with the other boys that maybe the girls had better dorms, which he had proved to be wrong last year, but he didn't always have a broom on hand to follow Octavia up to her dorm when she was hiding out up there.

He was worried about her, when they first returned to Hogwarts for their fourth year after the summer she spent at the etiquette school he was worried that maybe she had changed but slowly and surely over the length of the term she seemed to be improving and returning to her old self, even on that night when he found her standing on top of the Astronomy Tower with tears running down her cheeks he was terrified she was resorting to what Bexley did but she reassured him she wasn't planning on it.

After that Christmas break it seemed as though she was passed her Muggleborn issues and was back to sleeping in her own dorm.

But now her issues with the two of them had returned and he didn't know what caused it, he was terrified that he was going to lose her after only having her for such a short time.

All he wanted was a simple kiss goodnight before they both went to bed, but she couldn't even do that, something was terribly wrong.

Sirius was sitting in the Great Hall with the rest of the boys waiting for Lilith and Octavia to join them for breakfast, James was attempting to get an idea for a prank against the other students out of Sirius but he was barely paying attention to the conversation.

"Padfoot what's going on?" Remus questioned noticing the faraway look in the other boy's eyes.

Sirius looked across from him at where Remus was sitting, unsure as to what good the truth will do. "Just worried about Snow is all."

"Why, you fuck up already mate?" James questioned with a smirk, noticing the look on Sirius' face and knowing it was a mistimed joke. "What happened?"

"She's just slipped back to what she was like after her time at the etiquette school." Sirius explained and he could see they all looked worried.

"How bad?" Remus questioned.

"I'm hoping after some sleep she will be alright."

The boys nodded and fell silent as they spotted Lilith and Octavia heading towards them and Sirius was glad he saw a smile on his girlfriend's face.

Octavia sat down in the seat beside Sirius and gave him a smile, "Good morning Pads."

"Good morning Snow," Sirius responded and softly placed a hand on her knee. "So you wanted to pull something over the Slytherins Prongs?" Sirius questioned, hoping to bring the conversation back around to that knowing he will pay better attention now that Octavia had joined them.

James was in the middle of explaining how he wanted to pull something over all the students and not just the Slytherins when Octavia shifted closer to Sirius and leaned up to softly kiss his cheek.

"I'm sorry for last night," she whispered in his ear, Sirius nodded in response before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and kissing her temple.

"I know, all is forgiven," Sirius responded, his voice low as well before turning and facing the boys, narrowing his eyes at the sight of the smirks on their faces as they all simultaneously drank from their goblets. "I'll make you all disappear as well," he threatened but they just laughed at him before James and Peter launched into a bunch of mockery about Sirius and Octavia.

"I know which book you need for the spell, I can grab it from the library and meet you all in the room. Come on Pads," Octavia spoke, pulling on Sirius' hand.

"Why am I being dragged to the library?" Sirius complained and Octavia just shot him a look over her shoulder.

"What you want to continue to sit there and listen to the jokes coming from Prongs and Wormtail because of our relationship?"

"Funny how you say relationship but yet I couldn't even get a goodnight kiss last night," he muttered and Octavia let go of his hand. "Damn it, I'm sorry Snow, you know-" Sirius was cut off by Octavia pressing her lips against his.

Sirius tightly gripped her waist as he ran his tongue along her lips to try and gain access to her mouth, he may have been shocked at the fact that she made the first move but he wouldn't be one to complain about being able to snog his girlfriend.

Sirius had to put away when he heard the soft moan escape her, the moan stirred something inside of him and he couldn't lose control in the middle of a corridor with her, she was different and she was special. Even the whimper that came from her when he pulled away stirred something inside of him.

He brushed the hair out of her face and left his hand resting on the back of her neck, softly massaging the back of her head.

"I think it was just because I was tired last night, I was tired and it all came back to me." She spoke softly, eyes half closed enjoying the massage that Sirius was giving her.

"It's fine, I understand. I may not have gone through what you did that summer but I also grew up having it forced into my head that you were off limits, it's like Moony all over again." Sirius spoke pulling his hand away from her head with fear that she would asleep from being too relaxed.

"We'll be fine won't we?" she questioned and Sirius softly kissed her, hoping to erase her fears.

"We'll try baby," Sirius spoke, glad at seeing the smile on her face.

Sirius was only calling her baby when it was just the two of them and it didn't bother her, she liked that she had something that was just between the two of them.

"Come on, we need to find that book for Prongs and then I need to start studying again."

"Snow you don't need to keep studying," Sirius pointed out and Octavia just glared at him before she continued down the corridor, he followed her knowing that she wasn't truly mad at him, but also knew that he was the only one to make sure she didn't snap from studying too much.

.oOo.

"Tell me again why Frank wants you lot out here?" Peter complained, before looking back out on the Quidditch Pitch, watching the Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch Match.

"You didn't have to come out here Wormtail, we know you aren't the biggest Quidditch fan but Frank wants us out here and if we didn't, we would have been kicked off the team" James responded, sending an elbow to Sirius' ribs who was too busy whispering in Octavia's ear then actually watching the game.

"What was I meant to do, Moony is off at a Prefect meeting since the Head boy and girl thought it would be best to have the meeting during a game, because strangely neither house as a Prefect in their team and Lilith is in her bed sick."

"Do it," Sirius muttered, ignoring Peter and his complaining and focused on his girlfriend instead.

"Do what?" James questioned, instantly noticing the look on Octavia's face.

They had all become a little worried about Octavia as she had thrown herself into her studies once more, but every now and then Sirius was able to pull her away from her books and today, well today Frank threatened to kick her off the team if she didn't attend the match, little did she know that Sirius went to him and asked him to threatened her so she would get outside.

Octavia winked at James before looking back across the pitch, locating one of the Bludgers and grabbing a hold of it with her magic. She then proceeded to use her magic to have it fly across the bitch and hit Bertram Aubrey in his side and knocking him off his broom.

"He'll live, I slowed the fucker down." Octavia muttered.

"Why'd you do that?" Sirius questioned darkly and she looked up at him, not believing that he was still angry at what happened with the other boy.

"Oh fine," Octavia spoke as she threw the Bludger back down towards the ground where Aubrey was still laying on the grounds since the Professors haven't quite reached the ground yet. "Happy with broken legs?" she questioned, giving Sirius a smile and he nodded with a grin before leaning down to kiss her but she turned her head causing him to kiss her cheek.

"Too many people," she responded, not wanting him to panic about what may potentially be going on again.

"I'm guessing you told him?" James questioned and Sirius turned around to glare at him.

"You should have told me when you found out, I sure as hell would have planned something different to growing his so it was twice the size, something that probably would have resulted in more than a double detention."

"She made me promise," James pointed a finger at Octavia.

"You're my best mate, not hers, you don't keep her secrets, you tell them to me." Sirius spoke earning a punch in the arm from Octavia, causing him to wince before he turned and faced his now seething girlfriend.

"Tell me Padfoot, what do you want the most from me in our relationship?"

Sirius was confused at the question, unsure as to what she truly meant by the question.

"How about this Padfoot, if you ever wish to see me naked, don't go saying shit like that to Prongs." Octavia snapped, anger blazing in her eyes as she stood up from her seat and moved further down the row where Marlene was sitting with the rest of the Quidditch team.

"What was the term Prongs used when Padfoot was dating Marlene? Something about a doghouse?" Peter spoke and James couldn't help but burst out laughing at that, he barely remembered that conversation from last year.

"Ah the days when Wormtail had no idea what we were on about, glad to see you are catching on mate," James patted Peter on the back while Sirius sat there and sulked.

"Oh come on cheer up mate, Ravenclaw lost and Aubrey has two broken legs." James spoke as the three boys were leaving the Quidditch Pitch but Sirius was too busy looking ahead at where Octavia was walking with Marlene.

"Speaking of which, why do I have a feeling that Aubrey ended up with two broken legs because of you lot?" Frank added in having caught up with the group.

"Now, now Frank we all know that magic can't affected a Bludger. It's just a pure coincidence that Aubrey ended up with two broken legs." Sirius spoke, not really putting the energy into convincing Frank otherwise but he was right.

The only reason Octavia was able to change the Bludger's path was because she used her own wandless magic, it being different to the magic coming from a wand and in turn was able to affect the Bludger, it was something they had practised with on their own time.

"Is he alright?" Frank questioned, noticing the dark look on Sirius' face.

"Yeah he's fine, just being a sook." James answered before Sirius could throw something in.

Frank took the answer and ran off to where he spotted Alice standing with her friends leaving the boys alone once more.

"I'm being a sook? What about you whenever Evans deny your request to go on a date to Hogsmeade." Sirius snapped.

"How about this mate? If you want to see your girlfriend naked, go apologise to her instead of taking it all out on us. Come on Worms," James snapped before pulling Peter away Sirius.

Octavia turned her head and looked over her shoulder behind where Sirius was now standing alone and she heard him muttering to himself.

"So from the current girlfriend to the ex-girlfriend, what has he done?" Marlene spoke, earning a laugh from Octavia.

"You know those gossiping fourth years are still sour by the fact that I'm now with Sirius instead of you two getting back together?"

Marlene laughed before looping her arm through Octavia's and pulling her away from the crowd and towards the Black Lake.

"I know, I've had some comments from those particular girls about how sorry they are that I've lost my soul mate for the time being and what not. I know we haven't spoken about you and Sirius dating but surely you know and understand that I won't ever come between you and Sirius, regardless of the fourth years being convinced that Sirius is my soul mate, I believe he is yours and you are his."

"Thank you Mar that means a lot to hear you say that. I was never worried about you coming between us, considering how hard he worked trying to convince me it was the right thing anyway, Sirius doesn't put that much effort into anything."

"Except you, he's done so much to protect you. Our whole relationship was staged in hopes that he can continue to protect you but I had to end it."

"Because of the kiss?" Octavia questioned, having no idea what the other girl's thoughts were on the kiss that Octavia and Sirius shared last year.

"I would love to pretend to be shock and be like what kiss, but I honestly have no idea what is going on between you two right now. I ended the relationship because I noticed that he felt something towards you, our relationship wouldn't work if he was constantly looking at you instead of me, it would be too suspicious. I know it's weird because we continued to have sex afterwards, but it was just physical for both of us, I could see how he felt towards you and it ended not long after the Hufflepuff match, he said he couldn't do it anymore." Marlene spoke and Octavia stopped dead in her tracks, mouth gaping at what she was just told.

"A whole fucking year!" Octavia yelled before spinning around and walking in the direction she knew Sirius had gone.

She kept following him, the whole way to their secluded room, not wanting to cause a scene in the corridors.

As soon as they set foot in the secluded room she put up an invisible wall to prevent Sirius was continuing to walk away from her.

"A whole fucking year Padfoot?" she questioned and he turned and looked at her.

"What are you on about?" he questioned as he walked towards her, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her closer to him.

"Marlene just told me you two ended your fake relationship because she realised you felt something towards me, a whole year Padfoot?" she questioned softly once more and he nodded. "Godric why did we have to have the parents we had, if it wasn't for them we could have been together last year."

Sirius was shocked at that comment, his eyes went slightly wide before he realised what she just said. "You're yelling at me for not doing anything about my feelings when you've felt something for me just as long and I did do something, I kissed you and you pushed me away last year. And if we're talking about me not seeing you naked, what about when you saw me naked and then proceeded to tell me how you had to scrub your brain."

"I didn't mean it, I just had to get away from you. You were standing there shirtless trying to get me to explain what was wrong but all I could think about was you naked, I had to leave before I did something stupid. I was convinced you didn't see me that way because of what you were doing with Marlene."

Sirius instantly noticed the pink cheeks on her indicating she was embarrassed by the incident, a smirk appeared on his face deciding tease his poor girlfriend. "You know, you've seen me naked, it's only fair." He suggested, her eyes went wide before she lowered her gaze

Octavia stuttered out a few unintelligent words, Sirius taking pity on her tilts her chin up to face.

"I'm sorry baby, it was a joke." He spoke sincerely before leaning down and kissing her.

Octavia leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck, gripping his hair with one hand earning a groan from him as he quickly leaned down and picked her up to carry her over to the couch.

Sirius laid her down on the couch before climbing on top of her, instantly attaching his lips to her neck earning a moan from her.

"You know we're not going to have sex in here," Octavia managed to speak, her breathing increased because of what Sirius was doing to her.

"I'm not allowed to snog my girlfriend with no other reasoning behind it," he murmured against her neck causing her squirm beneath as he softly ran his fingers along the inside of her thigh.

"Stop Pads," Octavia spoke, her breathing still being haggard.

Sirius removed his hand and placed it on his the side of her face as he rolled them over so they were side by side on the couch.

"Okay, I've stopped. Etiquette school issues?" Sirius questioned and she slowly nodded.

"Only partly though, there isn't a door on this room and our friends could walk in at any moment. Proper ladies aren't meant to do something like that in open rooms, they're meant for behind closed doors." Octavia spoke, putting on the voice she was required around the Pure Blood families and Sirius laughed at her before shifting closer to her.

"Okay, I get the whole open door thing, but I think for you it's partly because you are so private when it comes to your life. You don't want the others to know what we are up to."

"Thank you," Octavia spoke softly before leaning up and softly kissing him, having to pull away when he tried to deepen the kiss.

"Mar also mentioned that you ended things with her after the Hufflepuff match," Octavia spoke and Sirius looked at her for a moment before nodding.

"After you yelled at me for what we were doing I could tell something was wrong, I had no idea what it was but I felt horrible for hurting you like that. The only thing I knew for sure was that it was because of what I was doing with Marlene so I ended it with her."

"I just hated that you were going to her, always. I thought that you were only viewing me as a sister and didn't see me that way."

"Never baby," Sirius spoke softly as he leaned down and softly kissed her once more. "I never intended to hurt you, I guess after years of the two of us being told that each of us were off limits to each other that I never noticed what everyone else did."

"We both didn't," Octavia responded softly before pressing herself closer to Sirius and relaxing in the moments of peace that the two of them had.

.oOo.

"You did what!" a yell came from the Slytherin table, causing everyone to look over that way.

Octavia giggled as she looked up and saw the Lane twins standing up, yelling at each other. She didn't think anything would actually happen, or if it would happen in front of them.

"I told you, I shagged Zach Higgins, what's your problem?"

"My problem is you shagged him!"

Octavia continued to laugh as she looked over at Zach Higgins attempt to sink into the kitchen below the Great Hall.

"Alright hand it over," Remus spoke holding his hand out.

Sirius grumbled something before placing the vial in Remus' hand, "how'd you know we did something mate?"

"Because it's you three and the Lane twins don't argue with each other, just stab each other behind their backs. Where'd you get it?" He questioned, placing the vial in his own pocket.

Octavia looked at Remus before looking at the boys and she took a deep breath, "I may have over heard Frank and Alice talking about how Slughorn had one in class, testing it out on them before giving them the antidote just so they all knew how affective it was. I then proceeded to steal some from him." Remus shook his head.

"What would have happened had you stole the wrong potion Snow?"

"Seriously, you're asking that now after us pulling shit for five years?" Octavia snapped before standing up and storming out of the Great Hall.

"O stop," a voice called out and Octavia had had enough.

"Merlin, what now!" she yelled out before spinning around and found Regulus standing there. "Damn Reg, I'm sorry."

"Come on, let's go outside and for a walk around the Black Lake."

"I can't, I have my first O.W.L tomorrow."

"All the more reason to, come on," Regulus urged and Octavia eventually gave in and followed him out towards the Black Lake.

"So what has you so stressed aside from your O. starting tomorrow?" Regulus questioned once they were on the path that loops around the lake, instantly noticing the unsettling look in her eyes.

"I left home Reg, I chose to leave my parents and siblings behind when I snuck out during the night but I haven't heard anything from them. What if this is just another excuse for them to punish me, to keep me around so our marriage will still stand one day? We both know they only want us to marry and have children, surely you know the same thing I do about our marriage contract, we have to produce one boy and one girl. How the hell are we expected to control the gender of our child when we can't even find out what the gender is before the child is born?"

"How else would you find out the gender of a child?" Regulus questioned, unsure as to why Octavia mentioned that part in her rant to begin with.

"Muggles have a machine that helps them monitor the women when they are pregnant, helps them keep an eye on the foetus and apparently it can reveal the gender as well."

"You and your Muggle Studies," Regulus teased slightly and she shook her head before softly nudging him.

"I rather enjoy Muggle Studies, it is vastly different to everything else we learn."

"I figured, but as for our future children and our future marriage. Just see what happens come the summer, has Sirius received anything?" Regulus, sneaking a look at the girl attempting to school her features. "He has hasn't he?"

"He has, also lost his share of the family money and no longer receiving his trust payments," Octavia explained, unsure as to why Regulus had stopped walking but the younger boy was looking out over the lake and at the Castle where it was across from them.

"Mother tried to burn his name off the tapestry the moment you were both gone but father attempted to convince her to hold off and wait until the summer. Guess his attempts stopped."

Regulus took a deep breath before kicking at the stones resting by his feet, Octavia instantly recognised something was bothering him.

"What's going through your head Reg?" she questioned and at first nothing was said or even done to show he heard her. She was about to question him again when he lifted his head.

"Come on we should get you back to the Castle before my brother assumes I've done the worst."

"He's not my gate keeper Reg, I can do what I please and if that includes talking to you that's included and he knows that. What's going on in your head?" Octavia questioned once more and watched as he ran a hand through his hair.

"He will protect you won't he? If anything goes wrong, or even after you both graduate?"

"That's what he claims he will do, why are you asking this? Surely by now you've realised that Sirius and I always stick together."

"I have, I just don't want you to get hurt O. I've heard things from Bella about the Dark Lord, I've met him and the things he wants to accomplish. He will hurt anyone that gets in his way, he already has."

"You're afraid that with Sirius and I in Gryffindor, we may do something stupid and get ourselves killed?" she questioned and he nodded.

"I know you both chose to leave but he's my brother and I love him regardless of our differences and you O, I've told you how I feel. I don't want anything to happen to either of you."

Octavia turned and faced the younger boy, stepping forward to hug him as she saw the tears build up in his eyes. She always had a feeling the two brothers loved each other but they had their differences that prevented them from being like they were and it killed her to see them constantly fighting, but now hearing this she thought maybe there was hope in the future.

"We're trying everything can to make sure the both of us are protected, can you say the same?"

"I'm trying O," Regulus mumbled into the crook of her neck and it was moments later she felt his tears on her neck.

"That's all that matters, if you try to stay safe so will Sirius and I." Octavia responded and softly rubbed her hands up and down his back to calm down enough so they can return to the Castle.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Guest** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	61. Embarrassment

Chapter 60: Embarrassment

The Fifth years had finished their Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL written examination and they were all slowly heading outside to enjoy the heat that was slowly coming with the beginning of summer before they all started stressing out their last OWL examination which happened to be Transfiguration.

James, Sirius, Peter and Remus had all rushed ahead to quickly get outside and enjoy the sun while Octavia and Lilith had headed up towards the Gryffindor Tower to dump their bags before heading towards the kitchens to get some food before joining the boys, they knew where they would be. The boys would be lounging on a group of rocks by the edge of the Black Lake.

"I still can't believe there was a question on Werewolves, I swear that was why Prongs laughed." Lilith spoke referring back to their OWL.

"No kidding, I swear Pads was laughing as well but just didn't get caught by Flitwick."

"Those two are such idiots, I swear they have changed Moony though. I remember third year he panicked when we started learning about Werewolves but yet two years later when they're on our OWL exam and everyone is in the same room, the boys laugh about it. I bet Moony even made a joke about it on the way out." Octavia turned and looked at Lilith, noticing a smile on her face as she spoke of Remus.

"Aw is someone crushing on Moony?" Octavia teased a scowl appeared on Lilith's face.

"Do we really have to talk about this Snow?" Lilith muttered.

"I told you all about Padfoot." Octavia responded and Lilith couldn't help but laugh.

"Only because I cornered you in the bathroom while you were crying," Lilith added in.

"And look how that ended, I've got Padfoot now." Octavia smiled but Lilith stayed silent as they continued along to where they knew the boys would be.

Octavia had been trying to find out for months if Lilith felt something more than friendship towards Remus but she always denied it, Octavia wasn't the only one that thought there was something there, Sirius thought so as well.

"What's going on over there?" Octavia spoke and they both looked at where there was a group of students standing around and before Lilith could even speak Evans rushed past them in tears.

"What the hell has Prongs done now?"

"Come on Lilith, Prongs has never made Evans cry, maybe piss her off but put her in tears, never. He would be beside himself if he did that to her."

They got closer to the group, just in time to hear James speak. "Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?" Octavia looked at Lilith before pushing her way forward.

"PRONGS!" Octavia yelled out and James hesitated, both him and Sirius turned around to face the girls noticing they were both peeved.

Octavia knew that the pranks they pulled could be considered bullying but they've never done something like this before, they've never purposely publicly humiliated someone like this.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled at them and they both flinched, they knew if she was mad about this then they really fucked up.

"What the hell are you all staring at? Don't you have exams to study for?" Lilith yelled at all the students still standing around, they slowly started moving after that.

Octavia had to take a deep breath before focusing on the boys, she might have come a long way in her shyness in the last five years at Hogwarts but she still hated everybody knowing her business.

"Well, what do you have to say to explain yourselves? Tell me why you thought it was such a good idea to de-pants Snivellus in front of the entire fifth year." She questioned and the boys shared a looked, it seemed like Remus was too busy reading his book to even think about stopping the boys and as per usual Peter followed along with what James and Sirius did regardless.

"You don't understand Snow, you weren't there."

"Then explain it Prongs, we've never stooped that low. That's something the Slytherin students do and they have, didn't the seventh years do that to a muggle born Hufflepuff last year?" Octavia responded and the boys hung their heads, they hated being compared to the Slytherin students.

"He called Evans a mudblood," Sirius finally responded and Octavia was shocked, Snape and Evans were meant to be best friends. She couldn't believe that Snape said that but it would explain why she was in tears.

"That still doesn't give you the right to stoop so low," she growled at them and it was then that one of them finally moved, Sirius took a step forward so he was standing in front of her and cupped her face and her anger was instantly gone at the action.

"Why do you care Snow?"

"Because you two acting like Slytherins looks bad on all of us, Pads we aren't Slytherins, we aren't like our family." She spoke softly and he nodded.

"Why don't we go somewhere else, we're still attracting attention." Lilith pointed out and Octavia pulled away from Sirius, giving him a glare before she looped her arm through Lilith's and the two of them walked off leaving the boys to follow.

Octavia walked straight over to the couch in the secluded room taking a seat and pulling out her Transfiguration notes before focusing on them.

"Snow," Sirius spoke softly, taking the notes from her and placing them on the other side of the couch to him. "Look at Prongs."

Octavia had been so mad at the boys for what they pulled on Snivellus that she hadn't even noticed the gash down the side of James' face. She quickly stood up and went over to where he was standing and tilted his face so she could get a better look at the wound.

"I'm so sorry I didn't notice that, are you alright?" She questioned and he nodded.

"I'm just going to get Pomfrey to heal it, I love you and Moony but no offence, you are both shit when it comes to healing spells and I quite like my face the way it looks," James teased.

"I could give you matching sides if you aren't careful."

"Come on Prongs, lets get you to the Hospital Wing before you pass out from blood loss," Remus spoke, walking over and pull James away from Octavia.

Lilith left shortly after, following the boys to make sure James makes it to the Hospital Wing okay and it left Sirius and Octavia alone.

"Are you mad at me?" he questioned softly.

Octavia didn't say anything at first, she just threw burst of her magic out and moved the furniture around the room.

It wasn't until Sirius went flying across the room that she realised what she was doing. "Fuck! Pads are you alright?" she ran over to where he was lying on the floor only to have him grab a hold of her waist and pulled her down to she was lying beside him and he started laughing.

"That was actually quite fun baby," Sirius spoke as he reached around her and gripped her bum, pulling her up so she was straddling him. "But you know what else is quite fun?" he murmured before kissing her, groaning when she bit his lower lip.

"Sex?" she whispered seductively in his ear, earning another groan as he dug his fingers into her hips.

Octavia gave him a chaste kiss before pulling away, "come on, we have one more exam and then we are done."

"Come on baby, that's not fair." Sirius complained, only earning a smirk from his girlfriend because she grabbed her notes and sat back down on the couch.

"Go have a cold shower then," she teased, not even bothering to look up at him.

Sirius walked over and took a seat on the couch beside her, still worried that despite what just happened that she was annoyed at him for what happened with Snape.

"In all seriousness baby, are you mad at me?" he questioned and she hung her head.

"We don't use that spell for a reason Pads, I almost died because of that spell. We don't publicly humiliate people like that, we pull harmless pranks that can't seriously injure someone. That, what you and Prongs did today could have ended up badly, Snivellus could have been badly hurt when he hit the ground like I did." Octavia just refused to look up at him, just continued to stare at her Transfiguration notes. "We aren't like them," she muttered to herself and Sirius placed a hand on the back of her neck.

"I know baby, we aren't your parents, we aren't Slytherins." He reassured her and she nodded, allowing him to pull her against him.

"I still haven't heard from them."

"You aren't going home with them, you're coming home with Prongs and I, our home is at the Potters or the Longbottoms if you wish to live there instead."

"I bet Fleamont and Euphemia will have something to say about our relationship." Octavia laughed.

"Maybe you should go live with the Longbottoms instead," Sirius suggested while Octavia turned around to face him.

"But think about it Pads, at night I can sneak down the hall and join you in bed."

"Alright, I think it's time you shut up and study Transfiguration." Sirius spoke, sounding a little disgruntled but she just laughed before pulling away and grabbing her notes before making herself comfortable against him so they could both read the notes.

.oOo.

"I'm so glad exams are over and done with," Sirius spoke as the group of friends made themselves comfortable on the grass under the tree by the Black Lake.

"You barely studied, I would be ultimately surprised if you do not fail them." Octavia spoke with a smirk on her face but Sirius just winked at her.

"You two are disgusting," James complained but everyone ignored him.

"You know this will be the first summer where I won't have to hide my broom, I will be able to fly it whenever I want," Octavia pointed out before she looked over at the Black Lake, an idea crossing her mind.

"Snow, whatever you are planning don't do it." Lilith spoke, spotting the look on the other girls face but it wasn't until the shoes started coming off that she realised. "Honestly, it will be cold in there Snow."

Octavia didn't care that Lilith pointed out that the lake may be cold, she wanted to do something bold and different, something she was always told not to do and swimming was one of them.

 _Proper ladies do not swim, proper ladies do not show an inappropriate amount of skin in public._

The voice rang through Octavia's head and she stopped at the edge of the lake, as she tried to push the voice aside before she started walking again.

"Damn it Snow, you can't swim!" Sirius yelled before he pulled his shoes off and followed after her.

"What do you mean she can't swim? I seem to recall Snow standing in the middle of the Black Lake before she was pulled under!" James yelled out as Sirius took off after Octavia.

"Wait, if she can't swim, can he?" Peter questioned and they all shared a look before the boys jumped up chased after the couple.

"I'm friends with a bunch of idiots," Lilith muttered to herself before she made herself comfortable against the tree.

Lilith looked over at the Black Lake and laughed as the boys began wrestling in the water, couldn't believe they were all willingly in the water when it would be freezing cold.

"Are you not joining us?" Octavia called out when she noticed Lilith hadn't joined them.

Lilith looked up and noticed the dripping wet girl standing in front of her, "aren't you cold?"

"Perks of being able to stay warm or cool at all times of the years, come join us it's lots of fun."

"I can't swim," Lilith explained and mock shock appeared in Octavia's face causing her to roll her eyes. "And you think I can, why do you think they all chased after me in there, they can all swim and they will keep us safe."

"This is embarrassing," Lilith complained.

"And what am I?" Octavia spoke, placing her hands on her hips and staring down at Lilith.

"Alright fine but if I drown it's all your fault."

"Ask Moony, I'm sure he will be more than happy to keep you a float," Octavia teased and a blush creeped up on the other girls' face causing her to laugh.

"If you tell him," she warned.

"You'll what?" Octavia responded before she walked back into the lake. Octavia looked over her shoulder and noticed that Lilith hadn't follow her, she looked over at Remus and placed a sweet looking smile on her face, "Moony, you'll keep Lilith safe won't you?"

Remus nodded before pulling away from James and walking over to with Lilith was standing on the edge, "I won't let you drown Lil, I promise." He held his hand out for Lilith to grab and soon enough the two of them joined the group.

"So why are we all standing in the middle of the Black Lake?" Lilith questioned when the boys didn't go back to their wrestling.

"That is a marvellous question Miss Longbottom," McGonagall's voice was heard from the edge of the lake.

"Do you think she's seen us?" Octavia spoke causing James to place a hand over his mouth to hold in his laugh.

"I believe I see six Gryffindor students standing in the middle of the Black Lake Miss Carrow."

"Six? I believe there are eight of us Professor." Sirius responded and Octavia let out a laugh which just caused Remus to pinch the bridge of his nose, knowing full well that they were all just dragged down with the two of them.

"Out, all of you." McGonagall ordered and the Marauders slowly trudged their way out of the Black Lake. "What possessed all of you to think going into the Black Lake is such a good idea?"

"Swimming, it sounds like such a fun idea except, well, I can't swim." Octavia explained as they were all standing on the grass in front of McGonagall.

"So you thought that potentially drowning was a good idea?" McGonagall pointed out and Octavia shrugged.

"Hence why they followed me, making sure I wouldn't drown."

"Detention, all of you." McGonagall told them all the time and place before turning and leaving them standing on the edge.

"Should we go back in?" Octavia questioned.

"Merlin no, we are actually in the shot of winning the House Cup for once in our time at Hogwarts and I think that's why McGonagall only gave us detentions. Let's please, just go shower." Lilith spoke and they all reluctantly nodded before grabbing their shoes and walking up to the Castle.

"What are my chances of showering with you?" Sirius whispered in Octavia's ear, laughing when he noticed the blush creeping up her neck. He kissed her cheek before running off to where James was and put him in a head lock muttering about something or other.

.oOo.

"Snow?"

Octavia turned her head and looked at Sirius, the rest of their friends had already left the compartment. They all said their goodbyes before going off in search of their families, it became common practise for them all to say goodbye in the compartment so that Sirius and Octavia's parents didn't see them with their friends, although it was something Sirius wanted to happen, in hopes of pissing off his parents but he knew that in turn Octavia's parents will hurt her.

But today was different.

Sirius and Octavia had both left their families behind the previous Christmas Break, they had convinced their friends to leave, there was a part of them that had a feeling Octavia's parents would be out there and they didn't want them to know where they were going, where they were now living.

"They're out there, even Al and Am. The whole family is out there…"

"We aren't going home with them, remember that. Prongs is out there right now talking to his parents, making sure we are still welcome. Snow there is no way I am letting you go home with those people, not after what they did at Christmas." Sirius cupped her face and forced her to look at him and not out the window.

"But they're my family."

"No don't start this again, I'm your family along with Prongs, Worms, Moony and Lilith. We all love you, not those people out there. Regardless of what Amycus says, he isn't in that house anymore he can't protect you. They both left you alone with those horrible people you call parents, they aren't parents, you've seen how real parents can be within Prongs and Lilith's parents. Please let's go home with Prongs, just like we planned to during Christmas. You've always asked why we can't run away, we have now, we have to stick with it." Octavia grimly nodded and stood up.

She didn't want to go out there and face her family in front of everyone, she didn't know what would happen, she just assumed it would be her mother or on the rare occasion it was just Dinky that had turned up to collect her since Amycus and Alecto had graduated.

"Wait…" she spoke softly.

They had just reached the doors to leave the train when she spoke, Sirius didn't say anything he just turned around and faced her.

Octavia held her hand out and Sirius looked at it, he knew that at Hogwarts they didn't care of this sort of thing. He did it without second thought, knowing she needed it, even more so since they started dating but now he hesitated. He was unsure as to what her parents would do in a public situation like this if they realised that they had both gone against everything their parents said and began dating.

"Please…" she pleaded with him and he nodded before grabbing it and pulling her close.

"Why not, you told Regulus we were having sex anyway, who knows what he sent home. And Godric, we're dating now, god they are going to make such a big deal out of that." Sirius spoke as the two of them left the train and headed towards where her family was, they had no choice to get where James was speaking with his parents they had to walk past them.

Sirius knew his family wouldn't be waiting for him, he had already received his letter from his mother stating what a good for nothing excuse of a son he was. He had also received a letter from Gringotts stating that he was no longer receiving his trust from the Black family, he was officially cut off the family but Octavia had yet to receive a letter.

"Octavia there you are, what has kept you. We need to go home." Ophelia spoke and Octavia shook her head.

"She's not going home with you, I can't do this anymore, I can't sit by and let everything you do to her go by unnoticed." Sirius spoke sternly and it caused both Ophelia and Keyon to finally notice him as well as the clasped hands in between them.

"Octavia is coming home with us," Keyon spoke has he reached out and gripped her arm in attempts to pull her away from Sirius.

Sirius refused to let go of Octavia's hand, he knew there was only so much her parents would do in public without creating such scene about them.

Octavia looked at Sirius before looking at her brother, he has always claimed he was doing what he could to protect her. She wanted him to protect her now by convincing their parents that they should let her go, say everything possible so she can walk away because she knows her brother loves her and wants her safe, hasn't he said before that he trusts Sirius?

"Please Am," Octavia mouthed towards her brother, and he nodded.

"If she wants to go let her, ever since she was sorted into that godforsaken house we knew she wasn't family. She's defied us every step of the way, continues to play Quidditch, she took Muggle Studies. For merlin sakes I kept so much from you both if hopes that one day she will come back to us and be the perfect Pureblood girl you raised but now looking at her and the scene she is causing with Sirius right now just by holding his hand, proves that she's long gone. She's not family anymore." Amycus spoke harshly and Octavia just had to keep reminding herself that he was doing this because he loved her.

Her parents didn't say anything, Keyon just let go of her arm and allowed Sirius to pull her away towards where James was standing with his parents.

"Snow?" James questioned noticing the strange look on her face.

"Not now Prongs, let's just get her home." Sirius spoke before Octavia could say anything, unsure as to what would come out of her mouth.

"It's so good to you see all again, I'm going to make a start on dinner." Euphemia spoke, giving each of them a hug before walking off and leaving them alone in the living room.

"They didn't fight, they just took what Am said and left." Octavia muttered to herself, James and Sirius shared a look and then James left them alone in the room.

"That's what you wanted, you wanted to be able to leave and Amycus helped by telling them those things."

"Are we doing the right thing?" Octavia questioned.

"Merlin, yes!" Sirius spoke as he wrapped his arms around her. "Baby we got you out of that house and away from your parents who abused you, there were days where you were locked in your room without food for days. The only reason you survived was because Dinky snuck you in food." Sirius kissed the top of her head.

Euphemia entered the living room and caught sight of Sirius and Octavia standing there in the middle of the living room, it wasn't until Octavia pulled away and Sirius kissed her that Euphemia realised that her and Fleamont were missing something.

She walked upstairs and stood in the doorway to James' room, glad to see he was already unpacking his trunk like the boy she raised him to be.

"Hi mum, dinner already ready?" he questioned with a smile.

"No, but I do believe you didn't mention something in your letters home." Euphemia pointed out and the smile fell from his face.

"Five minutes at home and those two couldn't keep their hands off each other," James muttered. "The two understand what it may be putting you and dad in, Octavia spoke about living with Longbottoms instead of being here if it will be easier on you two."

"Nonsense James, I told them both that they will be safe here and how would that work if I have to turn one of them away. I will just have to talk with your father and then put some rules in place, the last thing I want to be is a grandmother before you all graduate."

"You do realise that it's Sirius and Octavia in the relationship and not me right?" James questioned and smirk appeared on Euphemia's face. "Right mum?" he questioned as she walked away. "Bloody prats stealing my parents," he muttered.

"I heard that James!" Euphemia scolded.

.oOo.

Euphemia sat there drinking her tea at the table in the kitchen watching as the three teenaged witch and wizards living under her roof walked down and joined her for breakfast with Fleamont having already had to leave for work, mentioning something about a raid that went wrong as he gave her a kiss and grabbed a muffin before disappearing.

Having Sirius and Octavia in the house made it seem more lively than it had in previous years and she was happy, grateful that her son had found some wonderful friends in the two of them and was grateful that James was smart enough to know that his parents would never turn away his friends when they needed somewhere safe to live.

But Euphemia never thought she would have to worry about two teenagers having sex under her roof, so far Sirius and Octavia had been sneaky about their affectionate ways as if they were trying to hide their relationship from the adults but Euphemia knew better, knew from her own time when her and Fleamont were hiding their own relationship, afraid of how his parents would react to the relationship they had, her coming from what would be considered a lower class Pureblood family.

"Good morning," Octavia spoke mid yawn, reaching for the coffee in the middle of the table.

"Good morning," Euphemia replied, slightly shaking her head at the action of the younger girl.

Euphemia never made coffee for breakfast, but having Sirius and Octavia in the house and realising how the two of them can't seem to function properly without the other beverage, she had no choice.

It wasn't until Octavia threw her hair up into a messy bun that Euphemia caught sight of it, the rather large love bite on the side of the younger girl's neck that Euphemia realised that the rules need to be put in place this instance because that love bite wasn't there the previous night.

"Morning mum," James greeted and softly kissed her cheek before sitting at the table, eyes going wide at the sight of the love bite on the other girl's neck. James looked over at his mother only to notice her smirking into her cup of tea.

Sirius' greeting was the funniest of them all, "oh fuck." He muttered, catching sight of the love bite on the side of Octavia's neck

"Pads?" Octavia questioned but Sirius didn't respond, he just looked at Euphemia.

"How much trouble are we in?" he questioned and Euphemia smiled.

"None, I like watching you all squirm. I do wish you had of said something to me about the relationship instead of hiding it from Fleamont and I."

Octavia choked on her coffee, "what relationship?" she questioned and Sirius placed his head in his hands.

"You're going to kill me," he muttered and she raised an eyebrow.

"Snow, there is a rather large hickey on your neck." James pointed out and her eyes went wide before a hand went to her neck.

She picked up the Daily Prophet and hit Sirius with it over the head with it, earning a laugh from James before she left the room.

"At least she didn't scold you like a dog as well," James pointed out, grabbing the juice from the middle of the table.

"Careful or I will have you mounted above the fireplace," Sirius remarked and James scoffed.

"What fireplace? You don't have a house," he teased and was then proceeded to be hit with the rolled up newspaper by his mother.

"Behave, both of you." Euphemia warned and the three of them began breakfast while waiting for Octavia to join them again.

"Now I believe some rules have to be put in place for you two," Euphemia spoke once they had all finished breakfast.

James quickly left the room, claiming that he didn't have to be present for this conversation since he wasn't involved in the relationship and knew about the rules his parents had in place regarding him and girls.

"I can just move in with the Longbottoms in that makes things easier," Octavia pointed out.

"Nonsense, I told you that you will be safe and I won't turn you away but having you two in a relationship does make things that little bit trickier."

"We were planning on telling you," Sirius cut in and Euphemia just placed her teacup on the table.

"Really? You've all been back from Hogwarts for four days now and I haven't heard a word about your relationship but yet I've seen it. James doesn't get his mischievious side from Fleamont, much to everyone's first thought."

Octavia's eyes went wide, before looking at Sirius and narrowing them. "You've known all along?" she questioned.

"Yes, I saw you two share a kiss that first night. Now neither Fleamont nor myself have an issue with the relationship, we won't forbid it knowing full well it will just make things worse. The only thing we want from both of you is the same thing we request from James, James isn't allowed girls in his room so with you two, no more late night adventures." Euphemia explained.

They nodded, grateful that this was all that was requested of them, "understood." They both replied.

"Glad we got that out of the way, now if you excuse me I have plans today." Euphemia stood up and went to leave the room, stopping and looking back at Sirius remembering a conversation she had with James a while back, "And Sirius, please don't blow up my house." With that she turned and left, leaving a laughing Sirius in the kitchen.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Lilian123** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Raven that flies at night** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. What are you so unsure about?**

 **Sir Tiuri** **thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I don't plan of having Sirius and Regulus fix their relationship for a while, there will be mention of arguments over the rest of their time at Hogwarts but I won't mention much of them because it will always be the same thing. As for lemons, no not this story.**


	62. Creating Secrets

Chapter 61: Creating Secrets

"Pads we have a guest that you should come see?" James spoke while he entered the living room.

Sirius was standing by the window looking out at where Octavia was sitting outside in the grass enjoying the sun, he was waiting for the moment she broke after what happened at the station. He knew it would come, it just hasn't yet and they've been home for two weeks.

"Why who is it?"

"Go and find out, they're in the dining room." Sirius nodded before heading towards the dining room, curious as to who would be visiting because if it was one of their friends they would have come through into the living room with James.

When he entered the dining room he was shocked at seeing Amycus standing there.

"You've got some nerve showing up here considering you're a Death Eater." Sirius spoke angrily but Amycus held his hands up.

"No one knows I'm here, I'm not here to cause any damage, I just want to see my sister and make sure she's alright."

"You know you're lucky James didn't attack you."

"Something tells me that all these years is that O has been making sure that you and your pranks don't touch me and on occasion don't touch Alecto."

"You're right, she has." Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorway. "Please tell me everything you said at the station was lie, and that you didn't mean any of it because I'm sure as hell worried about O."

Amycus frowned before leaning forward and resting his hands on the table, hanging his head, "all of it was, I love O deeply." Amycus looked back up at Sirius, hoping the younger boy will believe him. "I just can't take care of both of them anymore, I knew from the start that Al would follow what our parents wanted for us and as soon as O was sorted into Gryffindor there was a part of me that had hoped both of you could break away from our families. I trust you to look after her, I see the way you look at her and I can tell you care deeply about her."

"More than you know, but why did you say those things?" Sirius questioned, hoping he could have some insight as to why his girlfriend may be hurting over what happened. He needed to know that maybe Amycus meant everything, he needed to know of every possible situation that could completely break Octavia and he needed to be prepared.

"Because I had too, it was the only way our parents would let her go. For years I've been the one convincing our parents that we have a chance to save O and that she will come back. I was just hoping that this war would be over before you both graduated and you can pull away on your own, I always knew you would. Al isn't the same person anymore, she hasn't been since the beginning of seventh year and I don't know what the change was in her. She doesn't look at any of us the same anymore, I worry something happened to her and I need to be there to protect her. I can't lose my sisters, I need them to get out of this war Sirius." Amycus rambled and it shocked Sirius.

Amycus wasn't known for rambling, yes it was something Sirius had seen on Octavia when she was nervous, worried, scared, anything, it was who she was when she panicked over something but Amycus always had his composer, he never lost it.

"I will protect O, don't worry about that. You protect Alecto because regardless of what O thinks of Alecto after the last couple of years, she still loves her and I don't know what would happen if either one of you doesn't make it. You and I both know her, once this war is over and done with regardless of the separate sides we are on, she will take you both back without question."

Amycus nodded at Sirius, "can I see her?"

"Can I see it?" Sirius questioned and Amycus raised an eyebrow at him.

Sirius was only curious about the mark, he knew Octavia had seen one but refused to describe it, she claimed she didn't see the point but Sirius needed to know what it looked like. He needed to be able to keep an eye out for it in the future, to see who he can and can't trust.

"What makes you think I have one?" Amycus spoke harshly as he walked towards Sirius.

"You've said on a countless number of times that you are following what was requested of you by your parents, you said you wanted us to get out from our parents ruling, you said you are following Alecto to protect her. I know Alecto has one, it took O a while but she finally told me what happened that summer. All of that combined, it just makes sense that you have one."

Amycus reluctantly pulled his left sleeve up to reveal the Dark Mark sitting on his inner forearm, it was the strangest thing Sirius had ever witnessed and if he wasn't so afraid as to what would happen if he touched it, he would but he just looked at it.

"Come on, O's sitting outside." Sirius cocked his head before leading Amycus through the house to where Octavia was visible through the windows.

"Thank you Sirius." Amycus spoke sincerely before heading out the doors.

Sirius didn't see the point in following him, he knew he would never hurt Octavia. As strange as it sounds Amycus is probably the only Death Eater that he trusts to be near Octavia.

Instead he watched through the window, pleased to see the smile appear on her face at the sight of her brother. Sirius was glad he allowed this to happen and glad that James was smart enough to realise that Amycus wasn't a typical Death Eater.

Sirius turned and left in search of James, letting the other boy he was taking off again. He knew Octavia would be annoyed that he had left once more but he had to and would deal with his girlfriend's anger when he returned knowing full well that she wouldn't be happy with what he returned with.

"You heading off again mate?" James questioned, noticing the other boy standing in his room.

"Yeah, you'll tell her for me?"

"Of course, mind you she's getting rather annoyed at me as if I know what you are up to."

"Of course she is but at least maybe seeing Amycus will ease some of her concerns, she won't exactly take all of her anger out on you, you know that right."

A smirk appeared on James' face, "Oh I know that, I've seen you hanging up in the air more than me." he teased and a growl came from Sirius before he turned and left heading towards the fireplace to Floo to Diagon Alley.

After going to Gringotts and getting the appropriate gold exchanged and grabbing a couple of books from Florish and Blotts he grabbed a taxi and headed to the same garage he had been visiting for the last week.

He hated that he was leaving Octavia when she needed him but he had to get the motorbike finished because he didn't know how much longer he could keep coming out here without her knowing.

"There you are Sirius, I was wondering how much longer you would be." Jerry, the previous owner of the motorbike spoke as Sirius entered the garage.

"Sorry, my girlfriend's brother turned up and I wanted to make sure she was okay before I left."

"I thought all of your family issues were over with?" Jerry questioned and Sirius raised a shoulder before walking over to where his motorbike was sitting in the corner.

Sirius hadn't told the older man everything, but just enough that Jerry would understand as to why Sirius sometimes wouldn't appear when he said he would. He had mentioned Octavia and briefly her family issues, straying away from the abuse but mentioned how they weren't exactly the best parents and shouldn't have children, although he had a feeling that the older man thought that maybe abuse was in the picture. Jerry had expressed his concern about their situation but Sirius explained they were both out and away from their parents control, living with a friend of theirs and with a set of parents that cared deeply for all of them.

"The bike just needs a test run and then it should be good for you take with you," Jerry spoke, knowing that the topic of Sirius' family was a sore spot.

"I can't thank you enough for everything you've done Jerry, teaching me how to fix the bike up, how to ride the thing, everything."

"I never had sons Sirius, only daughters, you gave me the chance to teach someone other than my workers how to do this, you seemed excited to learn what you could about how to fix up motorbikes and cars. It was my pleasure, and I want you to have this back." Jerry handed over an envelope and Sirius grabbed it carefully, opening it and finding the money he paid for the bike.

"I can't take the money Jerry, you wanted that for the bike-" Sirius started but Jerry held up a hand to stop him before clasping his hand around Sirius' hold of the money.

"Take the money Sirius, you and your girlfriend are only 16 and you've run away from home. I had a pleasure getting to know you and I was saddened when I heard about your family situation, put the money to your future whether that be with your girlfriend or not. I've taken out the money needed for the change of ownership and a few other parts that was needed during the year when you were at school. Take the money Sirius."

"I can't Jerry, I have more than enough money. I might have left my family but I've still got the same money I had when I left, they couldn't take it from me. Your eldest daughter is pregnant and you were over the moon when you told me at the beginning of the week, put the money towards your grandchild." Sirius handed the money back before grabbing the keys to the bike and turning it on.

"I'm taking this for a ride Jerry, give the money to your wife and tell her to buy the perfect crib for your future grandchild." Sirius spoke before he took off out of the garage on the bike, not giving Jerry another chance to argue about the money until he returned again.

oOo

"Are you happy here O?" Amycus questioned, looking over at his younger sister.

"I am, I'm safe here, I have Sirius and I can see my friends whenever I want. I'm happy Am, you shouldn't worry about that." Octavia smiled at him.

"I'm glad, look I have to head off, I can't disappear for too long before people start to wonder where I am. I will keep in touch."

"Wait, I've got a way for us to keep in touch," Octavia stood up and headed towards the doors before stopping. "It may be safer if you wait out here," she warned before disappearing inside.

She headed up to her room and began to search for the parchment she was looking for, she was glad she had begun distinguishing between them all so she knew which was which. After having found the spell to put a password on the Marauders Map, she thought that maybe she could put a password on the parchment she would come to share with her brother, thought maybe a password would prevent the message from disappearing after a certain amount of time like the ones she shares with her friends.

She headed back down to the backyard, finding Amycus still sitting in the same spot. She went outside and sat beside him, handing him one of the parchments.

"What is this for?" he questioned.

"I've seen a possible future and I don't want it to come to the light of day so I made a way that we can communicate that no one else will be able to see. Sirius knows I have this but I haven't told him the password, just like I hope you won't tell anyone the password." Octavia pointed her wand at his parchment and spoke the password, watching as the message she wrote upstairs and the trial messages were still there.

"This is incredibly complex magic O." Amycus spoke, completely in awe of the magic he witnessed his younger sister preforming.

He had done his research on Dreamers after finding out that she was one, he wanted to know what she would be in for in her future, he wanted to be able to protect her the best he could. He knew that she would have her own type of magic and just hoped it was enough to protect her during the war.

"I know, it's also not the first one I've done. The messages will stay there for as long as we don't go over the length of the parchment, we just have to write over the previous message to get rid of it. This way we can stay in touch, no communication with owls, nothing."

"You've seen me die, haven't you?" he questioned and she nodded, Amycus wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, softly kissing the top of her head.

"They found out you were protecting me I assume and I was led into a trap, this way a trap won't come."

"Anything to keep you happy O."

Octavia showed Amycus had to lock the parchment again before he bid his goodbyes and left, leaving her to pass the warning on to Sirius about treating his sister right. Octavia just laughed and denied the relationship.

Octavia didn't want to deny the relationship but she didn't want it to get back to her parents with fear of what could happen. They were wary that maybe their parents would redo the marriage contracts and set one up between them.

Regulus had already promised not to say anything, just agreed to hearing the rumours like all the other students that had sent word home but hadn't seen anything with his own eyes.

But that wasn't why she didn't tell Amycus, she was unsure as to if he would keep that secret after everything they've been through.

.oOo.

Octavia was sitting up in her room with the window open when she heard the strangest noise, she got off the chair and left her room, heading towards James' room thinking he was him making the noise because she knew that Sirius was still out doing who knows what, but James was sound asleep on his bed.

She went back to her room but the sound was still happening, thinking it was coming from outside, she headed downstairs and walked out through the kitchen doors.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she turned the corner of the house.

"Padfoot!" she yelled, noticing him standing there next to a motorbike.

Sirius hearing her voice spun around and actually looked guilty at what he had done because of her reaction.

"Baby," he spoke softly as he turned the bike off. Sirius walked over to her and placed his hands on her waist.

"Don't baby me, you brought a bloody motorbike."

"And I made it here all the way from Central London without crashing it, get on it with me, you'll love it." Sirius suggested and she narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not getting on that thing, it could kill us!" she yelled and Sirius moved his hands and placed them on her neck.

"Baby, it won't kill us. It is perfectly safe, come for a ride with me?" he suggested once more.

"No way, but I swear to Godric that if you ride that after drinking the Fire Whiskey I know you and Prongs have been sneaking into your rooms, I will kill you." Octavia threatened before pulling away from him.

.oOo.

"What are you doing here in Prongs?" Octavia questioned having heard James walk up behind her, her inner wolf senses allowed her to hear things she never did before.

She was currently standing in the shed on the Potter's property that they had constructed for Sirius to hide the motorbike in, they weren't happy that he had brought a motorbike but there was nothing they could do except request that he wear the appropriate protective clothing.

"Well I was planning on scaring you but it is incredibly hard to do these days." She turned around found James leaning against the door to the shed with a smirk on his face. "What are you doing out here anyway? I thought you told us you were going to Lilith's for the day?"

"Something for Padfoot's birthday, Lilith knows I lied, she's covering for me if anything happens. I'm hoping he doesn't come out here today."

"He will you kill you if you break his bike."

"I'm not going to break his bike, do you honestly I'm that kind of person?"

"Well you did slap Regulus for kissing you, what are you doing exactly?" James questioned as he walked over to where Octavia was standing beside Sirius' motorbike.

"I'm trying to charm it so it can fly, if a car can be charmed to fly why not the bike?" she questioned and he nodded.

"So wand or wandless magic?"

"Wandless, I'm beginning to find my wandless magic is stronger than if I use a wand, especially Charms based spells."

"I know you, you're too stubborn to let this go until you've either got it or tried every possible option."

"Well thanks I guess, can you keep him busy so he doesn't come out here for me?" she questioned and James nodded before turning and leaving her alone.

Octavia ended up staying in there all day attempting to get the damn thing to fly when turned on, she wasn't too sure if what she was doing would work.

She knew how much Sirius loved his motorbike and how much he loved to fly on a broom, she wanted to be able to combine two of his loves and make the motorbike something he loved even more. It didn't matter if she hated the idea of the thing, she still wanted to do this for him.

Thinking she was finished she finally left and went in search of Sirius knowing the only way she had accomplished the task was to test it out, that terrified her.

"Hi you," she spoke softly from the doorway to his bedroom, respecting the wishes of both Fleamont and Euphemia about not being in his room.

"How was Lilith's?" Sirius questioned.

"I didn't end up going, I want to show you something, come with me?" she flashed him a smile, knowing he will be fill with curiosity and would follow her anyway.

"So you lied to me?" he pointed out and she frowned.

"Come here," she pleaded and he reluctantly climbed off the bed and walked over to where she was standing. "I didn't lie as such, I just wanted to do something nice for you. Can you please come with me?" she leaned up and softly kissed him, hoping to get rid of the sour look on his face. "I'm sorry I lied to you, I promise it will never happen again." she apologised.

"Alright where are we going baby?" he questioned, a grin appearing on her face.

Octavia laced her fingers through his and led him throughout the house before heading outside to where the shed was situated.

"What are we doing out here Snow, I thought you hated my bike?" Sirius spoke as he realised where they were heading.

"I only hate the bike because of how easily it could kill you on the road but this, this could be amazing. I have it mostly worked it out, just need a test run and make some adjustments."

"What did you do?" he spun around and faced her, she saw the anger in his eyes.

"I've charmed it so it can fly. Take it as an early birthday present," she smiled at him, pleased with the amount of joy she saw on his face before he run towards the motorbike and jumped on it. "I take it you're happy?" she questioned as she walked over and stood beside him and the motorbike.

"Baby this is amazing, I know how much you hate the idea of me having the bite but, this, thank you." He leaned over and softly kissed her. "Please come for a ride with me today."

"We can't today, Moony is taking us out in London remember, didn't he say something about going out for dinner and then taking us to the cinemas and seeing a movie?" Octavia spoke, placing a hand on his cheek when the smile on his face fell. "You were so excited about the idea of spending the night out in Muggle London when Moony first told us, even Wormtail is coming out with us."

"One quick ride, you said you had to test it out to make sure the magic took," he pleaded with her and she took a deep breath before nodding, glad to make him happy.

"Helmets?" she questioned as he pulled the bike out of the shed.

Octavia watched as Sirius turned and looked at her, almost as if he was about to make a joke about something but the look on her face stopped him, he nodded before going back into the shed and coming back with two helmets.

Sirius slipped the helmet on her and had to hold in the groan at the sight of her, "Snow you look so sexy with that helmet on." He whispered in her ear before nibbling on her ear and placing soft kisses along her neck.

"We are either going for a ride or I'm going to shower before we meet Moony in the Leaky Cauldron," she pointed out and Sirius pulled away, lacing his fingers through hers and pulled her towards the motorbike.

Octavia climbed onto the bike behind Sirius and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly, "how does the bike get in the air?" he questioned as slowly rode the bike down the path, careful not to damage the grass since he didn't want another scolding from Euphemia.

"I'm hoping you just have to pull it up once the motor is running."

"You're hoping!"

"Yes well I told you it needs to be tested!"

"Bloody hell Snow, you could get us killed."

"Just being on here could get us killed." Octavia muttered into Sirius' neck as he turned the bike and drove it down the street.

Sirius waited until they were on an empty strip of road before attempting to lift the bike up into the air, pleased when it worked and a smile appeared on both of their faces.

"I can't thank you enough for this, this is amazing and the best birthday present ever." Sirius spoke and Octavia softly kissed the back of his neck.

"You're welcome Pads, this is actually pretty amazing up here but I need you to land because I can feel the magic weakening, I need to tweak it some more." Octavia explained and Sirius nodded before lowering the motorbike towards the crowd, leading them back towards the Potters.

"Thank you baby," Sirius spoke once more after the motorbike was back in its place in the shed.

Octavia leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck, wearing her fingers through his hair, "I take it as you like it, I'm glad Pads."

Sirius had a grin on his face as he leaned down to kiss his girlfriend, "it's perfect baby, I honestly can't explain it."

"I'm glad, now I need to go shower before we leave."

"But you said you needed to tweak somethings on the bike."

"I did but not tonight, I don't have time before we have to go out. I will do it tomorrow because I don't think for a second I won't have a problem getting you back on the bike."

"But Snow," he mock whined but quickly grinned at her when she narrowed her eyes. "Okay, but thank you again." he quickly kissed her before leading her back towards the shed and pressing her back against it.

"I have to shower Pads," Octavia spoke, pulling away from him. "We have plans with our friends tonight."

"One night I will take you out, just the two of us on a date." Sirius spoke, watching her retreating form.

"About bloody time," Octavia called out and that's when Sirius realised that he and Octavia haven't officially been a date yet.

.oOo.

Sirius walked out to the backyard where he would commonly find his girlfriend and this time she wasn't alone, Lilith was sitting beside her and the two girls were laughing about something.

This wasn't an unusual sight as both Lilith and Remus had been coming and going from the manor, in fact Sirius, James and Octavia had also been coming and going as well, something that pleased both Euphemia and Fleamont, to see such a full house.

"Snow, Lilith." Sirius greeted them both as he walked over and sat down with them on the blanket that was spread out on the grass.

"Padfoot," both girls greeted before continuing on with their conversation, ignoring the boy.

"Honestly, I came out here thinking I would be involved in the conversation and not just used as a messenger," he complained and the girls shared a look.

"When did your boyfriend get so clingy?" Lilith teased.

"Oh him?" Octavia pointed her thumb at him over her shoulder, "he isn't so bad, you should see my other boyfriend, I'm surprised I'm allowed to leave the house." She teased as well, a growl coming from Sirius.

"You're too easy Padfoot," Lilith spoke with a smirk. "I have head off, we're having a family dinner tonight anyway and aren't our Hogwarts letters along with our results turning up today?" Lilith spoke and Sirius nodded pulling the letter out.

A gasp came from Octavia as she reached over to grab the letter but Sirius held it out of her grasp.

"Hand over it Padfoot," Octavia demanded.

"I'm just going to head home, I'll talk to you later Snow." Lilith spoke as she stood up to leave the wrestling couple on the floor.

"What's the matter Snow?" Sirius questioned, having rolled the two of them and pinned Octavia beneath him.

"I have a prat for a boyfriend who won't hand over my results."

"Maybe you should go complain to your other boyfriend then," Sirius smirked and she rolled her eyes.

"Prongs!" she yelled out and another growl came from him before he leaned down to rest on his elbows keeping his face close to his.

"You and Prongs huh? Should I be worried?" he whispered.

"Oh yeah totally, I'm allowed in his bedroom," she teased, keeping a straight face when he narrowed his eyes.

"Oh come on, I was called out here to watch you to make-out?" James complained as he appeared and a laugh came from the couple on the ground.

"Sorry Prongs," Octavia spoke giving him a smile. "Come on, get up Pads."

Octavia wasn't entirely surprised that when she sat up Sirius had shifted her on to his lap, his whole body was tense. "You know I was joking Pads?" she questioned but a response wasn't received.

"Here, I think this is yours." James handed over the letter that hand been thrown aside on the ground.

"Thanks Prongs," Octavia gave him smile before leaning back against Sirius and opened the letter, putting aside the book list for the new school year and looked at her OWL results.

 _ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS_

 _Pass Grades: Outstanding (O) Fail Grades: Poor (P)_

 _Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)_

 _Acceptable (A) Troll (T)_

 _OCTAVIA LAKEN CARROW HAS RECEIVED:_

 _Astronomy: (A)_

 _Care of Magical Creatures: (O)_

 _Charms: (O)_

 _Defence Against the Dark Arts: (E)_

 _Herbology: (E)_

 _History of Magic: (P)_

 _Muggle Studies: (O)_

 _Potions: (O)_

 _Transfiguration: (E)_

Sirius placed a hand over Octavia's mouth as if he knew she was going to complain about her results, "you did well Snow, don't complain about it."

Octavia huffed in response and crossed her arms over her chest as James grabbed the results and looked them over.

"But you didn't get an O in Transfiguration," he teased, only to be lifted up into the air.

"Your own fault mate," Sirius remarked when James glared at Octavia for lifting him up into the air.

"Put me down Snow!" James yelled.

"Dinners ready," Euphemia spoke as she walked outside, quickly noticing that her son was floating in the air. "What did I tell you all about preforming magic in the house?"

"Well technically we aren't in the house," Octavia pointed out and the older witch only shook her head.

"Please put my son, he doesn't look too happy about being up there and as I said, dinner is ready." Euphemia spoke and turned, heading back inside.

"You hear that Snow, mummy told us to put down her precious baby boy." Sirius teased and Octavia laughed before lowering the other boy.

"You two haven't told me what results you got," Octavia pointed out and they both shrugged.

"Something similar, failed History of Magic as well, got an O for Transfiguration but E for Charms." James explained.

"He also failed Divination," Sirius pointed out and she laughed.

"How did you do in Muggle Studies Pads?"

Sirius softly kissed her temple, "I got an O, come on let's go have dinner." He suggested and waited for her to stand up so he could and they all headed inside.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for your review.**


	63. Sixth Year - Best Birthday

Chapter 62: Best Birthday

Octavia was woken by someone throwing themselves on her bed, she rolled over and pulled the blanket over her head only to hear a bark, she slowly pulled the blanket down and found a black dog on her bed.

She sat up on her bed and looked at the dog, she knew exactly who the dog was but curious as hell about where this was going.

"Morning," she yawned.

The dogs tongue flopped out of his mouth before it stood up and turned around, only turning back around with a bouquet of flowers in his mouth.

"Aw, Pads they're beautiful." She grabbed the flowers from him and laughed as the dog crawled up the bed and licked her face. "I see you found a work around to the whole not allowed in my room."

A bark came from the dog before he buried his head under the blankets causing her to giggle, "Padfoot," she squealed when he ran his tongue down the length of her leg.

"Come on Pads, get out before someone spots you in here. How do you think Fleanmont and Euphemia will take the whole dog one day, gone the next thing?" Octavia spoke while she was squirming under the blanket from the dog attempting to tickle her with his fur.

It wasn't until she felt warm hands on her waist that she knew she was doomed, she was pulled further down the bed and had no choice but to throw the blanket over her head so she could come face to face with her childish boyfriend.

"Happy Birthday baby," Sirius whispered before softly kissing her.

"Thank you, I have to admit having the flowers delivered by Padfoot was kind of adorable. Now seriously, get out before someone notices you, we've been good all summer since Euphemia requested we stay out of the bedrooms, we'll be back at Hogwarts tomorrow."

Sirius nodded in response and Octavia watched as he moved to get off the bed but stopped for a moment and looked at her, as if he was going to say something but thought better of it before getting out of the bed and leaving Octavia's room.

Octavia made her way downstairs for breakfast after showering and getting dressed, shocked at seeing the pile of presents at the end of the table.

"Good morning everyone," she greeted and took a seat the table, a frown appearing on her face when Sirius handed over two letters for her.

"The owls were sitting on the windowsill when I came down earlier," he explained and she nodded before opening them and reading them.

She had a feeling what they were, the summer had been and practically gone since they return to Hogwarts tomorrow and she hadn't heard a single word from her parents or Gringotts yet, she had a feeling after what happened at Kings Cross her parents would disown her like Sirius' did with him.

She just couldn't believe they did it on her birthday, "happy freaking birthday to me," she muttered to herself.

"Are you alright?" Sirius questioned.

"Do you all mind if I open all these later?" Octavia questioned before pushing away from the table and heading upstairs to her room.

She grabbed the flowers that were now sitting in a vase on her bedside table, assuming one of the house elves placed them in there and walked out onto the balcony and leaned against the railing.

Octavia was only alone for a couple of moments before she heard the door open, she turned around and found Sirius standing there.

"You alright?"

"I'm not an idiot, I knew it was coming, I left my family this last Christmas and then at Kings Cross Amycus convinced them to let me go, claimed I was a lost cause. It just hurts so much more that I was disowned on my birthday." She spoke, looking down at the flowers in her hands, the only thing that truly made the day that much better for her.

She let go of the vase as Sirius made a grab for it and placed it on the small table out on the balcony before grabbing her hands and pulled her towards him.

"It's what we've wanted for a couple of years now, yes I can imagine it hurting more on your birthday but baby you've never enjoyed your birthdays, they've always given you stuff you don't want for your birthday and when they've thrown a party for you it's full of their friends and not ours."

Octavia nodded before pulling away, realisation set in. "What are you doing in here," she scolded and he just laughed before hugging her.

"I'm checking on my clearly upset girlfriend, is that not allowed?" he questioned, kissing her head. "Come on get dressed, preferably something muggle like otherwise we might get a few odd stares."

"What are we doing?" she questioned while pulling away grabbing the vase and heading back into her room and placing them back in the bedside table.

"It's a surprise."

"Then how am I meant to know what to wear, you're taking me into the muggle world and I have no idea what to wear," Octavia complained and Sirius shook his head before opening the door to her wardrobe, quickly looking through at her limited optioning.

He walked over and softly kissed her, "just a dress and shoes without a heel will be fine, we may do a bit of walking so make sure you find them comfortable."

"Are you finally taking me on a date Mister Black?" she questioned softly, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"Why yes I am Miss Carrow, now please get dressed baby." Octavia nodded and Sirius gave her a smile before turning and leaving her alone in her room.

She took a deep breath before walking over and finding something to wear in her wardrobe, wishing more than anything that her and Lilith had brought more muggle clothing the other week but they were unsure as to how much they needed.

Octavia couldn't believe the day Sirius had planned for her birthday, she knew he had help from Remus. They had spent the day at the Zoo in London and Octavia loved at being able to see some of the animals that she didn't get the chance to learn about at Hogwarts since they weren't magical.

"Did you enjoy today?" Sirius questioned as he wrapped an arm around her in the taxi heading towards the Leaky Cauldron so they could head back to the Potters.

"I did, thank you Pads it was perfect." She gave him a smile before leaning against him.

"I'm glad Snow, you deserve to have happy birthdays from now on. No more sucky birthdays for you."

Octavia smiled once more, "what else have you planned for today?" she questioned but a grin appeared on his face, causing her to scowl knowing that he was keeping it a secret.

Sirius handed the money over to drive before climbing out and waiting for Octavia to follow before lacing his fingers with hers and leading her inside the pub.

"You honestly won't tell me?" she questioned but he just laughed before disappearing into the fire place and she quickly followed him not wanting to be caught in the pub alone by any one of the people that associated with her parents.

"Happy Birthday Snow!" Octavia jumped at the sound of Lilith's voice before arms were thrown around her neck.

"Thank you Lilith, what are you doing here?"

"You know, celebrating your birthday, why else would I be here?" Lilith spoke, pulling away. Laughing at the look on Octavia's face, "come on, you're coming with me." Lilith ordered grabbing the other girl's hand and pulled her upstairs towards her room.

"That is a dress on my bed, why is there a dress on my bed?" Octavia spoke, noticing the muggle dress spread out on her bed.

Lilith rolled her eyes, "just come here so I can fix your hair and makeup and then you can get dressed." Lilith called out from the bathroom.

"What are you planning?" Octavia questioned, realising something was going on and it was unsettling in her stomach.

"Oh come on, you're a Gryffindor, just get your scrawny butt over here."

Octavia grumbled to herself before walking over to the bathroom and letting Lilith use her as a doll before allowing her to pull the dress on.

"Alright where did you find this dress?" Octavia spoke as she stood in front of the mirror admiring the strapless blue dress in the full length mirror in her room.

"I may have convinced Moony to take me back into some of the muggle stores that we went to a few weeks back and picked out the dress, come on." Lilith grabbed Octavia's hand again and pulled her from the room.

It was then Octavia noticed that Lilith had also changed her clothing, wearing a dress as well and Octavia's curiosity spiked completely, they had to have planned something.

"What's going on?" Octavia questioned once more but Lilith didn't respond but continued to lead her through the house stopped by the doors to the empty ballroom she remembered the Potters having.

"Surprise!" came from the other side of the doors as Lilith threw them open, startling Octavia.

Octavia looked at Lilith, knowing full well that she had organised the party that seemed to be happening. "Padfoot's idea," was all Lilith said, giving Octavia a small smile and quickly squeezed her hand before walking over and joining the conversation Marlene was having with the other girls in her year.

"Thank you, officially best birthday ever." Octavia spoke as she stepped in beside Sirius, catching him alone.

"You're welcome, you look beautiful by the way, Lilith did well with the dress." Sirius softly kissed her cheek.

Octavia smiled up at him before she pulled away and walked over to where Lilith and Marlene were standing with the rest of the girls, quickly joining in on their conversation about their summers.

.oOo.

They were currently sitting in the Great Hall waiting on McGonagall to bring in the new batch of first years and Octavia noticed something, there was a small number of students missing from some of the tables.

"You alright Snow?" Sirius questioned softly and she shook her head.

"There's students missing, Blake is one of them." Octavia replied, noticing that Evans was sitting with the new fifth years, something which she had discovered a couple of years ago that Evans and Blake got along with them better despite the younger girls being huge gossips.

"Well that's one less person that hates us." Sirius joked and Octavia just shook her head.

"If it was just Blake missing yes maybe, but this thing with Voldemort is getting worse. Why didn't we check the Daily Prophet more?" she questioned and he reached over and squeezed her hand.

"Because you didn't want to know if they were writing about Alecto and Amycus again, you said while we were at Hogwarts we were safe. You think parents are pulling their children out of Hogwarts?" Sirius questioned and Octavia nodded as they watched the first years enter the Great Hall.

"Is it me or is Blake missing from the table?" Lilith spoke as soon as the food appeared in front of them.

"I noticed as well, she isn't the only one though but there is a common similarity between though." Octavia explained and the rest of them looked around, taking notice of who was missing.

"They're Muggleborns," Sirius pointed out with a scowl on his face, Octavia nodded in response.

"It makes sense though, the witches and wizards who have magical parents understand that Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard in the world and that we are safe here, Muggleborns don't have that. Their parents may think that we aren't safe here because of what is going on, they hope by pulling their children out of Hogwarts and putting them back in the Muggle world will be safer." Remus explained and they all shared a look remembering that his mother was a muggle.

"How's your mum taking everything?" Lilith questioned but Remus just lowered his gaze and stared at his plate, giving the others the idea that he didn't want to talk about it.

Octavia sat there and watched as Lilith reached over and squeezed Remus' hand, causing her to share a look with Sirius but he just shrugged in response before eating his food.

It wasn't until dessert was served that Marlene appeared beside the group looking at where James, Sirius and Octavia were sitting.

"What Mar?" Octavia questioned.

"I was speaking with Tyler and we were wondering which one of you three got the Captains badge?" Marlene questioned and Octavia's mouth fell open as she stared at the two boys.

"All summer, all bloody summer and we not once spoke about who Frank put up for his thought of the badge." Octavia spoke.

"Well I'm guessing it wasn't her," Peter pointed out and Marlene laughed before looking at where James' face had paled.

"I have to find two new players now don't I?" James questioned softly and they all nodded at him.

"Bloody hell," he muttered placing his face in his hands, Sirius just clapped him on the shoulder.

"There you go Mar, you have your answer." Lilith pointed out and Marlene laughed before pointing a finger at Sirius.

"You still treating her right, you know I won't like it if you hurt her." Marlene threatened and they all laughed.

"I am and will continue to do so as long as she lets me," Sirius spoke, wrapping an arm around Octavia's shoulder and pulled her closer before softly kissing her temple, causing James and Peter to gag at the action.

"He's lying, help me." Octavia joked, looking at the older girl with pleading eyes.

"Oi," Sirius spoke, Octavia turned and smiled sweetly at him.

Sirius looked at her for a moment before shaking his head, he ended up removing his arm from her shoulders and twisting around and having a hushed conversation with James.

"He doesn't looking happy O," Marlene pointed and Octavia shrugged.

"He knew what he was getting into," Octavia grinned, turning and looking at Remus when she heard him choke on his drink. "You alright there Moony?"

"Oh come on, you two bait each other. You were telling him that Prongs is your other boyfriend and then didn't Padfoot go on about dumping you if he got that waitress' phone number?"

Octavia scoffed before looking at Sirius with a smile on her face, remember the night Remus took them out into Central London for dinner and a movie, something which they all enjoyed.

"He only wanted that waitress' number so he could shove his muggle girlfriend in his parents face, instead he's doing what they always wanted for him, to date a Pureblood Princess. I might not be Makenna like they originally planned but still."

"You're still royalty amongst the Purebloods," Marlene pointed out and Octavia nodded.

"And plus, he wouldn't know what to do with a Muggle girlfriend and how would he explain the whole boarding school thing with no way to contact him." She pointed out, earning a finger in the ribs from said boyfriend.

"Hey, that girl thought I looked bloody fit in that leather jacket." Sirius pointed out and Lilith rolled her eyes.

"No that girl thought you were a bloody moron asking all those bogus questioned, come on, you are the one taking Muggle Studies and yet you don't know anything except that bloody motorbike of yours." Lilith spoke and Marlene's eyes went wide before looking at Octavia.

"He brought a motorbike?"

"Even better Mar, Snow here charmed it so it can fly." James joined in on the conversation.

Octavia turned and hit Sirius over the arm, instantly recognising the look on James' face and knew what it meant. "You've taken him out," she scolded but Sirius just grinned at her, not even bothered that she was angry.

"I've taken you out on the bike."

"So I could make sure the charm would work properly."

"Point stands, you've been on the bike."

"Yes twice and it will never happen again, you're lucky I'm letting you keep the bloody thing." Octavia muttered.

Sirius laughed before leaning over and softly kissing her cheek, "I'm internally grateful baby." He whispered in her ear.

"Okay, now I understand why those two constantly gag around you, I think I'm going to be sick now." Marlene pointed out and Octavia grinned at the other girl before leaning into Sirius.

If it wasn't the fact that Blake was missing from the Sorting Ceremony to help them believe her parents had pulled her from Hogwarts, it was the fact that when Octavia and Lilith entered their dorm, there was a bed missing.

Evans entered the dorm not long after them, sharing a look with the other two girls before dropping her gaze, her hair covering face.

Neither Octavia nor Lilith said anything but they both thought that the dorm would be much more civil without Blake around.

Octavia and Evans had come to an agreement years ago that they didn't argue in the dorm unless absolutely necessary, Evans yelled at Octavia in the common room, corridors or classrooms when she was once again annoyed for the treatment against Snape, but even now after the rumours going around after the OWLs, it seemed as though Snape and Evans weren't friends anymore.

When Octavia woke the following morning, she scrambled out of her bed and began digging through her trunk remembering that she hadn't heard from Amycus in a while. She thought that if he still loved her like he always claimed, certainly he would wish her a happy birthday.

 _A – I know you lied about you and S._

 _A – Happy Birthday O, remember I still love you no matter what happens._

 _A – Keep an eye out for an owl over the next couple of days, accept nothing but a rainbow box with a black ribbon._

Octavia shook her head before quickly replying a message, unsure as to when the first message came through, something about her and Sirius, she just hoped he wasn't mad at her for lying to him.

She wanted to laugh at the idea of a rainbow box with a black ribbon, but it was so unusual that no one would copy it, she wouldn't have to worry about gifts turning up that could potentially harm her, it was everything that her, Sirius and Amycus had worked out, after finding out that one day Amycus may be killed for protecting Octavia.

From now on out, the three of them didn't speak face to face, they only communicated through this one piece of parchment and it killed her to lose the only family she truly loved.

Octavia and Lilith got ready for their day in silence before leaving the common room and heading to the Great Hall, knowing it was no use waiting for the boys, it was always hit and miss with them since they were either already in the Great Hall waiting for them or they would turn up with five minutes to spare. It was something that frustrated both girls, they were unsure as to how Remus constantly put up with it and it seemed on the mornings surrounding the Full Moon, he couldn't put up with it and he appeared in the Great Hall before the other boys, not waiting for them.

"Good morning girls," McGonagall spoke as she noticed the two girls sitting alone at the table, walking over to organise their timetables for the year.

"Good morning Professor," they responded with smiles, surprised when their Professor took a seat at the table across from them.

"I do hope you will stay out of trouble this year Miss Carrow, you are now in your NEWTs course and Mr Potter has his Captains Badge."

"We can only try Professor," Octavia replied with a sweet smile on her face and Lilith laughed, knowing that three of her friends didn't know what the term 'good student' entailed.

"What classes are you wishing to continue this year Miss Carrow?" McGonagall questioned and Octavia fell silent, lowering her gaze.

She had spent all summer thinking about this option, thinking about her future and what she wanted but for her, it's too hard to focus on a future when all she knows is the upcoming war and the potential loss of her loved ones.

"I would like to continue with Herbology, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Ancient Runes." Lilith spoke when she noticed Octavia's hesitation.

"That is a rather large NEWTs load Miss Longbottom, are you sure you can handle it?" McGonagall questioned and Octavia watched as Lilith nodded, taking a sip of her juice.

"Yes, I want to be Healer at some point and with everything that is going on in our world I can't leave Hogwarts not focusing on Defence Against the Dark Arts, I want to be able to defend myself if this gets any worse."

"Very well, I'm sure we can make all that work out for you." McGonagall looked at the time table in front of her, looking at the various combinations before finding one that would fit and it handing it over to Lilith.

"Miss Carrow, I need a decision."

Octavia took a deep breath, screw everything she was told growing up, screw the voice inside her head to stick with the safe option, the option that would only get her a job in the Ministry, screw the voice and pick what she loved.

"Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures," she went silent again, taking another deep breath. "and Muggle Studies."

Octavia couldn't help but notice the slight raise of one of McGonagall's eyebrows, she didn't know if the raised eyebrow was for the Muggle Studies choice, or the lack of Potions and Herbology.

"No Potions? Miss Carrow I believe you finished the year in the top five, Professor Slughorn will be disappointed to hear you won't be returning." McGonagall questioned and Octavia nodded, silently telling Slughorn to get over himself.

Octavia hated Potions, the only reason she was good at it was because she forced herself to pay attention, always pairing with Lilith instead of one of the boys. They needed someone who was good at Potions, what would have happened something had gone wrong with the Animagus potions? Could they have been poisoned, or worse?

"I dislike Potions, regardless of it being a top subject for me. Regardless of finishing in the top five students, I much prefer Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures, something I believe I will continue to do well in. My five subjects will give me more free time for my own studies." Octavia explained and McGonagall nodded, her lack of questioning at the mention of her own studies just confirmed what Octavia always suspected, she always suspected that her Professors knew the truth about her, knew that she was a Dreamer.

"Very well, here you go. I know Professor Smith will be pleased you are continuing with Muggle Studies." McGonagall spoke, handing over the timetable and given them both a smile before standing up and walking down to where Evans had taken a seat.

"Muggle Studies?" Lilith questioned and Octavia shrugged.

"I enjoy Muggle Studies and don't have to worry about my parents anymore, you all knew I was planning on taking Care of Magical Creatures right through until the end of my seventh year."

"Morning girls," the boys spoke as they joined the two girls at the table for breakfast, the girls looked up and smiled at the boys, Octavia's growing when Sirius sat down beside her and softly kissed her cheek.

"Timetables already?" Sirius spoke as he reached over and grabbed Octavia's noticing it sitting there, Octavia nodded, not caring that he was looking at her timetable. "You know we will barely have free periods together now right?" he questioned and she looked over at him, not sure what he was on about.

It took her a moment, looking at where Sirius held her and Lilith's side by side, she realised. "I have Care of Magic Creatures when you will take Potions, are you going to take Muggle Studies or Herbology?" she questioned.

The two of them plus James had spoken about the subjects they were thinking of taking during the summer, James stated he will most likely stick to his Core subjects while Sirius couldn't decide between Muggle Studies and Herbology.

Even though they both wanted to be Aurors, they wanted to help in the war even more and were unsure as to what the way to go was.

"Muggle Studies I suppose, I hated Herbology and don't exactly need it if I decide to be an Auror," Sirius responded and Octavia nodded.

"We can't spend all our time together Pads, I'll get sick of you and then Prongs will complain because I'm spending too much time with him." Octavia teased, giving James a wink when he looked up in confusion at hearing his name.

"That's alright, I'm sure I can find another girlfriend to kill time while you're off with Prongs love." Sirius responded with a grin. "What's the matter Moony?" he questioned, noticing the look on Remus' face.

"You two, no wonder everyone is confused as to if you are actually dating or not." Remus responded and the couple shared a look.

"That's the way we want it," Octavia spoke and Sirius nodded in agreement, Remus opened his mouth as to if to say something but Octavia spoke first. "What classes are you taking Moony?"

Remus narrowed his eyes, knowing full well that Octavia cut him off because she knew what the next question would be. "Charms, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures."

"No Potions or Herbology?" Lilith questioned and he shook his head.

"Barely passed as it is, the smells can be over whelming." He responded and they all nodded in understanding, especially Octavia.

It was partly why Octavia didn't enjoy the two subjects, the smells could be overwhelming and she didn't understand how she could continue with it.

"Couldn't help but overhear your choice in classes Mr Lupin, here you go." McGonagall spoke appearing once more handing over his timetable before asking the remaining boys what they were taking.

James was taking the same classes as Sirius except chose Herbology because he didn't take Muggle Studies while Peter said he was taking Transfiguration, Herbology, History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts, not having the grades required for Charms and Potions.

When they asked Peter why he was taking History of Magic over Care of Magical Creatures or Divination, his cheeks went pink as he replied 'I enjoy History of Magic'. No one laughed, just encouraged him to do something he loved.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you especially to Raven that flies at night and Guest named Ginny10702 for your reviews.**

 **Ginny10702** **thank you for your review, it means a lot to me. I'm glad you enjoy my story so much, as for how long this story will be, I am planning on continuing all the way through until the end of Deathly Hallows. I personally enjoyed the books more than the movies, I did enjoy the movies don't get me wrong. As for putting in the few pieces of information we knew from the Marauders era from the books that we knew definitely happened, it was the only way to make the story as canon as possible. I know things will change because of Octavia's presence but until then, I'm trying. Remus and Tonks is still end game, Remus and Tonks will still date and get married come time for it to be, my OC's will not change that part of the story.**


	64. Officially an Adult

Chapter 63: Officially An Adult

Octavia quietly snuck into the boys' dorm, for once grateful that Remus was still asleep, unsure as to what he would think of her sneaking into their dorm dressed like she was when they were all still asleep.

She pulled back the curtains before climbing in the bed with Sirius and pulling them closed again, she carefully crawled down the bed until she was hovering over his body and softly kissed his lips.

Octavia smiled as Sirius stirred beneath her, "happy birthday Padfoot." She spoke softly, a grin appearing on his lips before he pulled his arms free and placing his hands on her waist, pulling her down against his body.

"Mhmm, good morning baby." Sirius spoke, sleep still lacing his voice, quickly waking up as his hands softly ran up and down her sides and he took in what she was wearing. He pulled away and sat up on the bed, taking in the view of her.

Her hair was a mess, her bottom lip was in her mouth in between her teeth showing she was nervous and had the slight pink tinge to her cheeks. A smile appeared on his face as he took in fully what she was wearing.

He knew it was silk, having felt it under his hands but the actual clothing she was wearing, he didn't know what they were called, just knew that they were muggle clothes but there wasn't much there, just enough to cover her.

"You actually walked in here dressed like that?" he questioned and she nodded before crawling over and straddling his lap.

"Do you like it?" she spoke quietly.

"Baby, I love it." He spoke before roughly kissing her, tightly gripping her ass where his hands where placed.

"Where's your wand?" she questioned, attempting to catch her breath as Sirius had moved his lips to the crook of her neck.

"Why?" he mumbled against her neck.

"Because if we're going to have sex we need to cast the contraception charm and a silencing charm." Octavia spoke and Sirius froze, unsure as to if he heard her right.

"What did you just say?" he spoke, pulling away from her and looking in her in the eye.

"Oh you mean the 'us having sex part'?" she questioned with a smile on her face.

Sirius didn't say anything, just shifted her off his lap and turned around to grab his wand before casting the charms she spoke of, quickly kissing her once more.

Sirius was laying on his side while softly running his fingertips along Octavia's back a small frown etched on his face but since her eyes were closed she couldn't see it. "Officially best birthday ever baby, I can't even complain about being woken up so early." He spoke quietly and softly kissed the top of her head.

"I'm glad Pads, I wanted to make your birthday special just like you did for me. I know we have classes today and I know you and Prongs were talking about throwing a party on the weekend." Octavia opened her eyes and snuck a look at him, finally noticing the frown. "What's wrong Pads?" she questioned.

At first Sirius didn't respond, just continued to run his fingertips along her back taking in the scars her father had left on her back. "You had sex with Aubrey," he pointed out and she rolled her eyes before pushing herself up and resting on her forearms.

"Yes I did Padfoot and now I've had sex with you, if you would like comparison notes, you are deluded." She retorted but Sirius just grinned at her before leaning down and kissing her.

"I think you moaning my name is good enough for me," he winked at her, laughing when her cheeks went pink. "But not what I meant, you're back baby. I've seen your scars before, I've helped you treat them before so I wasn't entirely shocked by them. How did you manage to have sex with Aubrey and not have him question the scars?"

"Glamour charms, I knew what I was planning on doing with him early that day, I made up my mind and knew I had to glamour them otherwise he would ask questions that I couldn't answer. I generally always have the larger ones on my back glamoured, Lilith and Marlene haven't even seen them."

Sirius frowned before shifting and laying down beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer, "baby you shouldn't have to hide them, both Marlene and Lilith known about the abuse and that you may have a few scars because of it, they won't judge you."

Octavia shook her head, "I really should head back to my dorm and get dressed." Octavia pulled away and grabbed her clothes to pull them on before softly kissing him and climbing out of his bed.

"Good morning Snow," Octavia froze as her hand reached for the door, she had hoped she could sneak in or out without the rest of the other boys noticing her.

Hell she would even pick Remus over this, "good morning Prongs." She mumbled, cheeks flaring red before she pulled the door opened and left.

Octavia knew that James would suspect something had happened, in the past when she has climbed into Sirius' bed in the middle of the night because of a bad dream, whether a future one or not, she normally stayed in his bed until they got up for the day. But today was different, she attempted to sneak out without being caught.

Lilith didn't question Octavia's disappearance during the night, well used to the other girl leaving the dorm in the middle of the night but an eyebrow was slightly raised at the sight of what she was wearing.

It wasn't until Evans had left the dorm that a massive grin appeared on Lilith's face.

"Do I really have to say it?" Octavia questioned, a frown appearing on her face.

"Oh come on, I've seen you in the clothes you normally wear to bed and it's not that. I also remember when we brought those, you thought you'd get a reaction out of Pads throughout the summer."

"I chickened out…"

"Prongs?" Lilith questioned and Octavia nodded before her eyes went wide and she buried her face in her hands.

"Prongs saw me as I was trying to sneak out, he's going to give us so much shit for having sex." She mumbled and Lilith laughed.

"This is so good, let's go to breakfast." Lilith suggested and Octavia groaned but followed her best friend to the door before turning around and going back to her trunk. "Snow?"

"Can't forget his actual present." Octavia responded, digging through her trunk looking for the box she had buried in the bottom.

"Still can't believe you snuck out of the dorm to go and have sex with Pads while the others slept." Lilith teased, laughing at the pink cheeks on the other girls face.

"It's called a silencing charm Lilith," Octavia snapped, not appreciating being teased like this. "Just wait, one day you will have sex and I will tease you for it."

"Oh come on, it's kind of funny. You could have broken the rules at the Potters and snuck into Padfoot's room where no one was sleeping mere metres from the bed but instead you break the rules at Hogwarts." Lilith looped an arm through Octavia's, giving her a smile.

"I'm less likely to get caught here, I was worried that Euphemia and Fleamont will change their minds about having both Pads and I at their house while we are dating."

"There is no way Euphemia and Fleamont will kick you out of their house, they adore both you and Padfoot. You shouldn't worry about that and you know without a doubt that my parents will always take you in if they or you change their mind."

"I know, thank you."

When the two girls entered the Great Hall, they weren't entirely surprised to see that the boys were already down there, what did surprise them were the giant balloons hanging around them at the table and the look on Sirius' face, explaining he had no idea about the balloons.

They had to push aside a couple of the balloons so they could take a seat at the table with the rest of their friends, Octavia was instantly unsettled by the look on James' face.

"I must say Snow, you looked rather ravishing this morning, I much prefer that-" he was cut off by Sirius punching him in the arm.

"Watch it mate," Sirius growled but James just laughed.

"Oh come on, I have the best material after watching Snow attempt to sneak out of the dorm dressed like she was. How does it feel to be used and ditched like that?" James teased but Sirius just banged his head on the table letting out a groan.

"Come on Prongs lay off already, you've been going on about it all morning. Padfoot looks like he is one more comment away from snapping." Remus spoke giving James a look while Octavia looked at where Sirius had his head placed on the table.

"I think he's about to snap, Pads do you want to go have breakfast in the kitchens?" Octavia questioned, Sirius' head snapped up and he looked at her but he didn't say anything as he stood up and stormed out of the Great Hall. "I'll see you all in class."

Octavia quickly left the Great Hall and headed towards the corridor that would lead the way towards the kitchen, quickly finding Sirius standing there fighting with the balloons.

"Bloody fucking balloons," he muttered while attempting to bat them away but it seems as though James had charmed them to follow Sirius around all day.

Octavia waved her hand, watching as the balloons floated away from him for a moment.

"You can't get rid of them completely?" Sirius questioned when he finally turned and looked at her.

"Nope, it took forever to teach Prongs that charm."

Sirius shook his head, "of course you did," he muttered as he turned and headed towards the kitchen.

"Pads?" she questioned, catching up to him before he reached the bowl of fruit portrait.

"I just- today would have been better if Prongs hadn't been the one to see you this morning. Moony would have a couple of jokes and not told the others if it's what I wanted and Wormtail would have just had a red face all day after he realised what we did in my bed but Prongs."

"But Prongs has been making jokes all morning, he'll calm down and stop making the jokes. We just need to ignore him, he'll give up if we stop reacting." She spoke as she laced her fingers through his, reaching up with the other hand brushed his hair out of his face.

Sirius lifted up their joined hand and softly kissed the back of her hand, "just like our family dinners used to be," Octavia nodded. "What would I do without you?"

Octavia stepped closer to him and looked up at him, "well without me we wouldn't have sex this morning and Prongs wouldn't be making all those jokes."

A smile finally appearing on Sirius' face as he placed a hand on her waist and pulled her close, "I would take all of Prongs' jokes just to have a redo of this morning baby."

"Ah but Pads, I think after Prongs seeing me dressed like that, sneaking out of your bed and dorm after having sex with you, I don't think you will be getting a repeat performance." Octavia teased before pulling away and tickling the pear to open the portrait.

Not hearing movement behind her, she turned around and found Sirius standing in the same spot, looking a little hurt. "Pads, I was just teasing. There is a very high chance I may not be sneaking into your room to have sex again any time soon but it doesn't mean we won't be having sex again."

Sirius nodded before he entered the kitchen, kissing Octavia's temple before thanking Ellie for the plate of waffles she handed over.

"Pads are you alright?" Octavia questioned as she walked over and took a seat beside him, noticing the still sour demeanour unsure if it's because of her teasing, James' jokes at the expense of the two of them or the balloons that were still following him around just at a greater distance away thanks to her.

"Just fine baby, let me quickly eat this and then we'll go back to the Great Hall."

Octavia pulled the small box out of her pocket and placed it on the table between the two of them, Sirius looked at the box before looking over at her.

"Another present? Honestly, I thought after you charming my bike and the gift you gave me this morning that was all I was getting." Sirius spoke, shock evident on his face but Octavia just smiled.

"You love your bike, despite the fact that I hate that you have it as for this morning, I believe that was a gift for the both of us. This is something a little more traditional, Euphemia and Fleamont asked earlier in the summer if I had a problem with them giving it to you, I told them flat out I did. As much as we are grateful for everything they've done for us, it's always been us against the world. I felt it was only right I was the one that got you this."

Sirius swallowed the mouthful of food he had and stared at the box, he reached over and picked it up, carefully opening the box and staring at the watch that was sitting in the box.

A wizard receiving a watch on their 17th birthday from their parents was tradition, despite both him and Octavia not liking some of the traditions their families participated in this was one Sirius had looked forward to for as long as he could remember.

He remembered growing up and catching sight of his father's watch, sitting on his wrist and always hidden by the sleave of his robe.

Orion would always say that the day Sirius turned 17 he would have a watch of his own, only the best for the Black boys.

Sirius hated his parents, hated their values and traditions, hated the way they turned a blind eye to the treatment Octavia received in her own home and hated the way they organised an arranged marriage for him. But a small part of him was disappointed he wouldn't be receiving his own watch, he never voiced this concern with Octavia and was surprised that she had given him one.

"You always admired Orion's, on your seventh birthday I remember how excited you were at announcing only ten more years until you receive your own watch just like his. I figured you would be upset not receiving a watch, I wanted to do this for you because it always has been us against the world." Octavia smiled as she reached over and wiped away the one stray tear that had escaped from his eyes, if it wasn't for the smile on his face she would be worried.

"Thank you baby, this is absolutely perfect." Sirius put the box on the table before taking her face in his hands and kissing her. "I think I can put aside the annoying balloons and Prong's comments for today, the watch is stunning, thank you."

When Sirius and Octavia returned to the Great Hall they instantly noticed the three packages sitting on the table surrounding their friends.

"What's with those?" Sirius questioned, already getting the presents from his friends in the dorm earlier.

"Apparently they are for you mate," James responded and Sirius wearily looked at them before looking at Octavia, hoping she understood the silent question.

Octavia hasn't heard from Amycus since the beginning of term when he made mention to a rainbow box with a black ribbon, she received the very box from him a few days following the information and it contained a necklace that was mostly likely her birthday present. Looking at the presents in front of her, there was one exactly the same, rainbow box with a black ribbon.

"One of those has to be from Dromeda right? Any notes attached to them?" Octavia spoke as her and Sirius looked for a note attached.

"We have Runes Lil," Remus spoke, noticing the time. "We'll see you after in Charms?" he questioned and they all nodded, watching as he and Lilith left the Great Hall.

"That one has a note saying it's from Dromeda," Octavia pointed towards the red box with a gold ribbon.

"Should have realised with the Gryffindor colours," Sirius laughed before opening, frowning when he realised the box was empty aside from a piece of parchment.

 _You're lucky I'm not sending a Howler after I received word from O about your motorbike, I cannot believe you Sirius, of all things, a motorbike._

 _I will see you at Christmas, along with my lecture._

Sirius looked up and narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend, "you snitched on me? You told Dromeda I had a motorbike?"

"Someone had to yell at you, you obviously weren't taking any notice of what I was saying and Euphemia and Fleamont only requested that you remembered to wear the right protective gear. What did she say?"

"She's punishing me by not giving me any presents, not happy Snow." Sirius snapped but Octavia just grinned before reaching forward grabbing the rainbow box and pushing it towards Sirius.

"About time you got punished for that bloody thing, here open this one and no one touch the other one." Octavia spoke and they all looked at the black box, an uneasy feeling filling them all.

Sirius barked out a laugh as he opened the box before pushing it towards Octavia, she looked in the box before hitting Sirius over the arm.

"I can't believe him, I want to ring his neck," Octavia muttered but Sirius continued to laugh.

James and Peter were both confused, reached over and pulled things out of the box and noticing that they were just muggle magazines about motorbikes, something which they had seen Sirius flicking through over the summer. Neither of them had an idea as to who it was from but it was obvious that the couple did.

"No you don't Snow, you're just annoyed he is encouraging the bike."

Octavia narrowed her eyes at Sirius before she stood up from the table, "I'm going to head off, I'll see you three in Charms."

"Snow," she heard Sirius call out but she just waved her hand above her head and headed towards the doors to leave the Great Hall.

It wasn't until she was outside heading towards the Quidditch Pitch that a figured stepped in beside her, "Reg, have a good summer?" she spoke sneaking a look at him, frowning at the stony look on his face.

"It was fine, yours?" the cold voice shocked her and she stopped walking to look at him fully, noticing just how much he had grown over the summer.

She stood there and watched as he eyes roamed over their surroundings before he took a deep breath.

"They didn't just disown him, there's a bloody decent sized scorch mark where his face used to be. Your parents didn't even burn you off the tapestry."

"Oh come Regulus, you had to have known your parents were going to blast him off the tapestry considering they did the same thing to Andromeda." Octavia snapped before she continued towards the Quidditch Pitch, she hasn't had the chance to bring her own broom down yet but she had hoped that sitting up in the stands would bring enough wind to give her a similar feeling.

Regulus caught up with Octavia and grabbed a hold of her arm to stop her from walking away from him.

Octavia turned and looked at him, "what did you really to talk about Reg because I have a feeling this isn't it, is it?" she questioned and he shook his head.

Regulus let go of Octavia's arm and gesture for her to walk ahead of him into the Quidditch Pitch and followed her up to the stands, sitting up the top at the very top.

"Are you both happy?" he finally spoke once they were sitting in the stands and she looked over at him.

"In our relationship or our new living situation?" she questioned, noticing something flash through his eyes and she wondered if he still felt something towards her.

"Living situation."

"Yes Reg, we are both happy living where we are."

"You won't tell me will you?" he questioned and she just raised an eyebrow at him, "right of course you won't because you don't trust me." he muttered.

Octavia just raised an eyebrow at the other boy, "yes because I'm sitting here talking to someone I don't trust. I do trust you Reg, I just don't see the point in telling you were we are living and plus it's not like Sirius is exactly quiet about where he is living anyway."

"Ah yes the Potters or something right? I remember him boasting about it not long after Christmas Break."

"We're fine Reg, we're both happy, safe and healthy. You know you could talk to him yourself, he is your brother."

"No mother made it very clear that he isn't my brother anymore."

Octavia wasn't entirely shocked, by either the statement or the fact that Regulus was attempting to appease his parents, the younger boy was always like that. "But yet you are sitting here speaking to me either way."

"Our marriage contract is still in place you know, regardless of you being disowned."

Octavia stared at Regulus in complete shock, she couldn't believe it was still in place.

"I thought you would have assumed that because of how badly they wanted out marriage go through," Regulus spoke and Octavia shook her head, standing up and walking over to the railing. "You aren't going to throw yourself over are you?"

"It's tempting," she muttered and only seconds later Regulus had pulled her away from the railing.

"Don't even think about doing something so incredibly stupid," Regulus growled and Octavia nodded, feeling uneasy as to how close his face was to hers.

"It was a joke Reg," Octavia responded quietly and he pulled away from her but didn't let go of her arms.

"Is it that bad, the thought of marrying me?"

Octavia could see the hurt show on his face, helping prove that he was still harbouring feelings towards her. "It's not marrying you are such, I wouldn't have a problem with it at all, it's just."

"Not having the choice in who you want to marry, you know if you gave me chance like you did my brother, you could fall in love with me and we could get married one day." Regulus spoke and Octavia pulled away from him.

"I told you how I felt Reg."

"I know I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"Forget it, I'm going to go find the brother you are actively avoiding and ignoring." Octavia turned and left Regulus standing there alone in the Quidditch Pitch.

Octavia set foot in the secluded room, she stood there for a moment before she let her magic out and pushed everything around in the room.

She sunk down to the floor once she was done taking her anger out on the furniture in the room and let the tears come out.

She always assumed that once she was cut off from her family her marriage contract with Regulus would be ripped up in the process, she couldn't believe they were still hoping that one day it will still happen.

She felt arm wrap around her and pulled her close, allowing her take in the familiar scent of Sirius and she cried against his chest.

"What's wrong baby?" Sirius questioned when Octavia quietened down.

"Nope, it's your birthday no depressing information." She pulled away and leaned against the wall.

Sirius didn't say anything, just wiped away the tears sitting on her cheeks. "What did Regulus say?"

She shouldn't have been surprised that he knew where she went, knew who she was talking to. She should have known that he would have grabbed the map from one of the boys, ever since she had put the locking charm on it during the summer they had begun carrying the map around them at all times.

"At first it was just him checking on us, making sure we were happy where we were and what not. My arranged marriage is still standing."

Sirius softly ran his thumb along her cheek, "so you got angry and moved everything around in here _once again_ before dropping to the floor and start crying."

"I don't rearrange the furniture in here that often." She remarked and Sirius scoffed in response, but leaned over and softly kissed her.

"You do baby, just admit it. Your anger comes out in your wandless magic so you come in here, I'm just grateful you don't set things on fire anymore." He teased but she just crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "Come on, put the room back to how it was, Moony may have a stroke if he keeps walking in here after you've rearranged everything."

"No, I think I'm going to have a stroke if Prongs keeps insisting on us behaving, Moony couldn't even keep us from getting in trouble but Prongs gets the Captains badge and now all of a sudden we're saints, what's the deal there?"

"Prongs just wants to win and that involves us staying out of detention."

"Yes but we managed that when Frank was the captain and we spent lots of time in detention."

"I know, just let Prongs be Prongs. He needs to find two new players, Frank only had to find Prongs and myself and that was it. Prongs has to do it twice, this year and the next because Marlene and Kingsinton both graduate at the end of this year."

"Oh dear Padfoot, what are you going to do once your other girlfriend graduates?" Octavia teased but Sirius just smirked before gripping her waist and pulling her onto his lap.

"I'll just have to spend more time with you love, so we'll have to find Prongs a new girlfriend."

"I'm sure we'll manage," she muttered against his lips before kissing him.

"Mhm, do I get that repeat performance now?" Sirius suggested.

"Nope, we have Charms soon and Prongs would kill us if we don't attend try outs this afternoon, regardless of it being your birthday."

Sirius frowned before kissing her forehead, "come on let's go back to the common room so we can grab our things for today's classes."

Octavia nodded before getting off his lap and standing up, holding her hand out waiting for him.

They were about to leave the room when Octavia turned around and waved her hand, pulling the furniture back into their original places.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **I have had a couple people of question the length of this story, I plan on going right through until the end of the Deathly Hallows. As for how long in chapter length it will end up being, no idea. The longer this story goes on and the more the in depth I get I will have some more of an idea but at the moment they are still in Hogwarts and their future isn't completely sorted out yet.**

 **Thank you especially to Raven that flies at night and Guest named Lilian123 for your reviews.**


	65. Tutoring

Chapter 64: Tutoring

Sirius entered the Library and headed towards the back where he knew Octavia to be hiding away from everyone, he didn't know what happened but during afternoon classes she seemed quiet and distant and it wasn't her.

He turned the last corner and walked down the row that hid her favourite table and stopped before he got too close to be noticed, he could tell she had been crying and he hated that.

He tried to think of everything he could have done to make her cry, in case it was his fault and he had to apologise but he couldn't think of doing anything wrong and he was then left with someone else causing that much pain that she was reduced to tears and it hated it.

"What's the matter Snow?" he questioned as he walked over and took a seat beside her at the table, not pleased when she didn't even look up at him.

"Tell me now if you aren't happy in our relationship," she muttered and he was truly confused.

"What gave you the impression that I wasn't happy Snow?" he responded and she finally looked up at him and he hated that he could see the tears building up in her eyes.

"All those girls keep flirting with you as if I wasn't there, you didn't even say anything to put a stop to it."

"They were flirting with me?" he questioned and she nodded, "huh, I guess I didn't notice."

"You used to notice all the time," she muttered looking back down at her notes.

Sirius leaned over and placed a hand on her chin and forced her to look at him. "Are you jealous?" he questioned, instantly noticing his mistake the moment she pulled her head from his grasp and a glare appeared on her face.

"Of course I'm bloody well jealous, you're my boyfriend and yet you stood there and let all the girls flirt with you and you claim you didn't notice, but I know you, you would flirt with anything in a skirt." She hissed at him.

"I didn't notice because you are the only one I notice now," Sirius spoke softly, happy when her face softened and there was no more glare on her face.

"But they were flirting with you Pads," she pointed out and he shook his head before leaning over and softly kissing her, grinning when she automatically wrapped her arms around his neck and her fingers found their way into his hair, he loved the small action she did with it being something no one had ever done before.

"I promise you Snow, I have no interest in those other girls regardless of them flirting with me or not. You are the only girl I notice and have any interest in."

"Maybe we're making a mistake by letting everyone guess as to if we're dating or not, maybe we should just confirm it for everyone." Octavia spoke when she pulled away from him and looked back down at her notes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.

"What, you Octavia Carrow, the shyest girl I know wants to make some declaration in front of everyone confirming that we are in fact dating." Sirius spoke and Octavia let out a groan before she placed her head on the table.

"No," she snapped and Sirius placed his hand on her head, softly running his fingers through her hair, he was still to this day fascinated with how soft and silky her hair always was.

"Then we won't and plus we know the true reason as to why we are perfectly happy with the rest of the students being confused about our relationship. We know if word gets home about the truth about us there is a chance that our parents will put a marriage contract in place for us, it doesn't matter if we've both been disowned, they know shady lawyers that will have no problem doing it anyway, back dating it and say it was in place before we were disowned."

Octavia tilted her head and looked at Sirius, "I know Pads, we don't know what will happen if a contract is made between the two of us."

"I know baby, it's the agreement we came to when we first started dating. It's why we have no problem with all those jokes in public, we both know we are joking, you chose Prongs as your other boyfriend because I know you would never and I chose Marlene because you know she would kill me for hurting you before actually doing anything with me." Sirius explained and she nodded against the table.

"Fuck I hate our lives," Octavia complained, wishing more than anything that they weren't in the library where she could yell in frustration.

"They're better now, better now that we out from underneath our parents' thumb, we are in a home where people love us and we have each other. Our lives are getting better baby." Sirius spoke softly, leaning down and kissing her temple, finally getting a smile out of her.

"Come on, I found some things I want to practise." Octavia sat up in the chair and threw the book and her notes in her bag before standing up and walking off. She looked over her shoulder at Sirius and found him still sitting in his chair, "you coming Pads?"

"Depends, what do you want practise?" he winked at her and she laughed.

"Magic Padfoot," she grinned at him and he shook his head before getting up and walking over to her side and linking their hands together, softly kissing the back of her head as the two of them left the library.

Sirius was sitting on the couch, watching as Octavia was floating herself in the middle of the room. "Shouldn't you be practising a way to make all of this defensive in case the war is still going on when we graduate?" he questioned and a frown appeared on her face before she lowered to the ground.

"How Pads? I can only prefer Charms, how can they be defensive? I haven't even mastered my shield yet."

Sirius shrugged before laying back down on the couch and looking over at her, "who knows, more books or find a way around with Charms."

"Can I go back to hating on our lives?" she huffed before walking and laying down beside him.

"You don't actually hate your life baby, I'm pretty sure that once you get a handle on your magic it will be fine, you will be able to do as you please with it and know how to handle everything." Sirius wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"Okay, then why can't I be normal?" she complained and he just laughed. "How are Prongs and Wormtail going with finding the spell we need for our next prank?"

"They cracked it and want us to order a product from Zonko's instead."

"They do realise that we aren't exactly flush with gold now that we were disowned, right? We can't live at the Potters forever, you brought your motorbike. We can't keep blowing money on crap." Sirius leaned over and softly kissed her, knowing that her issue with them buying products from Zonko's was fear for her future and the unknown.

"We'll be fine baby, I still have plenty of gold and so do you. We only have one year left at Hogwarts and most of the books for next year are the same as this year, Muggle Studies doesn't have books required unless we have to buy literacy books next year."

"But we need a home Pads."

Sirius smiled at her, but it just seemed to annoy her more. "You want us to live together after Hogwarts?" he couldn't help but laugh as she seemed to be slightly shocked before narrowing her eyes at him.

"We can't live at the Potters forever, even if we don't make it, we need somewhere to live. What if we decide to share an apartment with some of our friends?"

"That's not what you meant and you know it, you see a future for us. You want us to have a home together," he continued to tease her but she just hit him over the arm.

"Prat," she muttered before snuggling in closer. "I actually have a beautiful baby boy that has a striking resemblance to Prongs." She teased back and he just laughed.

"That's why we haven't had a repeat performance of my birthday? You're too busy shagging Prongs, he's better than me isn't he?" Sirius teased, laughing as a blush crept up her neck and face before she buried her face against his chest.

"Why am I dating you again?" she mumbled against his chest but he just laughed once more before softly kissing the top of her head.

"Because I'm irresistible." Sirius joked, but Octavia didn't pulled away from him, she just continued to lay there with her face pressed against his chest.

So much had happened today and it was putting Octavia on edge, but laying there with Sirius and breathing in his scent, it was slowly calming her down.

Sirius wasn't too bothered when she fell asleep against him, he just continued to softly run his fingers along her back.

.oOo.

"Class dismissed, Miss Carrow if you would stay behind please?" Flitwick dismissed the sixth years and Octavia looked over at Sirius but he just shrugged before heading over to catch up with James as they left the room. She knew he wouldn't go far since they had Muggle Studies next.

"You wanted to see me Professor?" Octavia questioned when she was standing in front of his desk but Flitwick didn't speak.

Octavia looked around and watched as the other students slowly filled out and she was slightly confused as to what was going on.

As soon as the last student left, Flitwick cleared his throat and she turned back around to face him with a smile.

"Ah Miss Carrow I was hoping to ask a favour of you, you are the most talented student I have seen come through in a long time when it comes to Charms and I understand why you are so talented."

Octavia smiled at Flitwick, "thank you Professor, what is this favour you are asking of me?"

"I need someone to tutor one of my second years, he only barely passed last year and not only is it for Charms but he is also a Ravenclaw."

"What would be needed of me as a tutor, I've never tutored anyone before and between my own NEWTs classes and Quidditch practice, not to mention my own private studies."

"Yes I can understand how busy your own schedule is, at this point in time I'm only asking for one session with the student a week. In class he seems to be understanding of the content but when it comes to the quizzes a few weeks later it seems as though he has forgotten the information or how to prepare the spell, it's like he puts his own spin on the content."

That confused Octavia, Ravenclaws for well known for their studious behaviour, it was what the house prided themselves on. It seemed like the student Flitwick was talking about, just didn't study or didn't care. "Was he tutored last year, if so who was it?"

"He was tutored by one of the previous seventh years who had noticed he was struggling towards the end of the year, it was the only reason why he passed his end of year exams. I'm hoping by getting a head start on the tutoring he may be able to improve his grades." Octavia nodded, at least now it made sense as to why she was being asked.

"What about the rest of his classes?" She instantly noticed the look pass his face, "I see, it's not just Charms, it's all of them isn't it?"

"Unfortunately it is, a few of the sixth and seventh years are able to help but I was hoping you will be able to help him with Charms because of how gifted you are, regardless of the extra advantage you have of being a Dreamer."

"Can I think about it because I really should get to class?"

"Yes, yes of course. I apologise for keeping you for so long," Flitwick quickly wrote something on a piece of parchment before handing it over. "To say that I kept you."

"Thank you," Octavia gave him a smile before leaving the room, grabbing her bag on the way passed.

"Took long enough," Sirius complained as he appeared beside her and grabbed her bag from her.

"Flitwick was asking if I could tutor some second year in Charms, you should have gone ahead to Muggle Studies, I have a note and you don't." Sirius just shrugged before wrapping his free arm around her shoulders.

"So I get a detention, big whoop and plus Smith kind of has a soft spot for us anyway." Sirius threw in and Octavia laughed before shrugged his arm off his shoulder and grabbing her bag.

"I'm not incompetent, I can carry my own bag." She snapped at him but he didn't seem too bothered, just continued to follow her towards Muggle Studies.

.oOo.

Octavia was sitting there on her broom, completely and utterly bored.

It was currently the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match and after the end of last year most of the Hufflepuff players graduated leaving only a Keeper and a Chaser on the team, something which could ultimately be the end of a Quidditch team for a year.

Sirius had taken out their Seeker, something which Octavia wasn't happy with because he could have seriously hurt the poor third year girl.

During the time out when they were taking the other girl off the field James had asked Octavia to avoid the Snitch for as long as possible, letting them rack up as many goals as they could first since they didn't have a replacement Seeker. The thing was, their Keeper was incredibly talented, the best Hogwarts had seen in years.

She could even tell that the students watching the game were beginning to get bored since the commentator had stated his own boredom and questioning as to why she wasn't going for the Snitch when it had been spotted a couple of times.

"Bloody prat," Octavia muttered to herself as she let her eyes roam over the pitch, spotting the Snitch but not moving, knowing she wasn't allowed to just yet.

She loved playing Quidditch and being on a broom, but this, this was ridicules. She didn't understand how this was considered playing when she was just sitting there on her broom watching everyone else play, the Hufflepuff Beaters weren't even trying to hit her with the Bludgers since they had long ago given up on her and were trying to take the Chasers out to prevent more goals.

"Prongs be damned," she muttered to herself before taking off to where she spotted the Snitch, having had enough of this stupid match.

She caught the Snitch easy enough, almost as if the Snitch was bored of the game as well. She knew James would be angry but they still won and he would have to happy about that.

"What the bloody hell were you think?" James yelled as soon as he stepped into the Gryffindor team room, interrupting the conversation that Octavia and Marlene were sharing.

"I'm just going to shower, come find me later O," Marlene spoke before turning and leaving, the rest of the players quickly following suit leaving only James, Octavia and Sirius.

"Come on Prongs, we still won what is the big deal?" Octavia responded.

"The big deal is I'm your Captain and I asked you to hold off on catching the Snitch!"

"Are you kidding me! That game was getting boring and you're lucky I didn't fall off my broom due to falling asleep!" She yelled at him taking a step closer to him, causing Sirius to finally jump in between them.

It didn't matter how close James and Octavia were, they were also the two that argued the most.

"Alright calm down you two, Prongs Snow is right, the game was getting a little tedious and I can't spend hours on end hitting Bludgers, imagine how Walter felt with this being his first game?" Sirius spoke calmly.

"I'm her Captain and I asked her to do something and she went against me." James snapped as he stepped closer to Octavia.

Sirius feeling a strong urge to protect Octavia went to take a step forward but Octavia must have gotten in first as James was pushed back and slide across the floor.

"What the hell was that for?" James yelled from across the room.

"What if someone saw?" Sirius questioned at the same time and Octavia shook her head before smiling up at him.

"The rest of the team won't come out while they can still hear James yelling at me and no one else can come in here." She explained and he looked at where James was sitting on the floor. "Now Prongs, honestly we still won and by 250 points at that. Isn't that enough for you? Walter probably has a stiff shoulder and both McGonagall and Pomfrey will be on your ass about it because honestly, everyone knows I wasn't going after the Snitch for a reason. Both him and Wilks are new and this was their first game." Octavia spoke sternly.

James stood up and Octavia could tell she finally get through to him, "I'm sorry Snow." He apologised and she nodded.

"It's fine Prongs, your first game as Captain we kind of expected you to be a little crazy." Octavia hugged James.

"I just wanted to win."

"And we did Prongs, we won, mind you it was dirty tactics." She shot Sirius a look who just had a rather large grin on his face.

"I know, thank you Snow. I'm going to shower." He pulled away and headed towards the male change rooms, leaving the couple alone.

Sirius walked over and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, who wasn't that happy. "You know my shoulder is rather stiff baby," he spoke softly and she laughed at him before pulling away.

"I'm having a shower Pads," Octavia called over her shoulder as she headed towards the female change rooms and went straight for the shower, wanting a hot shower badly.

"What are you doing here Pads?" Octavia questioned when she opened the door after finishing her shower and spotted him leaning against the opposite wall.

Sirius didn't respond at first, just took in the sight of her standing there in a towel.

Octavia feeling unnerved by his gaze takes a step back from him while lowering her head to hide the blush creeping up her neck.

Sirius noticed her action and quickly took a couple of steps towards her and placed his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Snow are you forgetting something?" He took a step closer to her so their bodies were pressed together and gave her a smile. "We've had sex and therefore I've already seen you naked, don't you think being embarrassed about me seeing you in a towel is rather invalid?"

"We've had sex once Padfoot," She responded, now realising as to why he cornered her in here.

"I don't plan on it only being once, I plan on ravishing you as many times as you let me."

A smirk appeared on her face, "well if that's the case. If you excuse me, I have to get dressed." She managed to get a couple of steps away from the stunned Sirius before he recovered and made a grab from her.

"Snow," he whined and she laughed before leaning up and softly kissing him.

"I'm hungry and it's time for dinner, can we please have dinner and then talk about this later?"

"How about I ravish you now and then we can have dinner in the kitchens?" He questioned but didn't even let her in get a response before he kissed her, grinning when her arms went around his and releasing the grip she had of her towel.

"Padfoot are you in there?"

Sirius stopped thrusting into Octavia at the sound of James' voice, hoping more than anything that James wouldn't enter the room and that he just continued to stay out on the other side of the cracked door.

"Bugger off mate," Sirius spoke, not able to keep his voice calm.

"Have fun Padfoot," James spoke and everything was silent for a moment except for the sounds of the running shower and Octavia attempting to catch her breath. "Snow." James spoke again before laughing and it was then they heard the door close properly.

"I'm going to kill him one day," Sirius muttered before kissing her, quickly regaining the rhythm that he previously held.

.oOo.

Octavia looked up as she heard a sigh come from behind her, she knew someone had walked over and flopped down on the couch she was leaning against. The only thing she knew for sure was that it wasn't Sirius, but she found Marlene laying there.

"Yes Mar?" Octavia questioned sweetly but Marlene just sighed again. "Honestly Mar, either speak up or go and annoy one of your other friends." Octavia snapped, while resting her head back on the couch to look up at the older girl.

"There's some Ravenclaw kid pacing outside the Fat Lady portrait, she's on a rant about it and barely letting anyone in." Marlene finally spoke and Octavia spun around on the ground, facing the older girl completely.

"Why are you bothering me with this? I'm not a Prefect, get Rylea or Evans for Merlin sakes."

"Ah but here's the thing O, the Ravenclaw kid wants you."

"What bloody hell does some Ravenclaw kid want with me?" Octavia mumbled to herself as she stood up and left the common room.

"What do you want?" she snapped, startling the second year.

"You're Octavia Carrow!" He exclaimed and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes I am, why are you camped outside my common room annoying my portrait? She doesn't like to let people in when she's annoyed." Octavia placed her hands on her hips and stared down at the young boy, already annoyed with him.

"I was told you were going to be my tutor for Charms," he spoke with a large smile on his face and dread filled Octavia.

"I haven't decided anything, Professor Flitwick came to me and asked, I told him I would think about it. But if you can't seem to grasp the conception that I have the decision to make around my own studies then maybe you are a hell of a lot more stupid then I originally thought."

"My names Gilderoy Lockhart," he held out his hand but Octavia didn't move, just stood her ground.

She couldn't believe this kid was that stupid, going and bugging some other House's common room entrance like he owned the place.

She shook her head before pushing past the kid and continuing down the corridor knowing full well that the Fat Lady won't let her in while that kid was standing around.

"Octavia stop!" Lockhart called out and Octavia took a deep breath hoping to calm down.

"Who gave you the right to call me Octavia, Lockhart? We aren't on a first name basis and I haven't even introduced myself to you. I've made my decision, I won't tutor you you're on your own kid." She spoke as she continued walking, hoping to lose the kid at some point.

She didn't want to tutor someone that was this pushy, that couldn't even wait for her to make her own decision before he cornered her about the tutoring Flitwick asked of her.

She just hoped Flitwick would understand when she stated that she couldn't help him, she hoped that maybe if she said that she couldn't help someone in Charms because of her own nature then maybe he would believe her.

"What's got your wand in a knot Octavia?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? I can't even get a moments peace in this god damn Castle," Octavia spoke before turning and facing Evan Rosier, wishing more than anything he had graduated the past June.

"I wouldn't go talking to people like that, especially ones that are better than you." Evan spoke as he pushed away from the wall and stood up straighter.

"You're kidding right? The Carrows are higher than the Rosiers."

"You're forgetting something Octavia, you were disowned and along with you being disowned the protection Black had over you is gone."

Fear filled Octavia as Evan stepped closer to her and grabbed a hold of her arm.

oOo

Sirius sat there on his bed with the map in his hands, Octavia had demanded he go to bed and rest since he wasn't feeling well so he had been using the map to keep an eye on some of the Slytherins that didn't really trust, the ones that they assumed would be definitely Death Eaters, whether or not they were yet was a different story.

Most of them were hidden away in the Slytherin common room, but one was on his way out, quickly leaving and Sirius was curious as to where Evan Rosier was going.

It wasn't until Rosier came across Octavia that dread filled Sirius, he didn't trust the bastard near Octavia after what happened the previous Christmas.

Sirius pulled back the curtains around his bed and climbed out, ignoring the look Remus was giving him.

"Thought Snow put you on bed rest," Remus spoke, noticing as Sirius walked over to his trunk and pulled some clothes out.

"Yes well we have more pressing issues then whether or not Snow put me on bed rest, are you coming or what?" Sirius snapped as he headed for the door.

"What's going on?" Remus questioned as he made a grab for the map on Sirius' bed before following him out of the dorm.

"We're about to be one Death Eater short," Sirius spoke as the two of them left the Gryffindor common room and walked along the corridor.

"What did you see Padfoot?" Remus spoke as they walked along the corridor, handing the map over when Sirius held his hand out for it.

"Rosier touching what doesn't belong to him." Sirius snarled, Remus shook his head but followed along knowing he had to attempt to keep the other boy in line.

They had all seen just a glimmer of Sirius' possessive nature when it came to Octavia not long after they started dating and Tyler was flirting with her, there hadn't really been anyone that had attempted to come between them since then. It didn't matter if some of the students believed that Sirius should be with Marlene instead of Octavia, the ones who the couple considered friends knew that they were meant to be together.

Sirius pushed the door open causing it to slam against the wall and they both walked in, taking in the scene in front of them.

"And you thought you were going to kill him Padfoot," Remus mused while looking at where Octavia was standing there looking up at where Evan was pinned to the roof of the room.

Sirius walked over and wrapped his arms around Octavia, pressing his face into her hair. "You alright baby?" he questioned, not caring about present company since his worry over her was more of an issue.

"Just peachy, the bastard thought it would be alright to try and rape me," a growl came from Sirius but Octavia still didn't move her eyesight from the boy on the ceiling. "Might have a bit of an issue to worry about since my wand is on the floor snapped in half."

Remus' eyes went to the snapped wand on the floor, realising what was going on, she was protecting herself and in turn revealed the true nature of herself. "I'm just going to go and get a Professor," Remus spoke before he turned and left the room.

"He's being awfully quiet all things considered," Sirius spoke, looking up at Evan.

"Yes well I suspect he's already a Death Eater and in turn been told I'm off limits, but I suppose off limits just means I'm not to be killed doesn't it Evan?" Octavia questioned, looking up at him.

"I didn't believe it, just assumed you were disowned for being a blood traitor but yet here you are preforming wandless magic, looks like you were disowned because you're a disgusting half human breed." He spat at her.

They both heard the door open but no one moved, "Miss Carrow I do wish you would lower Mr Rosier." They heard McGonagall's voice and Octavia slowly lowered Evan to the ground, knowing if she dropped him and hurt him she would be in trouble regardless of what his plans for her were. "You are all going to follow me to Professor Dumbledore's office now," she ordered and they all nodded.

Octavia walked over and picked up the pieces that were her wand before walking over and stepping in close to Sirius.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and softly kissed her temple. "I'm so glad you're alright baby."

"We'll see what happens after Dumbledore speaks with us all," she spoke softly and the two of them left the room, following the others towards Dumbledore's office.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**


	66. A New Wand

Chapter 65: A New Wand

Octavia left Dumbledore's office with only a day's detention and a warning about not preforming anymore wandless magic around other students if she wished to keep her true nature a secret amongst the other students.

"The bastard better hope Dumbledore expels him otherwise he will have to deal with me," Sirius spoke as the two of them and Remus walked down the corridor.

"I believe you are overreacting Padfoot," Remus spoke but Sirius didn't respond, just wrapped his arms around Octavia.

"No, I believe him overreacting would be what would happen had Evan been successful." Octavia responded while sneaking a look at Remus.

"Rosier would be dead and Padfoot would be on a one way trip to Azkaban, I'm going to find the others before I have to begin rounds with Lily."

"When did she become Lily?" Octavia questioned and Remus rolled his eyes, "honestly, when did she become Lily?"

"Sometime last year, we have to spend a lot of time together because of rounds, you all need to learn to get along." Octavia scoffed and Remus shook his head before turning and leaving the two of them alone.

Sirius pulled away from Octavia and cupped her face, forcing her to look at her. "Are you sure you're alright?" He questioned and she nodded.

"He didn't touch me Pads, I'm perfectly fine and was able to defend myself."

Sirius frowned before softly running his thumb up and down her cheek, "only because you can perform wandless magic, what would have happened if you couldn't." He instantly knew it was the wrong thing to say as the tears built up in her eyes.

"Let's not think about that," she spoke coolly before pulling away and going to lean against the opposite wall while they waited for McGonagall.

Dumbledore had said that because it was still early on Sunday that they could go to Hogsmeade, supervised by McGonagall of course, so Octavia could get a new wand before classes tomorrow.

"You don't want me to think about the fact that my girlfriend was almost raped? That's all I can think about Snow, I had no idea what was going on when I saw the two of you together but I knew after last year it couldn't have been good but yet that wasn't what I was thinking." He walked over to her and placed his hands on the wall, either side of her and lowered his face towards hers.

"We shouldn't think about things like that," her voice broke and he took a deep breath before leaning down and resting his forehead against hers.

"I know baby, it's like your abuse all over again but this is worse, so much worse." Sirius spoke, his voice low as he wiped away the tears.

"You two ready to go?"

Sirius gave Octavia a small smile and ran his thumb along her cheek before pulling away and facing McGonagall.

"Of course Professor McGonagall," Octavia spoke as she laced her fingers with Sirius' and followed McGonagall down the corridor.

"I thought we would just go to Hogsmeade and get a wand from the wand maker there?" Sirius questioned when he realised they were heading towards McGonagall's office instead of the Entrance Hall.

"Professor Dumbledore thought that maybe it would be best if we went to Diagon Alley instead and get a wand from Ollivander." McGonagall explained and Sirius gave Octavia's hand a squeeze, remembering how the girl felt after the first trip.

"You're still escorting us?"

"Of course Mr Black, you don't think Professor Dumbledore would exactly allow you two to roam Diagon Alley by yourself would you?" McGonagall spoke and the two students couldn't help but laugh at how true that statement was.

"I will be waiting out here," McGonagall spoke as the three of them stood in front of Ollivanders.

Octavia nodded giving McGonagall a smile before she turned around and stepped into Ollivanders, pulling Sirius with her and taking a deep breath as the bell rang indicating their arrival.

Octavia had the creeps the first time she step foot in Ollivander's shop, she always thought unless she had children that she would never have to set foot in here again, she never thought that one day she would be replacing her own wand.

Sirius lifted their hands and softly brushed his lips against the back of her hand, giving her a reassuring smile when she looked at him.

"Ah, Miss Carrow, Mr Black." Ollivander spoke as he poked his head out from behind the stacks to greet his visitors. "I wasn't expecting you this soon Miss Carrow," he spoke as he stepped out from behind the stacks and Octavia was confused.

"You knew I was coming?" she questioned.

"Today? No, but at some stage in the future, yes."

"Why is that? Why would I return in the future, I understand everyone has the possibility of returning if they have children." Octavia spoke as she let go of Sirius' hand and stepped towards the counter.

"Again you misunderstand me Miss Carrow, when you first entered this shop when you were younger, not even eleven there was something about you that made me hand over the wand I did after so many failed attempts. I had no idea that that wand would pick you but once it did, I knew I would see you again at some stage for another wand." Ollivander spoke as he disappeared once more.

Octavia turned and looked back at Sirius, confused as to what the wand maker was on about. Why was he so sure she would need another wand?

"Aha, here it is." They heard Ollivander before he appeared once more and placed a book on the counter for Octavia and Sirius to read, pointing to the recommended passage.

 _A Dreamer's wand can be their biggest downfall if they don't have the right wand, when they are young any old wand that as two wood types and a Dragon Heartstring core will be the right fit for them but as they age and find their speciality they will need a replacement wand._

 _A true Dreamer cannot find the perfect wand for them when they are eleven, they always have to wait until they are older before they can have their perfect fit._

 _If you, the wand maker, ever come across a Dreamer, you must remember that another visit is in order when their magic peaks._

 _When that time comes, a customized wand is always in order._

"You knew? All along?" she questioned and he nodded before disappearing again.

Octavia turned and looked at Sirius, wondering if he had ever seen anything regarding her wand except for the fact that Dreamers always have a wand made from two types of wood, but he just shrugged, unsure.

"Come along then," they heard Ollivander's voice and shared a look before walking around the other side of the counter and down the aisle that they saw him disappear.

When they stepped out on the other side they were standing in the middle of a round room, most likely the same room where Ollivander makes the wands. There was so many different shelves at varying heights that were most likely containing the different types of components of the wands, being the wood type and the core.

"How does it work, making a customized wand?" Octavia questioned as she walked around taking in all the different components.

"Everyone is different, but I believe with you that if you are in tuned enough with your magic you will feel a pull towards the different components you see here. If you aren't in tune with your magic, don't stress, you can continue to use your old wand." Ollivander explained and Octavia started walking around the room, seeing if she could feel anything.

"That's why we're here, my original wand was snapped."

"So either way, you will be walking away from here with a new wand." Octavia nodded, holding her hand out over the benches as she walked around.

Sirius opened his eyes as he heard a huff of annoyance come from Octavia, he looked over at where she was standing. "What's wrong?"

"I can't feel anything, nothing," she spoke, trying to keep calm but he knew better, knew that she was scared of not being able to find the right components.

He stood up and walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "just take a deep breath and close your eyes." He stayed silent as she did as he requested, "you've always struggled when it comes to a new part of your magic and this is no different. Just keep your eyes closed and focus, find the part of you that is drawn to what is in the room, find that part of you that helps unlock what you need to do. Your magic hasn't failed you yet, don't let it now." Sirius spoke softly and she nodded before pulling away and taking a seat in the middle of room, keeping her eyes closed.

She was unsure as to how long she was sitting there on the floor, concentrating, seeing if she could feel a pull towards anything.

She felt one pull, but she knew that was Sirius who had taken a seat in front of her on the floor, she could smell him and knew that her heart was pulling towards him.

It wasn't until she felt a pull that was from deeper inside of her that she knew that was what she was looking for. She opened her eyes and could see Sirius looking at her with worry but she just smiled before standing up and walking over to the wood types.

It was when she was standing in front of the woods that she was confused, she turned and looked at Ollivander who was watching her with interest.

"Is it odd that I feel a pull to three types of wood?" she questioned and Ollivander's brow furrowed as he walked over.

"Just because no Dreamer on record has ever had three types of wood, doesn't mean it can't be possible. No one has ever had a Mermaid tail core for their wand but it doesn't mean it isn't possible, I myself have several wands in waiting with Mermaid tail cores."

"So because I feel a pull to three different woods, my wand will have three different types of wood?"

"If it's possible for them to be put together, which three woods Miss Carrow?"

Octavia looked at Ollivander, unsure as to what would happen if the woods couldn't be put together? Would she then have a number of wands or would she not be able to perform magic to the best of her ability, that aside, what will it mean for her magic if the three woods can be put together.

"Those three," she pointed them out and noticed the smile on Ollivander's face.

"Very interesting, a strange but also not unusual combination if the personality of said Dreamer matches. Very interesting combination of Dogwood, Redwood and Silver lime." Ollivander spoke before grabbing a piece of all three and moving over to the table in the corner of the room.

"Why is that interesting? I've never read up on Wandlore and unsure as to how that can play into my magic." Octavia questioned, noticing the grin on Sirius' face as he stood up and walked over to her.

"Dogwood huh?" he questioned but she just rolled her eyes before looking over at Ollivander.

"I only find it interesting because of the woods, let me explain them separately Miss Carrow. Dogwood wands are often seen to be quirky and mischievous and insist upon partners who can provide a scope of excitement and fun but are also able to perform outstanding spells under difficult conditions. Redwood wands are often paired with witches and wizards who possess the admirable ability to fall on their feet when faced with hardship, are able to make the right decision when faced tough choices and always see the light when faced with catastrophe. Silver lime, is not all that interesting as though most Dreamers do have Silver lime since they are usually paired with Seers, or on the rare occasion those who are incredibly skilled in Legilimency."

"Sounds about right," Sirius spoke softly before pressing his lips into her hair, she just turned her head and smiled at him.

"Will I still have a Dragon heartstring core or will it be something else?" She questioned, walking over to what she assumed to be the cores, wondering if she could find the right match within that.

A bell rang indicating another visitor in the shop and Ollivander looked at the couple, "that I believe is up to you. If you excuse me," Ollivander walked past them and back out to the main part of the shop as Octavia held her hands out and closed her eyes.

"How are you finding this?" Sirius questioned and Octavia snuck a look at him.

"It's strange, I never realised I can focus on my magic like this. It took a bit but once I found it, I can feel a pull."

A smirk appeared on Sirius' face as he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her flush against his body, "what else can you feel a pull towards." He teased, laughing as a blush crept up her face before pulling away.

"Mr Black I do believe we are here to help Miss Carrow find a replacement wand, not for you two to find fun in the whole thing." McGonagall spoke and Octavia let out a giggle before closing her eyes again. "Any luck Miss Carrow?"

Octavia didn't open her eyes, just continued to stand there with her palms up and focused on her magic, "Ollivander believes that I will be better suited to a customized wand, the hard part is finding the components."

Sirius noticing the look on her face frowned, "what's wrong?" he questioned and she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Why me?" she questioned and he shook his head before walking over and hugging her.

"What did you feel a pull towards?" Ollivander questioned as he walked over and stood beside the couple. She pointed them out and he nodded before grabbing them, "no need to feel uneasy about the two cores, it happens more often than not, especially if the core is Dragon Heartstring. Professor McGonagall herself as two different Dragon Heartstring cores in her own wand." Ollivander spoke as he walked towards the table and a sound came from McGonagall.

"What differenc would a twin core make compared to a single?" McGonagall questioned, now interested.

"Nothing of actual use, it's more some wands will have two strings when they have the Dragon Heartstring core. It may just make them more powerful, it's may be why you are so talented in Transfiguration Professor McGonagall. Normally there is no connection between the two dragons that are used, sometimes it's not two different dragons, sometimes it's the same dragon as it is with your wand Professor McGonagall." Ollivander explained and Octavia cheered up a bit.

"So me having two cores would be considered normal?" She questioned and Ollivander looked over at his shoulder at her before returning to the components of her wand.

"No, unfortunately you chose two different components from two different animals, one being a Greek Opaleye which is a type of Dragon and the other coming from a marine creature known as a Coral." Ollivander explained and Octavia frowned before leaning against Sirius. "We can expect tremendous things from you in the future Miss Carrow."

"Already knew you were brilliant," Sirius whispered in her ear but Octavia pulled away from him and glared at him.

"I will need some time to attempt to put all the components together Miss Carrow, I've never worked with a large number of components like this before." Ollivander spoke and Octavia nodded before storming out of the room and towards the entrance of the shop to leave and stand outside getting some fresh air.

"Snow, stop." Sirius called out before managing catch up to her and grab her arm to stop her from walking away. "Stop, please baby."

"Why me? Why does it have to be me? Why do I have to have the strange and potentially powerful wand? Word will get out about my wand and then everyone will think I will be the one to take down Voldemort." She struggled against his grip before breaking down in tears.

Sirius wrapped his arms around her and ran his fingers softly through her hair, "we don't know that, you're convinced that the Deathly Hallows are real, wouldn't the Elder wand be the one to take down Voldemort, wouldn't the owner of the Elder wand be the truly powerful one?"

"Mr Black is quite right Miss Carrow, despite the wand choosing the witch or wizard, the wand doesn't determine how powerful said witch or wizard will be." McGonagall spoke appearing beside them both and Octavia pulled away wiping away the tears.

"Can we take a visit to Gringotts while we are here? I may need more gold then what I have on me to pay for my new wand, I have a feeling it may cost a bit more than the average wand." Octavia questioned and McGonagall nodded and lead them both towards Gringotts.

Octavia looked at Sirius, before looking at the goblin standing in front of them. She hadn't been down to her fault since before she was disowned, neither had Sirius. Between the both of them, they had enough gold to pay for their school supplies.

"My parents haven't had access to my vault?" Octavia questioned and the goblin walked over and unlocked it with her key.

"They need your key to gain access," the goblin responded and Octavia climbed out of the cart and entered her vault.

Octavia entered her vault and instantly noticed something was amiss.

The last time she was in her vault it was just gold, now there was a box sitting in the corner. "How did this get in here?" she questioned, knowing the goblin would know it was directed at her.

"Your mother requested it was placed in your vault, as always with requests like these it was checked." The Goblin spoke and Octavia walked over and knelt in front of the box, pulling it open when she felt Sirius kneeling beside her.

"She's trying to fix things," she spoke softly and Sirius placed his hands on hers to stop and she looked up at him with sad eyes.

"Don't, we'll come back at Christmas and we can through it then. Remember we left for a reason." Octavia nodded and closed the box back up again and grabbed some gold before going and joining McGonagall back in the cart.

"I'm not a mother myself but sometimes all someone needs is the loss of someone before they realise how special that person was to begin with," McGonagall spoke as they climbed back into the cart.

No one said anything in response and they returned to the surface in silence.

The group re-entered Ollivander's and stood there waiting around after the bell signalled for him to appear.

It took a few minutes for Ollivander to reappear but when he did he had a wand in hand.

Octavia frowned, instantly noting it was hers and now instead of having two woods of similar colour, she had a wand that housed three different types of wood and it was obvious they weren't the same. The three types of wood were twisted around the length of the wand in a triple helix pattern.

Ollivander stood there and held out the box so Octavia could grab the wand but she didn't move, just continued to stare at the new wand.

It wasn't until Sirius nudged her forward that she finally grabbed it.

"Woah," she spoke and it seemed like a gust of wind came through the room only affecting her as her hair was blown around.

"I believe Miss Carrow now has the perfect wand for her." Ollivander spoke and they all look at Octavia, staring at her new wand.

oOo

James, Remus and Peter entered their dorm laughing at the looks on the Snape, Avery and McNair's faces when they thought they were being chased down the corridor by a ghost when in fact it was just James in the invisibility cloak.

Their laughter died down when they spotted Sirius and Octavia sitting on his bed but yet Octavia didn't look too happy, she was glaring at something.

Remus had filled the other two boys in what happened earlier this morning before the couple disappeared with their trip to acquire a new wand for Octavia.

"Padfoot, Snow." James greeted as he walked over and sat down on his bed, the other side to Sirius'.

Sirius didn't say anything just looked at Octavia who made a low growl in response before climbing off the bed and heading for the door.

"Snow," Sirius spoke, a warning edge to his voice and she turned around to face him. He picked up her wand and held it out for her.

"Don't want it," she snapped before leaving the dorm.

"What's going on Padfoot?" James question, catching sight of the wand that Sirius placed back on his bed. "That's not Snow's wand, I thought she was just getting Ollivander to recreate the one she had."

Sirius shook his head, "turns out that wasn't Snow's actual wand in theory. When Dreamers first get their wand at the age of eleven it doesn't matter what the wand is, as long as it has two types of wood and a Dragon Heartstring core, it will work for them. It's not until they are older and more in tune with their magic that they find their perfect match. This wand is Snow's perfect match and she's not happy about it."

"Because of the different colours, everyone will know she's different," Remus stated, realisation coming to James and Peter as well.

"But I thought the books stated that Dreamers have wands with two wood types, that wand has three different colours." Peter pointed out and Sirius nodded before picking the wand back up and placing it on his bedside table.

"No idea, Dumbledore already stated that he believes Snow may be more powerful because she's getting her seer ability earlier than others, maybe that's also why she's got three types of wood. Maybe it's because she has her seer ability that she has three types, maybe the other Dreamers who found their 'perfect' match weren't as in tuned to their magic as Snow is. Maybe if they go for another wand a few years after their second one, it will turn out they receive three wood types as well." Sirius threw out his theory, leaving out the two cores that Octavia had, knowing she didn't want them to know everything. Sirius objected that they were back to keeping secrets.

.oOo.

Octavia had spent the few hours tossing and turning in her bed, not able to get any sleep and it was beginning to frustrate her.

She was annoyed at herself for being different, for being powerful and having the wand she did.

And then she was annoyed at herself for storming away from Sirius like she did, for not taking her wand with her so she could check the time.

Giving up and wanting the warmth and calmness she only received when near Sirius, she climbed out of her bed and heading downstairs before heading back up the boys' staircase and enter the sixth year dorm.

Octavia crawled in beside Sirius in his bed, not even seeing the point in attempting to wake him up since for once she didn't have a nightmare or one of her dreams that could predict the future, no she just couldn't sleep and just wanted to be beside him.

"I love you Snow," Octavia's whole body froze and went cold at the sound of those three words.

Panic instantly filled her, she had no idea what to think at this bit of information, being told that Sirius loved her.

It didn't matter if he was asleep, he still said it and now she was panicking about how long it would take until he said those three words when he wasn't asleep.

Octavia laid there for a moment, watching him to see if he was really asleep but the turning of his head and body away from her made her believe he was truly asleep and she relaxed slightly.

But she didn't manage to get any sleep laying there next to Sirius because she was too busy focusing on the three words that he spoke of, panic filled her and she had no idea if she truly felt the same.

When Sirius woke up in the morning he was confused, he was well used to the lingering smell in his bed that belonged to Octavia, if it wasn't for his advanced sense of smell that he had from his dog form he probably wouldn't notice it as much as he did. But this morning when he woke up, the scent was strong, indicating that she was in his bed last night, although he didn't remember her joining him at any point.

Sirius looked over at Remus' bed and found him sitting up on it already awake, "did you happen to see Snow sneak out of here this morning?"

"No, why?"

"Did she use and throw you away again?" James teased but Sirius didn't say anything in response, just got up and headed for the bathroom hoping to get in a shower before classes, he just hoped he could find Octavia and find out why she snuck in and out of his bed.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you especially to Raven that flies at night for your review.**


	67. Pranks Gone Wrong

Chapter 66: Pranks Gone Wrong

Quidditch practise was finished for the day and Octavia had a rather sore side due to not being able to dodge one of the Bludgers.

James had a brilliant idea of having both Sirius and Walter aim the two Bludgers at her to improve her dodging techniques, Sirius was hesitant as first afraid of hurting his girlfriend but eventually gave in remembering that she was still acting weird towards him.

Octavia was standing there with her forehead pressed against the cool tiles of the wall while the hot water was hitting her back.

"What the bloody hell happened to your back!" Marlene yelled startling the other girl. "I swear if Sirius did that I will kill him."

Octavia turned around and faced the older girl, "what's wrong with my back? I know I took a couple of hits from a Bludger but I don't bruise that easily."

"No the scars you moron," Marlene pointed out and Octavia's mouth made an o shape before she reached over and grabbed the towel.

"They're old Mar, like before third year old. I just forgot to put the glamour charm back on after it faded."

"Why have you been hiding them? Why not hide all of them if that's what your aim is?" Marlene questioned and Octavia shrugged.

"To begin with, I was just hiding the bad ones so you or Isabella wouldn't question them but yet you still put the pieces together and then in the end I hated seeing them myself so I always glamoured them."

"Why are they so bad?" Marlene questioned softly while she walked around and took a better look at Octavia's back.

"It was the spell my father used, they were incredibly deep and it was only quick work on Alecto's part that I didn't bleed out on the floor."

"O…" Marlene started but Octavia shook her head before pulling away and heading for the door. "What's going on with you and Sirius?"

"Don't know what you're on about," Octavia responded, refusing to turn around.

"Really? So why was Sirius aiming his Bludgers towards you pretty hard with hopes of pissing you off?"

Octavia's shoulder dropped in defeat but she didn't turn around, just pushed the door opened and walking in the girls' change room to get dressed before going in search of Lilith, needing her best friend more than anything right now.

When Octavia made it to the Gryffindor common room she couldn't see Lilith insight and when she went up to the dorm she only found Evans sitting in there.

Evans looked up, startled at the sight of Octavia on the verge of tears. "Are you alright?"

"Fine, have you seen Lilith?"

"Been up here all afternoon since classes let out and she hasn't returned since you two left."

Octavia nodded at Evans and her gaze fell on the empty bed that belongs to Blake, taking in what Remus said the other week and took a deep breath, "where is Blake, why didn't she return?"

"Her parents are afraid of what is happening outside these walls."

"And yours?" Octavia questioned, looking back at Evans.

"Don't know," Evans responded, the conversation dying between the two girls before Octavia turned and left the dorm, heading for the boys' grateful that both Remus and Peter sitting there on their beds.

"Where's the map?" Octavia questioned and they both looked up at her, taking in her presence and instantly noticing that something was wrong.

"What's wrong Snow?" Peter questioned.

Octavia placed a hand on her hip while holding the other one out, "where is the bloody map?" she snapped and Peter scurried off his bed and grabbed the map before handing it to her.

Octavia quickly revealed the map and searched for Lilith's name, finding her to be in their secluded room before throwing it back towards Peter and leaving the dorm.

She entered the secluded room and found Lilith sitting on the floor resting against the couch with her books spread in front of her for Ancient Runes.

"Lilith," Octavia spoke, her voice breaking and the other girl instantly snapped her gaze up and looked at her best friend.

"Come on," Lilith patted the spot next to her on the ground and Octavia walked over and sat down beside her, instantly leaning into her. "What's wrong?"

Octavia didn't respond, just continued to lean against Lilith and it wasn't until Lilith pulled away slightly and looked at the other girl she realised that she was silently crying.

"I can't help if you don't tell me what's going on, do I have to get Padfoot?" Lilith questioned and Octavia shook her head, causing Lilith to raise an eyebrow.

"Don't get Padfoot, I just," Octavia started but stopped and made a sound of annoyance before leaning forward and resting her chin on her knees. "He said he loved me and-" Octavia was cut off by Lilith squealing.

"Why are you crying, this is a good thing." Lilith questioned, when she realised this was what was going on with her best friend.

"Because I'm terrified of the moment he says it first."

Lilith turned and looked at Octavia, completely confused. "But you just said?"

"I know, I know what I just said, he said it in his sleep the other night and I'm terrified of when he's actually going to say it."

"But why are you so concerned of when he's going to say it? This is you and Padfoot we are talking about, you make everyone sick with how in love you are with each other. We've all made jokes about you two being made for each other." Lilith joked but Octavia didn't appreciate the joke, just glared at the other girl.

"Padfoot and I never once spoke about what would happen if we broke up, what would happen with our friends, with each other."

"But you two aren't breaking up, honestly what is going on Snow?"

Octavia stayed silent as she wiped away her tears before resting her head on her knees again and tilted to the side to look at Lilith. "What if he says it and I can't say it back, what if I don't love Padfoot like he loves me, what if everything is ruined?"

Lilith scooted over on the floor and wrapped an arm around the other girl, "you can't look at it like that, you need to look at it as if you and Padfoot are worth it all, worth all the risks that come from your relationship and I believe you two did that that first morning when he kissed you in the Great Hall. The real issue is you don't know how you feel about Padfoot and I can't tell you that, you need to work it out on your own, you need to work out if you love him. How did it make you feel when you heard him say it in your sleep, apart from terrified?" Lilith questioned and Octavia fell silent once more.

Octavia took a deep before opening her mouth to speak, talking with Lilith about how she felt about everything.

.oOo.

"Snow please stop," Sirius called out as he followed Octavia down the corridor on the seventh floor, still unsure as to why his girlfriend was acting strangely.

"Godric Padfoot, why can't I have a moment of peace in this place?" Octavia snapped, turning around and facing him.

"Because the last time you tried to have a moment of peace, Rosier attempted to rape you."

"Fuck you're annoying, why the hell can't you go and bother Prongs." Octavia yelled, wishing more than anything she had somewhere to go where she can be alone.

"What's wrong?" Sirius questioned as he stepped forward, careful not to touch her in case it just made things worse.

"I just want a moment of peace but it's not possible in this stupid castle when we created that bloody map." She explained but instantly noticed that Sirius was distracted by something.

She turned around and came face to face with a door, that wasn't there previously.

"Where did that come from?" Sirius questioned, making a grab for Octavia as she stepped towards the doors. "What do you think you are doing baby?"

"Checking out the door, what does it look like?" she rolled her eyes, pulling on Sirius' hand knowing he wouldn't let her go in there alone.

Sirius pulled back on Octavia's arm and spun her around, pulling her into his chest and he tightly wrapped his arms around her waist.

"A door appears out of nowhere and you want to go check it out?" Sirius spoke and she slowly nodded with a massive grin on her face.

"Where's your bravery Padfoot?" she challenged, a smug look appearing on her face when he glared at her.

"Can I safely admit that my bravery goes out the door when it comes to you?" he questioned and she shook her head before leaning up and softly kissing him.

"You become an idiot when it comes to me, you willingly said you were going to kill Evan for what he attempted to do."

"Still might," he responded harshly and she shook her head.

"Come on, let's check it out. What is the worst that could happen in Hogwarts?"

"Well let's see, you've almost been raped and Regulus deemed it fit to slap you." Sirius counted off and Octavia looked at him over her shoulder.

"He apologised for that," she responded before walking over to the door and pushing it open.

"Snow," he called out after her before following into the room.

"Oof!" Sirius spoke as he walked into the back of Octavia, not being able to see her.

"Where are the bloody lights?" Octavia grumbled and all of a sudden lights appeared in the room, allowing them to look around. "Thanks Pads," she smiled at him but he shook her head.

"Wasn't me," he responded and they shared a look.

"Don't think it was the room do you?" Octavia questioned, laughing at the look that appeared on Sirius' face.

"One way to find out," he spoke as he stepped closer to her but she continued taking a step back from him until her legs hit something and she fell backwards.

Sirius grinned at her before laying down beside her, "isn't this also that same spot on the map where the gaping hole is?" he questioned.

"Maybe, I think so." She looked around and noticed what she was laying on. "You asked for a freaking bed!"

Sirius grinned at her before climbing on top of her and pressing his lips against her neck.

Octavia pushed against him, "bugger off Pads, we've got to tell the others." She slid off the bed and headed for the door leaving Sirius sitting on the bed watching her leave, his heart breaking a little at her brushing him off like that.

Octavia stood there and scratched her head, she turned around and looked at her friends. "I swear there was a door here and a room, I was in there with Padfoot."

"Where is Padfoot?" Remus questioned and Octavia shrugged, turning back to the blank wall wondering where the hell the door went.

"Come on Worms, I'm pretty sure Snow has lost it." James spoke as he pulled Peter down the corridor.

"I can hear you!" She yelled out after them before she turned to look at Remus, who was looking at her curiously. "What?" she questioned.

"What's going on with you and Padfoot?" he questioned and she shook her head.

"Nothing, we're perfectly fine, why?"

"You two have just been odd is all, it was around the same time he woke up convinced you were in his bed the night before and seemed to have snuck out."

"Don't know what you are on about Moony, I think the moon is finally getting to you." She teased with a small smile before turning on her heel and walking down the corridor.

Remus stood there and watched her retreating form, instantly knowing something was going on because her smile didn't reach her eyes like it didn't normally did. Her face might have shown happiness but not her eyes, her eyes held fear and worry.

.oOo.

Octavia was sitting there with her eyes closed focusing on her magic, she was attempting to create balls of light but she couldn't quite seem to manage it.

She felt the familiar pull of her heart and when she opened her eyes she found Sirius watching her with a fond smile, she returned it before closing her eyes and once again feeling the same pull.

She let out a huff off annoyance before leaning back on the couch and crossing her arms over her chest.

She really cared about Sirius but was afraid that everything was going to change, she was afraid that what she heard him say in his sleep was a misunderstanding and if he didn't love her and she realised that she did, that would hurt too much and then there was the whole situation the other way round and she couldn't bear the thought of putting him through that.

Was that enough for her to realise that she was in fact in love with Sirius? That maybe she had been all along?

.oOo.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned softly, hoping to gather her attention.

The two of them were currently sitting in their hidden room, away from the rest of their friends stating that they needed some time alone.

"Yes Pads?" Octavia responded but hadn't looked up at him, so she had missed the look that crossed his face for a couple of seconds.

"Can you please leave your homework alone for one minute and look at me?"

Octavia looked up at him but he smiled, not saying anything in response. "What is it Padfoot?" Octavia questioned, getting slightly annoyed with him.

"I love you." Sirius stated calmly, but inside he was fretting over her response.

"That's nice," she responded and looked back down at her book to continue working on her Charms homework.

Sirius stood up and walked over to kneel in front of her, it was now at the point with the two of them that Sirius towered over Octavia. It was something she loved and hated at the same time.

"Snow…"

"Yes I heard you Sirius, you said you loved me and I said that's nice." She responded but still refused to look at him, she continued to look at her book.

Sirius tilted his head to the side and carefully watched her, he knew her, they had been best friends their whole lives. He expected her to run for the hills once he spoke those three small words that had so much meaning.

He narrowed his eyes before placing his fingers under her chin and forcing her to look at him and it was then he noticed it, the look in her eyes.

"I love you."

"That's nice," she stated again.

It was then, with her looking at him, he noticed the glint again and in full. It was the same glint in her eyes that was present whenever she was having fun, it was now perfectly clear that she was messing with him.

"Well then, if you're like that. I will just leave, it's painfully obvious that you don't feel the same." Sirius pulled away from her and heading for the exit.

"Stay…" Octavia spoke softly, now realising that her joke had hurt him. "Please stay with me."

Sirius stopped just before he rounded the corner, he hadn't turned around but the sound of her voice was enough to stop him. Octavia would always be his weak spot and he knew it, he knew there was no way he could walk away when she sounded like this, even if he was angry.

"I love you too," Octavia finally responded.

Sirius' heart skipped a beat and a massive smiled appeared on his face when she said this but he still refused to turn around, if she could mess with him, he could mess with her.

"You're my best friend, you've been my best friend for as long as I can remember. I never expected to fall for my best friend but it's what makes us perfect for each other. I don't even remember falling in love with you. I just remember holding your hand and realising how much it would hurt when I would have to eventually let go, I love you Padfoot." Octavia spoke and Sirius still hadn't said anything or moved.

She was worried her messing with him had ruined what they had, she just wanted him to turn around.

Octavia was stunned when Sirius swiftly spun around and faced her with a smile on his face.

"You're lucky I love you," he spoke with a smirk on his face before he kissed her.

"You're lucky you're so pretty to look at," she teased when she pulled away and he grinned at her.

"Of course baby, but not everyone can be as perfect as me." He spoke proudly while puffing his chest out and Octavia laughed. "I'm glad to see you truly happy again," he cupped her face and softly kissed her forehead.

"I've been fi-" Sirius cut her off with a kiss which only angered her.

"Don't you dare say fine, you've been pretending to be happy for weeks. What's going through your head baby?" he questioned and she sighed.

"You said you loved me in your sleep and I panicked."

"Ah, that would explain why you didn't panic just then. Come on," Sirius linked his fingers through hers and pulled her from the room.

"Where are we going?" she questioned, dragging her heels to attempt to slow him down since he was so much stronger than her but she was tempted to see how long this would last until he got annoyed and threw her over his shoulder.

"We're going to find Prongs and Wormtail and then we're going to prank some Slytherins."

It didn't take the couple long until they found James and Peter in the kitchens grabbing some food and all they needed to hear was the word prank and they were in.

The four of them sat around one of the tables in the kitchens looking for the Slytherin's they were after while also trying to figure out what prank they were going to pull.

"Doesn't Snow have that goo stuff still in her trunk?" Peter questioned.

"You mean the slime?" she responded and he nodded.

The slime Octavia had hiding in her trunk was something they had come across in one of the many muggle shops that they had visited with Remus during the summer, she had no idea what it could potentially be used for but knew it could be used for something.

"Yes the slime!" James exclaimed and Octavia shook her head.

"What would we even do with the thing?" She questioned while looking at the boys and they all went silent for a moment, all trying to think what they could do with the slime.

"Couldn't we enlarge it, heat it up so it's stickier and slimier and have it hovering above them as we lead them to the right position." Sirius suggested.

"What good would that do?"

"Nothing, it'll just be hilarious seeing them get slime all over them, maybe for once Snivellus may actually have a shower and wash his hair." Sirius pointed out and Octavia laughed before leaning against him.

"Fine, I will get the slime out of my trunk." She smiled at Sirius before softly kissing his cheek.

"Where are you going?" he questioned and she shook her head.

"To get the bloody slime that you all want," she responded before leaving the kitchen.

"Wait is she serious?" James questioned.

"No, I'm Sirius." Sirius responded but James just shook his head before standing up.

"Six years, one would think after six years you would stop with those lame jokes." James spoke while he headed for the door and Sirius looked plain hurt at James' comment but brushed it off before standing up and running over to put the other boy in a head lock.

Octavia was standing in the middle of the corridor keeping the slime floating in the middle of the air as she was waiting for James and Sirius to come running down the corridor with Snape, Avery and McNair behind them while Peter was standing behind her as back up.

She heard the stamping of feet and got ready for the two boys to come around the corner, knowing that the others wouldn't be that far behind them.

Octavia stood there and waited until James and Sirius were out of the way, out of harm's way and then dropped the slime, becoming shocked when she was pushed from the back and ended up in harm's way.

A scream came from her as she realised that the slime was in her hair and she looked over to find Peter sitting on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I slipped." Peter apologised.

Octavia looked at the boys before standing up and heading for the bathroom, hoping more than anything that the slime will wash out.

She stood there in front of the mirror in the girls' bathroom attempting to wash the slime out when she heard the door open, she turned around and found Sirius standing there.

"Oh baby, it's not so bad." Sirius spoke and Octavia glared at him before turning around and facing the mirror again.

"Not so bad, how would you feel if this was in your hair?" she snapped and Sirius walked up and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"If it was in my hair I would hope that my loving girlfriend would help me wash it out, let me help baby."

"How can you help Pads? If Wormtail wasn't so clumsy I wouldn't have ended up with this in my hair."

Sirius took the paper towel from her hands and placed it in the sink, "cold water won't help, come have a shower with me and we can wash it out with soap and hot water."

Octavia nodded before groaning at sight of her hair before turning and following Sirius up to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Come on, take your robes off and get in the shower." Sirius ordered and Octavia tilted her head at him.

"Why are you being so nice?" she blurted her question out and clapped a hand over her mouth realising how that sounded.

Sirius laughed softly before stepping forward and grabbing a hold of her wrist, "because the look on your face when you realised the slime was in your hair broke my heart, when I found you in the bathroom on the verge of tears because it was in your hair still broke my heart. I love you and I want to do something nice for you like this." he softly kissed her forehead.

"But we don't do nice things like this," she responded.

"What you mean nice things like spend the day at a muggle zoo with you or plan a surprise party, you charming my bike to fly despite the fact that you hate it or the watch you got me? We might rarely go on dates or do other normal couple things like actually spend time alone together anymore then what we used to but why would we want to be a normal couple? I know I don't have to spend numerous hours getting to know you because I already know you, I also don't have to pretend being nice all hours of the day because you love me for who I am and that includes the prat that picks you on when I feel like it." He grinned at her and she laughed.

"You just want to see me naked," she suggested and he quickly nodded.

"Very much baby, I would very much like to see you naked again." Sirius gripped her waist and pulled her close to him.

"You are such a perve," she hit him over the chest before pulling away and pulling her robes off before climbing in the shower under the hot water that Sirius had turned on.

Sirius climbed in behind Octavia and instantly go to work at scrubbing at her hair under the hot water, attempting to get out as much of the slime before adding the shampoo.

"Is it coming out?" she questioned, worry lacing her voice, it increasing the longer Sirius stayed silent.

"Slowly baby, more so in the roots and not your length." Sirius finally responded and a whimper came from Octavia at the thought of having to cut her hair. "It'll be alright baby, I'm trying as best as I can."

"I don't want to cut off my hair Pads."

"I know baby and I'm trying the best I can, but you have to understand that you may have to cut some of your hair off."

Octavia spun around as carefully as she could in the shower and looked at him with pleading eyes, "please Padfoot."

Sirius cupped her face, "I know baby, turn back around and let me continue doing what I was doing."

Octavia frowned at him but he just kissed her forehead and she reluctantly turned around and allowed him to continue scrubbing her hair.

"Mhmm, this feels really good." Octavia spoke, leaning her head backwards and Sirius couldn't help but laugh at seeing her look so relaxed despite the situation she was in.

"I'm glad baby," Sirius spoke with a smirk.

"You're making fun of me and I don't even care right now, that's how relaxed I feel."

Sirius didn't respond, just made a reach for the shampoo that was sitting there and began lathering her hair up, hoping that it would remove the last of the slime.

"Hey Padfoot," Remus called out and Octavia snapped her eyes opened, turning around and looking at Sirius and he could see the fear in them.

"Not now Moony."

"But Prongs and Wormtail were just telling me what happened with Snow, I just wanted to make sure she was alright." Remus responded and Octavia smiled.

"She's fine mate, just trying to get the slime out of her hair." Sirius responded.

"You sure?" Octavia shook her head as Sirius smirked.

Octavia stuck her head out of the shower and smiled at Remus, shocking him. "I'm fine Moony, Padfoot says it's slowly coming out."

Remus nodded before turning and leaving the bathroom and Octavia stood up and face Sirius, "it is right?" she questioned once again and he took a deep breath.

"I said I'm trying baby, now be quiet and let me work." Sirius responded and placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to turn around.

Sirius and Octavia finally left the shower and Octavia was standing there with a towel wrapped around her body, frowning into the mirror.

"I tried baby, I really did but whatever heating charm you used did to the slime just made it worse and harder to get out." Sirius spoke as he walked over and softly kissed her temple.

"Brightside is Snivellus won't be able to get it out either, I just can't believe I have to cut my hair." She complained and he laughed.

"That will be a marvellous sight, do you want me to cut it for you?"

Octavia spun around and stared at him like he offended her, "you're kidding right! You honestly think I will let you anywhere near my hair with a pair of scissors or a severing charm?"

"Like you can cut your own hair Snow."

"That's what girl friends are for," she smiled at Sirius before walking over and grabbing her clothes to get dressed.

"Thank you for trying though Padfoot," Octavia spoke softly before kissing him and leaving the bathroom.

Octavia walked up the girls' staircase and knocked on the seventh year dorm, frowning when Marlene opened the door.

"What did the prat do?" Marlene questioned and Octavia laughed.

"Nothing really, something just backfired and I ended up with slime in my hair and Sirius couldn't wash it all out." Octavia explained and Marlene nodded, pushing the door opened further.

"So now you need someone to cut your hair?" Octavia nodded and Marlene let out a sigh, "come on, let's see what we can do with it."

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you especially to Raven that flies at night and Lilian123 for your reviews, they mean a lot to me.**

 **We are nearing the half way mark of their sixth year at Hogwarts, so not long until they are out in the real world dealing with the war and Voldemort and his Death Eaters wreaking havoc, but before that happens is there anything in particular that anyone wishes to read about before the Marauders and extra graduate from Hogwarts? If there is anything you wish to read, leave a review and I will try my best to incorporate it in with what I have planned.**


	68. Whomping Willow

Chapter 67: Whomping Willow

Octavia was sitting there at the Gryffindor table running her fingers through her much shorter hair, she liked what Marlene did and was grateful that Marlene knew how to cut hair properly but she had always loved having such long hair and now it was gone.

Sirius noticing the actions of his girlfriend, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close only causing her to shove him off and send him a dirty look.

"You still mad at me?" he question but she ignored him before getting up and moving down the table to where Marlene and the rest of the seventh years were sitting.

"Why is she mad at you?" James questioned as they all looked down the table.

"I'm unsure as to if it's because it was my idea to do what we did to the slime that made it so hard to wash out in the first place or it's because I couldn't wash it out." Sirius responded and Lilith patted his arm.

"She'll come around, she's just shocked that Marlene had to cut so much of her hair off." Lilith explained giving Sirius a sympathetic look.

"But I'm not the one to blame," Sirius spoke, frowning when Marlene glared at him. "She's going to cut my balls off." Sirius shook his head and the others laughed.

"At least it was worth it to see Snivellus like that," James responded and Sirius finally laughed, looking over at where Snape was sitting at the Slytherin table, also with shorter hair that barely hid his face anymore.

Sirius looked back down at where the seventh years were sitting before standing up and walking down there.

"Black," Marlene spoke, her voice harsh and Sirius wasn't entirely surprised, he assumed Octavia had filled her in as to why she was annoyed with him.

"I'll deal with you later," he looked over at Octavia and she looked up at him and he hated what he saw in her eyes. "Can we please go somewhere and talk?" he questioned and she nodded.

Octavia stood up and walked down the length of the table, knowing Sirius was following her. She walked towards the door that led outside and pushed them opened, walking outside.

She turned around and found Sirius standing on the steps with his arms wrapped around his chest, feeling the cold. She held her hand out for him, "come on."

Sirius gave her a smile before walking over and taking her hand, instantly grateful for the warmth that came from her. "Are you really that mad at me baby?" he questioned and a sigh came from her.

"I'm mad at everyone, myself for having that stupid slime, you for suggesting to heat it up and making it stickier and not being able to wash it all out, I'm mad at Marlene for being the one to cut my and I'm mad at Wormtail for being so damn clumsy. It's just easier with you, I've always been able to take everything out on you and not worry about it." Octavia looked up at him and noticed the frown. "I know it's a stupid excuse because we're dating now and it's meant to be different but as always it's been you and me against the world."

"I know baby and it will always be you and me against the world but I did nothing wrong, I tried so hard to wash the slime out of your hair and I did the best I could, you still have some length to your hair, it's not as short as Snivellus'."

"I'm sorry Pads."

Sirius turned the two of them so he was able to face her properly and wrapped his arms around her, resting them on her shoulders and his fingers went to her hair. "I know baby but you have to realise that this will be better, you were beginning to complain about it being too long away, it taking forever to wash and dry, even brush."

Octavia looked up at him frowned, hating that he was right. "I hate that you're right, why do you always have to right?"

Sirius laughed, "because I'm just perfect." He teased and she narrowed her eyes at him before pulling away.

"If you're so perfect, keep yourself warm." She called over her shoulder before heading towards the Forbidden Forest.

She didn't get far before she was tackled to the ground, earning a wet tongue to the exposed skin on the back of her neck and a squeal came from her before she herself transformed into her wolf form, knocking Sirius off her and the two of them headed into the forest together.

The two of them didn't spend long in the forest since they had Quidditch Practise to tend to and when they walked back into the Gryffindor common room Octavia instantly walked over and curled up in the empty arm chair in front of the fire.

A laugh caused Octavia's head to snap up and looked beside her, how she missed Lilith sitting there working on homework was beyond her.

"You wouldn't be so tired if you and Padfoot didn't take off this morning during breakfast," Lilith responded.

Octavia waved her hand and closed her eyes, "we were having fun, thought you would want that instead of me ignoring him."

"True, true, all good between you two now?" Lilith questioned and Octavia nodded.

"What do you think Evans would say if she caught me taking a nap in the dorm before tonight?" Octavia was talking about the coming Full Moon for that night and knew Lilith would understand straight away from the look on her face.

It was for these nights that she was glad that she had for the previous years spent the night in the boys' dorm, regardless of her current relationship with Sirius, because Evans had long ago stopped asking questioned about the disappearance, just shook her head in disapproval the following morning.

"I'm pretty sure the boys are currently doing that, I got a nod of a greeting before Prongs and Padfoot went up to their dorm." Lilith spoke and Octavia nodded once more before heading upstairs and climbing into Sirius' bed.

oOo

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Sirius kept muttering over and over as he and James ran through what they could of the Forbidden Forest without getting hurt.

Octavia had been injured once again the previous night, despite her bigger structure than the others she wasn't as strong and was easily thrown around and she was thrown into a tree once again. Letting the boys take off to keep the werewolf busy while she laid then in pain.

The boys were currently looking for her but were unable to locate her and get her healed.

"I swear we left Snow here," James spoke and Sirius looked over at him, worry coming through on his face.

"We can't leave her out here injured, what if one of the other animals get her?"

"She's a wolf Padfoot, the other animals won't her." James reassured his best mate.

"But she's hurt Prongs."

"I know and we'll find her and we will heal her."

"Wait, Hagrid."

"What about him mate?"

"Doesn't he tend to the animals in the forest?"

"Yeah…" James spoke, looking at Sirius with a raised eyebrow but it took him a couple of moments before he realised. "We snuck past Hagrid to get back into the forest, Hagrid's already been in here. What if he came across Snow?"

"Exactly," Sirius spoke before he took off in a run for Hagrid's hut.

"Hagrid!" they both called as they banged on the front door of Hagrid's hut, instantly hearing the growling on the other side and it caused them to share a look.

"Hang on, hang on." Hagrid called from the other side before the door opened, eyes going wide at seeing the two of them so early in the morning. "Potter, Black what can I do for you two so early in the morning."

The two boys shared a look before Sirius spoke up, "you didn't happen to venture into the Forbidden Forest and come across a snow white wolf you've never seen in there before?"

"Aye, you don't mean this wolf?" Hagrid questioned, pulling the door open more allowing the boys to spot Octavia laying on the makeshift bed in the corner. "Why are you so curious about this wolf?"

James reached around and scratched the back of his neck, sneaking a look at Sirius, both unsure about how to proceed.

"Ah Hagrid there you are," Dumbledore spoke from behind the two young boys and they turned around to come face to face with their Headmaster, both now worried as to what is going to happen. "Why don't you pick up the wolf and carry her up to the Hospital Wing so Poppy can have a look at her."

"But sir, she's an animal, what would Poppy know?" Hagrid responded, turning around to pick up the wolf, missing the amused look that Dumbledore sent the two boys.

"Not to worry, I'm sure pretty sure that Poppy will know how to heal this particular wolf. Come along now," Dumbledore spoke, turning around himself and heading towards the Castle.

Hagrid walked past James and Sirius carrying Octavia in her wolf form and Sirius' heart broke at the sound of the wolf whimpering as they passed.

"Come on mate," James spoke, tilting his head to get Sirius to start walking.

"We're in big trouble mate," Sirius responded, shoving his hands in his pockets while they both trailed behind Hagrid and Dumbledore.

"Unless they already know, Snow isn't going to throw us under the bus." Sirius nodded in response to James as he looked over to where Hagrid was carrying Octavia.

"We don't even know how bad her injuries are."

"Stop stressing so much mate," James patted him on the shoulder and the two of them continued towards the Hospital Wing.

Hagrid walked in and placed the wolf down on one of the beds while James and Sirius took a seat on one opposite the wolf while sneaking a look towards the back of the room where they knew Remus was resting.

"That would be all Hagrid, thank you." Dumbledore dismissed the groundskeeper and he left, not without giving a second the two boys a second look, unsure as to what was going on.

"Albus what seems to be going on and why is there a wolf on one of my beds?" Pomfrey spoke as she left her office, clearly not happy at the sight of the wolf on one of the beds.

Dumbledore didn't respond but looked at where James and Sirius were fidgeting on the bed. "I always knew the moment Miss Carrow began researching Dreamers that she would one day become an Animagus and showing how protective and loyal she is over her friends I believe she accomplished the transformation much earlier in order to help Mr Lupin."

"Regardless of that being Miss Carrow or not Albus, I still cannot heal animals. She needs to be human before I can do anything if she is whimpering due to pain and not fear." Pomfrey explained and Albus nodded.

"Mr Black why don't you come over here and see if you can work out from Miss Carrow as to what is injured before we force her back."

Sirius stood up and walked over before he leant in close, softly petting her head, softly kissing her as well. "I'm so sorry if this hurts," Sirius whispered before he removed his hand and stood up straight.

He placed his hands on her and slowly ran his hands over the wolf's body, earning a growl when his hands were placed on her hips and he instantly withdrew them.

"There you go, it's her hip. Are you going to make me force her back as well?" Sirius snapped earning nudge from the wolf's head but he didn't care, he hated causing her pain like this and it's bad enough she would have to be forced back, causing her more pain.

"I understand you hate causing her pain but it was a necessary evil, we can force her back into her human form and as soon as that is done Poppy is able to heal her instead of having her be in more pain. As an animal she has a higher pain tolerance but there is something odd about the angle of her leg that I believe as soon as she transforms back, she will pass out due to the pain." Dumbledore explained and Sirius looked at Octavia placing his hand on her head.

"Very well," Sirius turned his head while pulling out his wand and pointing it at Octavia. "I'm so sorry," he apologised before speaking the spell to turn her back into her human form.

Sirius' heart broke as a scream came from her but it only last a second before she did indeed pass out like Dumbledore suggested may happen, he brushed the hair out of her face before taking a step back and letting Pomfrey work.

"You and I both know she won't be mad at you for causing her pain."

"No, she'll just still be mad at me for her hair," Sirius grumbled and James laughed.

"Poor dear, no wonder she was in so much pain, a real wolf would have attacked Hagrid for picking her up. A shattered pelvis and femur, a dislocated hip, if only we knew what happened." Pomfrey spoke as she ran her healing spells, sneaking a look at the two boys and they shrugged.

They knew the truth but they couldn't admit it, with fear of the trouble they would be in as well.

"I threw her into one of the walls in the Shrieking Shack," Remus' voice came and they all looked up to see him standing there holding the shades to the side. "It must have gotten worse as she attempted to leave, maybe the Whomping Willow got her as well." He suggested. "Is she alright?"

"She will be fine Mr Lupin, you should get back in your bed and rest." Pomfrey ordered but Remus didn't budge, just continued to stand where he was.

"Inform me when she wakes up Poppy, I would like to speak with her." Dumbledore spoke before he turned and left the Hospital Wing.

James stood up and walked over to where Remus was standing, putting an arm around his back and forced him back to the bed while Sirius went and sat in the armchair by Octavia's bed, grabbing her hand and softly kissing the back of it.

It took several hours but Octavia finally woke, feeling incredibly stiff in her leg but grateful that the pain was gone. She looked around and noticing Sirius sitting in the chair beside her bed sound asleep, she waved her hand sending a gust of wind at him and he slowly woke up.

"Hi baby, how you feeling?" he spoke as he leaned over to kiss her forehead.

"Better, how much trouble are we in?"

"That's good, really good baby. I have no idea, Dumbledore just wanted to be informed when you were awake. Prongs and I believe that maybe he has no idea about the rest of us, he said he had a feeling you would one day accomplish it but wished you hadn't done it this soon."

"Had to for Moony," she spoke and then she looked around realising Remus would be in here somewhere.

"Pomfrey released him, but sent everyone back to the common room, apparently she hasn't forgotten what happened two weeks ago when Prongs was in here with his Quidditch injury."

"You didn't have to hit him so hard with the Bludger."

"Yes well the prat wouldn't let us go inside, so I sent him inside." Sirius grinned at her and she shook her head.

"Ah Miss Carrow glad to see you are awake, I will inform Dumbledore since he would like to speak with you." Pomfrey spoke as she entered the room and saw Octavia sitting up in her bed.

"It'll be alright baby," Sirius spoke, noticing the worry in his girlfriend's eyes.

"Miss Carrow it is wonderful to see you awake, how are you feeling?" Dumbledore spoke as he entered the Hospital Wing.

"Much better, I can't believe my leg was that badly hurt," Sirius had filled her in on the extent of her injuries while they were waiting for Dumbledore.

"Yes however did you manage to get out of the Shrieking Shack with your leg that damaged?" Dumbledore questioned and Octavia was confused, why didn't she question as to what their reason was?

"I think the Whomping Willow did more damage than Remus did," Octavia responded, hoping that was the right thing.

"Very well, now there is the issue of you being an unregistered Animagus but for now while you are still at Hogwarts we will just add it to the rest of your secrets that we have to worry about come your graduation."

"Understood Professor, am I still allowed to spend the Full Moons with Remus?"

Dumbledore looked at Octavia before looking at Sirius, "you aren't worried about getting injured again?"

"The wolf was angry for whatever reason last night and took it out on me, normally he isn't that bad." Octavia explained, it was true though and it still bothered her as to why.

"Very well, I can't exactly prevent you from doing it since you have been going behind our backs and putting yourself in danger despite the security measures we have put in place, I do wish you would tread safely though Miss Carrow."

Octavia nodded and watched as Dumbledore turned and left.

"There, not so bad Snow." Sirius responded once the two of them were alone.

"Dumbledore took it easy enough because he understood, doesn't mean the Ministry will." Octavia responded before she curled back up in the bed, wanting some more sleep.

.oOo.

Octavia took a deep breath before raising a hand and knocking on the door to Hagrid's hut, she needed to apologise for how she reacted the other morning to him finding her in the forest, injured as a wolf.

The door opened and Hagrid looked a little shocked at seeing her standing there.

"I spend six years attempting to keep you and your friends away the Forbidden Forest and now I have three of you knocking on my door within three days?" Hagrid questioned and Octavia shook her head.

"I don't know if Dumbledore's informed you," Octavia started and Hagrid held up a hand to stop her.

"Nonsense, he told me you were the wolf and I understand why you were growling and fighting against me."

"I just panicked seeing you coming towards me Hagrid, I have a deal with the boys that if I don't return then they can find me in that particular spot, it's not far from the edge of the Forest and I'm usually hidden away from the other students." Octavia explained.

"All healed now?"

"Much better."

"Good to hear Carrow."

"Please Octavia," Octavia smiled at Hagrid and he easily returned it. "Thank you for taking me in regardless of how I acted with hopes of tending to my injuries."

"It's no problem at all, hopefully next time you won't be as badly injured."

"Hopefully," Octavia responded before she turned and left, heading towards the Quidditch Pitch where she knew the boys to be waiting for her.

.oOo.

Octavia was currently sitting in her dorm away from the noisy common room so she could her home finished but instead she was just getting frustrated at her essay, she was struggling with the topic and it was bugging her that she couldn't understand the concept, she wished Transfiguration came to her as easily as it did with Charms.

The knock on the door pulled her from her thoughts and she went and opened it, noticing the scared first year standing there.

"Octavia?" she questioned.

"Yes, are you alright? Lily's not here if you're after a Prefect."

"No, I was asked to get you. Two boys are fighting-"

"What do you mean? Oh forget it…" Octavia slid past the girl and rushed downstairs to see what was going on.

Octavia assumed the first year must have had gotten confused, why would she be needed for two fighting boys, her friends never fight.

When she entered the common room she stopped dead at the sight in front of her, not only were James and Sirius fighting, they were also throwing punches at each other.

"What the hell is going on here!" Octavia screamed but it didn't get a reaction from the both of them.

"There you are, please tell me you can do something about them? I would have come and got you but there are too many younger students around, I wanted to keep an eye on them." Octavia looked over at Marlene.

"What happened?"

"I've got no idea, James came storming into the room with Sirius following him. The two of them started arguing and it wasn't long until the first punch was thrown, when I couldn't get them to stop I sent the first year up to get you."

"Thanks, I'll see if I can handle it," she walked off scratching her head, having no idea what could have caused such a reaction between the two of them.

Octavia walked over and stood in between them, hoping to gather their attention but Sirius didn't notice her quick enough and threw a punch her way. She was lucky that James made her work on her reflexes so much and she was able to move enough that the fist connected with her shoulder and not her face.

"WHAT THE FUCK SIRIUS!" Octavia yelled, both of them finally stopped and noticed her standing there. Sirius' face paled at the thought of punching Octavia.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't notice you." Sirius spoke softly while taking a step closer to her but she took one back from him and he hesitated, unsure of how to proceed with her.

"I…you…" Octavia shook her head before turning around and leaving the common room.

She just wanted to get away from the boys, Sirius punching her would be enough to stop the boys arguing for the moment.

She had no idea where Lilith or Peter were, but even then they didn't have much time to wait until they were due to head down to the Shrieking Shack to spend the Full Moon with Remus.

She kept going all the way to the grounds, ignoring the calls of the boys behind her and when she was far enough away from the castle she turned into her wolf Animagus and kept running.

Sirius and James stopped at the sight of the white wolf running into the Forbidden Forest, neither of them had any idea as to what they should do and what happened previously was pushed aside.

Sirius gripped his hair, trying to work out what to do, what took priority.

"You go find Worms and tell him what happened, I'll handle Snow."

"But you hit her!" James yelled at him and Sirius took a step back, unsure as to if James was going to start throwing punches again.

"I know and I'll handle it." Sirius let out a growl before transforming himself and running after where he saw Octavia go.

Sirius finally spotted her and let out a howl gathering her attention, she was bigger than him but he was stronger. He had no idea what was going to happen or what she was thinking right now, he just stood there waiting for her to do something. After waiting long enough she finally moved, but in the opposite direction to where Sirius was standing.

He had no choice but to chase after her and hope that he can catch her, he couldn't let her get too deep in the forest on her own.

Sirius finally caught Octavia and managed to knock her to the ground to prevent her from running away again, he had her pinned to the ground underneath him.

Octavia let out a howl before transforming back, Sirius let out a whimper at the sight of her on the verge of crying before he turned back as well.

"You hit me…" Octavia spoke, her voice breaking and the tears fell.

"I know and I'm so sorry baby, I honestly didn't see you until it was too late." Sirius cupped her face and wiped away her tears.

"But you hit me…"

"I know and I hate myself for hitting you, after I tried so hard to get you away from your family. I won't ever forgive myself for hitting you." Octavia shook her head and pushed Sirius off her.

"What were you and Prongs arguing about?"

"Snow…"

"Tell me!"

"Let's head up to the castle and I can tell you there."

"No isn't it almost time to go meet with Moony?" Octavia looked up at the sky before looking at Sirius and it was then she noticed that look on his face. "What did you do!"

"I may have told Snivellus how to get into the Shrieking Shack…"

"YOU DID WHAT!" Octavia yelled out disturbing all the birds around them before transforming into her wolf form and running off.

Octavia kept running towards the Shrieking Shack, she needed to check on Remus and make sure he was okay, she had to make sure he was okay.

She had to stop at the edge of the forest as she noticed two figures come out from the path under the Whomping Willow, it didn't matter if she had permission to go and spend the Full Moons with Remus, she was still wary around people in her Animagus form.

She noticed Sirius crawl up and lay beside her but she let out a growl causing him to whimper while burrowing closer to her. Octavia snapped at Sirius before shifting away from him and watching the figures retreat back to the castle.

"Snow please stop," Octavia heard Sirius yell after her, she turned around and faced him before transforming back.

"Why? How do I know he is okay?"

"Because Dumbledore and Pomfrey would have been checking on him, let's go back to the common room and we can check on him tomorrow." Octavia scoffed at him before she started laughing.

"You think we're going to let you anywhere near Moony? You almost let him make the one mistake he would never forgive himself for. We broke so many rules and laws to help him through the moon but yet you did something so ridiculously stupid and practically handed him his first kill! What the hell were you thinking Sirius! Prongs was right to start throwing punches at you!" Octavia let out a scream of frustration before heading towards the Castle and going up to the Gryffindor common room, she just wanted to get away from Sirius and her dorm was the only place he didn't follow her.

Sirius stood there for a moment, not believing how hurt he was at hearing his name come from her lips. For so long all he's ever heard was Pads or on the rare occasion Padfoot, not since they came up with the nicknames, the only exception was when they were still going home for breaks.

"Please stop," Sirius spoke softly when they arrived at the common room, Octavia spun around and looked at him with a glare on her face.

"After what you did? No Sirius, you can go fuck yourself!" she hissed at him before storming up the girls' staircase.

.oOo.

They were finally allowed in to see Remus, except this time it was just James and Peter visiting him.

"This is a first," Remus teased and James and Peter shared a look. "What happened?" he questioned, instantly wary of what happened the previous night, he just remembers being alone and what Dumbledore spoke with him about this morning.

"Well we're assuming you were told about what happened between Sirius and Snape yeah?"

"Yes I was told that Snape spotted me and you stopped him before he could get into the house, what happened?"

"Long story short, Sirius told Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow and now Snow is missing…"

"What do you mean Snow is missing?" Remus spoke angrily.

"I mean Lilith woke up and she was gone."

"What does the map say?"

"She's not on, which means she's left the grounds. We just have to hope she comes back."

"What's the long story?" Remus questioned causing James and Peter to share a look.

James took a deep breath before explaining everything, everything that had come out in Dumbledore's office this morning and what he knew of what happened between Sirius and Octavia.

oOo

Octavia was currently sitting in Hogsmeade, one of the clearings way behind Main Street. She just wanted to be able to have her space away from her friends and think about what happened, what happened with Sirius. These days with the map, it prevents privacy from her friends and she couldn't work out how to make that room appear again.

There was a part of her that knew Sirius didn't hit her on purpose, she had known him his whole life and even though he had a temper he would never hit someone without reason. She knew James must have thrown the first punch for Sirius' idiotic action in regards to Snape, and that caused Sirius to defend himself.

She could see it on his face, that his apology was sincere, he did truly feel guilty for hitting her but everything else he did? Telling Snape how to find Remus during a Full Moon is beyond something he's done before, it was beyond his normal stupidity.

She heard a branch snap behind her and she instantly snapped her gaze around to look at who was heading her way, but only found Remus standing there. She frowned at him before shifting around completely.

"You should be resting."

"And you should be in the castle but yet here we both are." Remus spoke as he walked over and took a seat beside her.

"He hit me Moony…"

"I know, Prongs and Worms told me but this is Padfoot we are talking about. He would never do something to hurt you like that, especially after everything he went through to get you away from your parents. Tell me Snow, why would he do something that he was so against your parents doing?"

"I know this Moony, I know he wouldn't do it on purpose, but I was just trying to break up their fight and I got hit for it. I panicked and took off and then hearing what he did, I just lost it."

"So why are you hiding out here?"

"How did you know I would be out here?"

"I know you Snow, you always take off and hide when you need to process something, the map prevents you from hiding and you can't Apparate yet, so therefore Hogsmeade."

Octavia turned her head and looked at Remus, trying to see if there were any signs of a bad moon for him and when she saw the bandage on his neck, she frowned. "I'm sorry I didn't join you last night, I just needed space."

"I know Snow, it's fine. I've been alone before, what's one more?"

"Never again," she stated, a bitter edge to her voice. "Come on, let's get you up to the Castle and you can get some rest."

"It wasn't that bad last night Snow," Remus let out a breath, he had been hoping to hide his scratches from her knowing it would just worry her.

"Doesn't matter, you have wounds and need to rest, come on." Octavia held out her hand to help him up.

"Only if you talk to Padfoot."

Octavia scoffed, "yeah right, he screwed up big time. I don't see how you are forgiving him."

"I haven't but he's your boyfriend Snow, you love him and he loves you, did you break up with him?" Remus was looking at Octavia's back since she refused to face him with that question, if he wasn't facing her he would have missed it, would have missed the small shake of her head to indicate no she didn't.

"I was told he's suspended," Remus spoke on their way back to Honeydukes before they attempt to sneak back into Hogwarts.

Octavia looked over at him in shock, "really?"

"Yeah, Prongs said he's either to spend the time here but in a different room, one that will be separate from the common room and will only allow him to leave for classes. Or he will go home to the Potter's. Apparently because you were both disowned the Potter's don't have to take him for his suspension if they don't want to, Dumbledore was going to talk to there."

"How long?"

"Three weeks, I think Prongs said."

"It could have ended so badly last night, Prongs risked his life to save Snivellus. I don't care that it's Snivellus, he doesn't deserve to have that done to him and you almost had your first kill, that would have killed you as well."

"I think Sirius realises that."

"Have you spoken to him?"

Remus nodded and Octavia turned away from him, "he came and apologised before going back to Dumbledore's office, he was being escorted by McGonagall. I couldn't even look at him."

"I love him but yet hate him at the same time, how bloody stupid is that?" Octavia spoke, her voice breaking and Remus wrapped his arms around her.

.oOo.

In the end Sirius didn't end up going back to the Potter's for his suspension, turns out they had a holiday planned to take together before they all returned for Christmas break. So instead Flitwick and McGonagall had worked together in organising a suite for him in an old classroom that no longer gets used anymore and charming the dorm to not let him out before or after classes, even his meals were being delivered to his room.

It was only during classes that Sirius was allowed to roam the Castle, but yet he was told it was only so he could go to the library and study, even though most Professors pretended to not see him if they saw him outside of the library, only stating that if he got in trouble his suspension will be extended.

It wasn't until it was a week and a half into his suspension that he entered the secluded room that he shared with his friends, only finding Octavia sitting in there alone in one of the large armchairs that she loved so much. He walked over and stood in front of her, not even surprised when she didn't look up to acknowledge him.

"If you're going to keep ignoring me, you may as well break up with me." Octavia's head snapped up at what he said.

"You want to break up?" she choked out and he shook his head. "But you just said."

"I know what I just said Snow but it's been almost two weeks and you haven't said a word to me, I don't even know if it's because of what happened with Snivellus and Moony or if it's because I accidently hit you." She frowned at what he said, it was then she realised at just how bad he could be beating himself up over the fact that he hit her.

She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek, giving him the green light to squeeze in on the chair beside her.

"I really hate that I hit you baby."

"I'm not mad that you hit me, I'm sorry I didn't say anything but I didn't realise how much you would be beating yourself up over this. I know it was an accident and it's partly my own fault for getting in between the two of you. I'm just mad about what happened with Moony."

"It doesn't change the fact that I hit you, I really hate that," he whispered as he leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers.

"I don't hate you because you hit me, don't ever think that is the case." Octavia pulled away from Sirius and got off the armchair before leaving the room.

Sirius sat there and watched as his girlfriend walked away from him, she didn't break up with him and he didn't know what hurt more. Having his girlfriend walk away, still mad at him or if she would just break up with him.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and Sir Tirui for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	69. A Christmas of Strange Events

Chapter 68: A Christmas of Strange Events

Peter paced up and down the corridor outside his father's office.

Christmas Break had officially started and he was shocked to see that it was only his mother that was there to pick him up, there was always both of his parents waiting for him at the station, it meant something was wrong.

Aside from his concerns at not seeing his father at the station to bring him home for Christmas Break there was something else bothering Peter and he was unsure as to how it will play out and if it will end up ruining everything that he was doing for his father.

There was a part of him that wished he was just sorted into Slytherin like the hat wanted, but instead he begged it to place him in Gryffindor so now he was stuck with a bunch of people he didn't like no matter how much he tried and he was stuck doing a bunch of things he couldn't stand.

He even hated himself for doing worse on his essays and tests just so he could claim he needed their help with the work and they were always helping him when he asked, Remus was helping him with Defence Against the Dark Arts, James and Sirius helped him with Transfiguration, Octavia had helped him with Charms and Lilith had helped him with Potions.

It was only a couple of days ago that his 'friends' had begun questioning why his parents were constantly taking him on trips every break they had and why he couldn't spend time with them but he couldn't tell them that he lied about the trips because he didn't want to spend more time then he had to with them. He knew that come his own graduation and if the war was still going on he had no choice, but for now he enjoyed the breaks to get away from them. He wanted to be able to spend the breaks with the friends he had before Hogwarts, the ones he was forced to spend time away from them.

"Son, what on earth are you doing out here?" Peter jumped at the sound of his father voice and looked over at him.

"They've been questioning my absence during breaks, I'm wondering if they are beginning to question my loyalties."

"Nonsense son, remember you were the one that decided to lie about these so called trips we've been taking as a family. I see the way you are with them and you are putting on a good act among them, are you still practising your Occlumency shields?"

"Yes father I have but-"

"Then do not fret my son," Peter was cut off by his father. "I am proud of the work you are doing for me and the greater good of our world, remember you were the one that wanted to go through with this task, I did not pressure you into doing so."

Peter nodded at his father, remembering that conversation from before his first year all too well when all he wanted to do was make his father proud. Now although he wondered if his father would still proud had he been sorted into Slytherin and he was himself, he could have still followed the Dark Lord but not in secret like he now had to.

"I will not be disappointed if you cannot finish this task, we all understand that it is a difficult task in convincing the blood traitors to change their ways, especially now that Black and Carrow have turned their backs on their families but think about this, if you all of a sudden change now they will question _everything_. Just get through graduation if you wish cease your task."

"No father," Peter shook his head. "I want to do this task, I want to my part to fix our world and makes things better, I do not wish to continue to hide amongst the muggles. I suppose after almost six years sharing a common room with half breeds and mudbloods, I'm getting a little unnerved." Peter explained and his father placed a hand on his shoulder.

"How about this then? We clean up a little around here? Change some things that won't make them suspect our alliance in this war and then you can invite them all and their families over for dinner one night during the break. I do not want half breeds in my house either but if you wish to continue the task then this may be the best option for them to get off your back."

"What about mother? She won't want half breeds in her house either."

"I will deal with your mother, but do you think this will work for your friends?"

"Yes father, I believe it will. I have a feeling it may bring me to spending more time with them at their houses, more specifically the Potters."

"Then do so, find some common ground so you aren't constantly bored around them. Maybe you made the wrong move in telling them you weren't interested in Quidditch."

Peter grimly nodded, he couldn't believe he let that one slip, telling them he couldn't stand Quidditch when in fact he did, he loved Quidditch but was horrid on a broom. "I will fix things father, I will fix everything."

"Very good son, I will inform your mother of the dinner party we will be having. Tomorrow?" Peter nodded and watched as his father walked down the hallway.

.oOo.

"Nice house Worms," Octavia commented as Peter took them on a tour before stopping in the living room where they would spending the time before dinner was ready.

Peter's parents had instantly taken the other adults into the dining room where they were serving drinks, leaving the teenagers alone.

"Thanks," he mumbled before taking a breath. "The Pettigrews were a Pureblood family at one stage, the house has been passed down through the family over generations, well I think that's what dad said." Peter scratched the top of his head, ignoring the sickening feeling in his stomach as his friends laughed, they weren't being malicious, he was the one that made the joke aimed at himself.

"Regardless of the house, it's great that we finally get to see where you grew up mate." Sirius spoke with an easy going smile and Peter nodded.

"Yeah, I apologise for always disappearing but family is important to my parents." Peter explained with a sad smile.

"Hey don't be like that Worms, I may have left my family but family was always important to them as well, I completely understand as to what it's like growing up in a family where family matters. Family is important to all of us and we view you as family." Octavia spoke and the rest of the group agreed.

"We didn't mean to make it seem like we were pushing you into inviting us over," Remus added in.

"They're right, we were just confused as to why you were never around during breaks, almost like you were avoiding us." James joked.

Peter put a smile on his face, "never."

.oOo.

Christmas break had officially started four days ago and saying things were tense at the Potter's was an understatement.

To begin with Sirius and James were avoiding each other, not speaking and it made the house awfully quiet and both Euphemia and Fleamont didn't like it, not having gotten used to the noise that had been ever present in their house ever since they took in Sirius and Octavia.

It wasn't until Euphemia and Fleamont sat both boys down in a room and forced them to talk it out, reminding them both that they knew of the events that happened that night, including Sirius hitting Octavia.

Whereas Octavia was spending most of her waking moments at the Longbottom residence with Lilith instead of at the Potter's.

But the strangest thing of all was Peter, he was currently in Octavia's room searching for her wand, hoping she had left it at home.

He had been given the task of getting a hold of her wand, he was concerned about what would happen when she realised it was gone but the four days he had been at the Potter's, he hadn't seen it in her hand once. His father had also assured him it would only be used for a short time, allowing him to return it before she noticed it was gone.

The Dark Lord now viewed her as a threat, now that word had reached back to him about her customised wand and the Dark Lord wanted her gone. He had hoped using her wand in a raid, the Ministry would arrest her and she would be gone that way.

He had hoped that the wand would be easy to find, only placed in a draw but he had searched everywhere including her bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Peter jumped at the sound of Sirius' voice.

Peter turned around and found Sirius leaning against the door frame, carefully watching him and Peter was worried he had ruined everything. "Looking for something that Snow said I could borrow." He responded, hoping Sirius wouldn't question what it was.

"Whatever it is, I doubt it's in amongst Snow's knickers." Peter quickly closed the draw before walking over to where Sirius was standing, eternally grateful that he became embarrassed easily. "Snow isn't here anyway, she's at Lilith."

"She still not talking to you?" he questioned and a dark look appeared on the other boy's face.

"No, she's spent practically every day at Lilith's, you know this. Come on Prongs is downstairs somewhere." Sirius turned and waited for Peter to leave the room, heading downstairs.

It was when Peter was out of sight that Sirius entered the room and walked over to Octavia's wardrobe and pulled open the secret compartment she had placed in there where her wand was always kept during the breaks.

He knew Octavia had this irrational fear that someone would attempt to steal her wand, Sirius knew Peter wouldn't do such a thing but he had to check before telling her about him being in her room and worrying her for no reason.

"I'm being an idiot," Sirius shook his head as he saw his girlfriend's wand nestled in the secret compartment in the wardrobe.

Sirius was sitting on the couch alone, Peter having left for the day, claiming he had to be home for dinner and James was off coming up with new Quidditch plays.

Sirius was hoping to corner Octavia the minute she returned from Lilith's hoping she would finally speak to him, not speaking to his girlfriend for this long was killing him.

"Snow?" Sirius spoke as soon as he saw Octavia step out of the fireplace, frowning when she didn't even look his way before heading out of the room.

He stood up and quickly followed her, catching her walk into her wardrobe as he stood in her doorway. He waited for her to remerge before he spoke.

"Can we please talk?" Octavia looked up and found Sirius standing in the door way to her room. "Please?" He pleaded with her and she reluctantly nodded, unsure as to why he shut the door behind him and walked over to take a seat at the end of her bed, while she took a seat at the opposite end.

Octavia getting annoyed with the silence, ended up speaking first. "You wanted to talk, not the other way around."

"I hate that you aren't talking to me, I made one mistake, one incredibly big mistake and I'm terrified I'm going to lose you. I know you said you aren't mad at me because I accidently hit you but I'm still terrified you are going to use both events against me and leave me, the silence has been going on for so long and I don't want to lose you. Moony and Prongs were furious, Moony gave me a bloody lecture every chance he got until he realised I had finally taken in what he was saying but you, you won't even talk to me."

"You messed up, big time and I already told you I wasn't mad for the accidently hitting me."

"Baby I can't lose you."

Octavia's heart broke at the sound of Sirius' voice breaking showing how much he was hurting, but the thing that really gave it away was the tears building up in his eyes. Sirius rarely cried, he normally took off before letting anyone see him cry, even her.

Octavia moved down the bed and kneeled in front of Sirius, "you're doing this on purpose, crying, knowing I can't be mad at you anymore."

Sirius closed his eyes in hopes of pushing the tears back but they just escaped, Octavia frowned before wiping away the tears.

"Please don't leave me," Sirius choked out and Octavia instantly wrapped her arms around his neck, allowing him to bury his face in the crook of her neck.

"I'm not going anywhere Pads, I promise. It's you and me against the world, I love you." Octavia spoke softly as she threaded her fingers through his hair and began massaging the back of his head.

"I really am sorry baby," Sirius mumbled into the crook of her neck.

"I know, I'm sorry for ignoring you for so long, it killed me just as much as it killed you." Octavia spoke and Sirius pulled away and looked at her, Octavia wiped at his cheeks removing the tears but he just swatted her hand away with a glare.

She smiled at him and he shook his head, "I'm not crying there was something in my eye."

"Oh come on, you were crying, just admit it." She grinned at him

"Why'd you do it? Why did you ignore me if it hurt you as well?" he questioned, her grin instantly falling.

"I was just so mad at what you did."

A grin appeared on his face as he leaned closer to her, "that and you are incredibly stubborn." He whispered.

"Not at all Padfoot, you're also stubborn. The fact that it's taken you this long to confront me again says a lot." She pointed out.

"You brushing me off the first time was bad enough, didn't feel up to a second time." Sirius responded as he leaned closer to her, slowly pushing her back against the bed.

"What are you doing?" Octavia questioned softly, unsure as to what he had planned.

"I'm going to kiss my girlfriend," he responded with a smirk.

"Oh Marlene's here? I should go greet her," Octavia spoke with a teasing tone as she attempted to get off her bed, only being stopped as Sirius placed an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.

Octavia laughed before turning around and facing him, smiling at him before she leaned up and kissed him.

"Oi, what are you doing? Marlene will kill you," Sirius teased but Octavia managed to hit him over the arm.

"If you would rather go sleep with Marlene, go for it."

Sirius shook his head before giving her shoulder a light shove and rolling on top of her, "you, only you baby." He spoke as he nuzzled her neck, he pulled away and looked her in the eye. "Remember I love you."

"I've never doubted it," she responded, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to kiss him deeply.

.oOo.

Ted Tonks was sitting at his desk within the Ministry surrounded by all the other lawyers, actually lawyer was a loose term for what they did, that worked within the Wizarding world, his muggle background had given him a leg up in his career as it allowed him to understand the workings of the Muggle world and work as a lawyer among them when required compared to some of the other lawyers that were Purebloods and didn't want to associate with muggles.

"I was told you work on behalf of Octavia Carrow?" Ted looked up and found Artemis Burke standing there, not look entirely pleased.

Ted nodded and Artemis handed over two files before turning and walking over.

Ted was confused, unsure as to why Artemis would hand files that could pertain to a case to him, but what confused him even more as to why it had to do with Octavia. He wasn't specifically brought on for her, or Sirius, but he knew if she was in trouble, he would help without a doubt.

He opened the file and was instantly confused at was sitting in there, knowing Octavia would want to know about this soon. He was grateful that both her and Sirius were due to arrive tomorrow.

.oOo.

"You ready?"

Octavia stuck her head out of her wardrobe as Sirius called out and saw him sitting on her bed, she gave him a smile.

"Almost, just trying to find my coat." Octavia turned back to look through her wardrobe, wishing she sorted everything a lot better instead of throwing it all in.

"You mean the black one with silver buttons, it's in the hall cupboard downstairs." Sirius called out and Octavia stopped looking for a moment.

"Oh," she mumbled as he laughed, she completely forgot that she left her coat there after her and Sirius went out for dinner the other night.

"You forgot the other night already?" Sirius said with a smirk and Octavia smiled at him as she walked over and stood in front of him.

"You got a 16 year old drunk Pads," she teased as he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her down onto his lap.

"You weren't complaining the other night," he responded before placing soft kisses along her neck.

"Stop Padfoot, we're meant to be joining Dromeda and Ted for dinner tonight." She pulled away from him, only causing him to pout and she laughed before leaving her room and heading downstairs to where she remembered her coat to be.

She felt arms come around her waist and she couldn't help laugh, knowing full well it was James messing with either her or Sirius, or both.

"Oi what the bloody hell do you think you're doing mate?" Sirius yelled as he entered the hall and James and Octavia standing like there.

"Language Sirius!" They all heard Euphemia's voice from the other.

James couldn't help but laugh before walking towards Sirius, "had to say goodbye to my girlfriend before she left for the night with her other boyfriend," James teased while clapping him on the shoulder.

Sirius didn't look impress as he walked over to where Octavia was waiting for him, with his coat in hand as well.

"That's it, no more other girlfriend/boyfriend jokes," Sirius pointed out and Octavia smiled at him before leaning up and placing a hand on his cheek.

"Done," she said sweetly before leaning up and softly kissing him. "Don't you think we should leave?" she questioned against his lips and he nodded before kissing her once more.

"We're leaving," Sirius called out, letting Euphemia and Fleamont know who were sitting in the other room.

"Have fun and be safe," Fleamont responded.

Sirius pulled on his coat before linking his fingers with Octavia's and apparating the two of them to an empty field that was a short walk from Andromeda and Ted's house.

"It's snowing," Octavia spoke softly, looking up and giving Sirius a small and he laughed in response.

"I still think you're crazy for loving snow as much as you do, it's too bloody cold for me."

"Are you warm enough Padfoot?"

"I am baby, the coat you brought me for Christmas is keeping me plenty warm."

Octavia let go of his hand before running ahead, she looked over her shoulder at him with a smirk. "Glad to know the heating charm works," she responded with a smirk before running through the field.

"Snow come back here!" Sirius called out after her, not really having the energy to want to chase after her.

"Nope, I'm having fun. Come catch me!" she yelled back and Sirius shook his head before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking after her, knowing too well she won't go far without him.

Sirius wasn't far from the end of the field when he was tackled to the ground by a large form, he turned his head around and saw the white wolf resting on his back.

"Get off baby," he growled and the wolf jumped off his back before running through the snow. "Come on Snow, we're going to be late and despite this coat keeping me warm, it's cold outside." Sirius called out, struggling to see his girlfriend in a wolf form while in the snow since the fur coat blended in.

Sirius stood there in the middle of the field and the falling snow starting to get annoyed at his girlfriend and her bloody childish mind when it came to snow and hide and seek.

"Fine, stay out here by yourself and freeze for all I care." Sirius snapped before turning and walking to the exit.

Sirius made it towards the gate and he took one look over his shoulder in hopes of spotting Octavia hiding in the snow, not seeing anything, he shakes his head before turning back around and opening the gate.

"Please wait," Octavia called out softly before running over to where Sirius was waiting for her. "I'm sorry," she apologised when she was standing next to him.

"I know but you know what Dromeda can be like and we can play in the snow tomorrow." Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pull her close, softly kissing her temple.

"Promise?" she questioned with a large smile and he nodded before softly running his thumb along her cheek, glad to see her so happy at the idea of playing in the snow.

"Of course, as Padfoot and Snow, because honestly, it's the only way to get me out in the snow."

"I know Pads."

Octavia and Sirius walked in silence the rest of the way to the Tonks' residence, entering through the back gate and back door.

They walked through the back door and instantly caught sight of Andromeda and Ted standing off towards the back of the room looking like they were in the middle of an argument.

"We aren't intruding?" Sirius questioned, gathering their attention while he was helping Octavia help out of her coat.

"No not at all, it's just something silly." Andromeda responded with a smile before walking over and greeting them.

"Dromeda they deserve to know." Ted responded but Andromeda just gave him a look before grabbing their coats and placing them in the hall cupboard.

"Honestly what's going on, if it was in the Daily Prophet then we will see it eventually." Octavia spoke but they didn't say anything, Ted just walked down the hall before coming back with two files in his hand.

"Ted," Andromeda warned him.

"We don't know even know what will happen if she doesn't read through them and sign them."

"You've always claimed you don't trust Burke."

"Which Burke?" Sirius questioned, watching the argument take place between the older couple.

"Artemis Burke," Andromeda responded causing the younger couple to share a look.

"He's the family lawyer, both our families. What's going on?" Octavia questioned.

Andromeda and Ted shared a look and Andromeda eventually nodded and they took a seat at the kitchen table, Sirius and Octavia following suit.

"I was given these yesterday," Ted slid the files across the table and Octavia picked them up.

"These can't be real?" she questioned, looking up at them.

"They seem to be real to me O, I might not trust Artemis but I don't believe he would get me to organise for you to sign fake ones." Ted responded and Octavia nodded before looking at Sirius.

"What's going on?" Sirius questioned.

"It seems as though Alecto and Amycus want me to sign something in their Wills," Octavia explained before looking across the table. "Have you looked through these?"

"We have, you should look through them so you understand what is expected of you."

Octavia shook her head, "this is insane, both Alecto and Amycus are married and I was disowned, Artemis is the family lawyer he will most likely tell my parents about whatever is in here."

"Not unless they pay him off, remember O, he was my family's lawyer as well and as such I know how he works, he will keep any secret for the right price." Andromeda explained and Octavia placed her head in her hands.

"How bad are they?" Sirius questioned, placing a hand on Octavia's back.

"They're aren't bad as such, just a surprise."

"That's if they're legit," Andromeda remarked and Octavia looked up.

"If these came from Amycus they probably are," she responded.

"She's right, after everything we've been through he is probably the only one of them I trust, but only when it comes to her." Sirius spoke, earning a smile of gratitude from her.

"It's pretty standard stuff in them O, if they die you get claim to everything that is in their name whether it be their vaults, gold, properties, investments, stocks, anything. In Amycus' case, you also get his son Leighton." Ted spoke, explaining the last part slowly and carefully.

Both Sirius and Octavia's eyes went wide at that last bit of information, they didn't even know Amycus had a son.

"What about Celeste? Amycus is married?" Sirius questioned, seeing Octavia too shocked to speak.

"The wording makes me believe that Celeste is dead, whether it be because of the war or when giving birth to Leighton. I'm guessing you didn't know Amycus had a son?"

Octavia shook her head, finally regaining her composure. "No, last time I saw him nothing was mentioned, unless Leighton isn't that old."

"It's a possibility," Andromeda responded and they both nodded.

"So what, say if next week they both get killed in a battle against the Aurors, I get everything in their name and possibly a baby?" Octavia questioned and they both nodded. "This is insane, I'm not even 17, how am I meant to care for a child?"

"You can't know when they are going to die O." Andromeda spoke but Octavia just placed her head on the table.

"Exactly and it doesn't mean you have to care for the child, you can stipulate as to where he goes if that is what you wish."

"He's family, I can't turn him away." Octavia mumbled against the table and Sirius placed a hand on her head.

"She's right, I wouldn't be able to turn the child away either, despite where he came from." Sirius added in and Andromeda smiled at the sight of the two of them, she was happy for them, grateful that they had found love and comfort within each other.

"Anything else in there that I should know?"

"Once the war is over, if both Amycus and Alecto survive, it is stated that they go to St Mungo's for their mental health."

"Which means Alecto is getting worse, there's something wrong with her Dromeda." Octavia spoke as her eyes welled up, Andromeda reached across the table and placed her hands on top of the younger girls.

"If that is the case then St Mungo's is what she needs, Amycus must be seeing the signs within himself if he stated the same thing in his own will." Andromeda explained, knowing too well how bad some of the Purebloods living within the psych ward in St Mungo's are due to inbreeding.

"He'll be doing it for Leighton though."

"Then he may get out sooner than you think O," Andromeda spoke, hoping to reassure the younger girl.

Octavia just leaned against Sirius as they began speaking of the specifics of the Wills before Octavia signed them both.

.oOo.

Sirius walked down the hall and carefully opened the door to Octavia's room, unsure as to if she was still awake or not. He couldn't sleep, not able to get the earlier conversation out of his head and wondered if she was having trouble sleeping because of it.

"Baby?" he questioned softly, knowing if she was awake she would have heard him.

He watched as Octavia stirred before she sat up in the bed and looked at him, "come here?" she questioned softly and he nodded before walking over and climbing in beside her, wrapping his arms around her.

"You know, I much prefer when we're here for breaks instead at Hogwarts, I quite enjoying crawling into your bed." Sirius spoke as he nuzzled her neck.

"You know how to get up the stairs for the girls' dorms anyway."

"True."

Octavia twisted around and faced Sirius, instantly noticing the lines of worry on his face. "What's wrong Pads?"

"I'm just thinking about the conversation we had with Ted earlier."

"Which one?" Octavia questioned.

"As to if he can look into if there are any marriage contracts in place for us."

"Me too Pads," Octavia responded. "But Ted said it will be safer if he doesn't look into it, at least for the time being. If he begins looking around, they will get suspicious and wonder why we want to know. It doesn't matter if we are planning on getting married at the moment, or at all."

"I know baby, I just hate that we are away from our families control but yet it seems like they still have a say in our lives."

"They would have heard we were dating by someone, whether or not it was Regulus. Remember they want that heir, what if we did get married and had children? What if they stipulated in the marriage contract that they got claim to the first male?"

Sirius reached over and softly stroked her face, realising she was getting worked up. "Sh, calm down baby. I know, we mentioned all of this earlier with Ted and Dromeda, I just hate that we have no say until we can find out exactly what's in there."

Octavia didn't say anything, just shifted closer to him and buried her face in his chest. "Don't leave," she mumbled.

"Never," Sirius responded, before shifting closer to her and softly kissing the top of her head.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to both Raven that flies at night and the Guest for reviewing, all reviews mean so much to me as they continue to give me the inspiration I need to continue to write.**


	70. Amycus Finds Out

Chapter 69: Amycus Finds Out

"You did what!" Amycus bellowed as he shoved Evan against the wall, pinning him against it with an arm across the younger boy's neck.

"Oh come on Am, this is your dirty, half breed of a blood traitor sister. What's so wrong that I wanted my way with her?" Evan spoke with a sneer on his face and Amycus just saw red.

"Because that's my fucking sister," Amycus hissed, pressing his arm harder into Evan's neck, cutting off circulation.

"Am!" Alecto yelled as she stepped into the room and caught sight of what was going on. She had no idea what was going on but also knew how the Dark Lord would react if he received word that Death Eaters are going around killing each other.

Amycus shoved against Evan's neck before he looked over his shoulder at his twin sister, "don't start Al, this fucking sick bastard attempting to rape our younger sister." He could see the conflicting emotion go across his twin's face.

He's been seeing it more and more in recent weeks, whatever was wrong with Alecto was getting worse and she was slowly losing herself and it worried him.

Alecto took a deep breath before glaring at where Evan was struggling to breath, "kill him," she stated before turning and leaving the room, knowing if she stayed she may end up convincing Amycus otherwise. Despite knowing that Death Eaters can't turn on each other, she knew that Amycus was smart enough to know how to hide the evidence and make sure nothing gets linked back to him.

"You hear that Evan, I just got permission from the psychotic bitch herself to kill you for attempting to rape, as you put it 'my dirty, half breed of a blood traitor sister' but I say let's have some fun first." Amycus taunted before he punched Evan straight in the face, knocking him unconscious in the process.

.oOo.

Amycus entered the bedroom that belonged to his son Leighton and found Alecto sitting in the rocking chair with him in her arms, "who would have thought you'd have a maternal bone in your body." He teased and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I still have to have children at some point you know," Alecto grumbled as she looked down at Leighton.

"I know, you've still got three years." Amycus responded, referring to the marriage contract Alecto shared with Ronnie.

The marriage contract that the two of them shared stated that Alecto had to be pregnant within five years of getting married, something which Ronnie's parents wanted but Ophelia and Keyon agreed stating it was fine.

Amycus didn't have the same stipulation in his contract, the only reason he has Leighton now is because Celeste wanted a child. Amycus gave in because it kept her happy, for nine months at least.

"Have you finished them?"

"Yes Artemis is downstairs waiting for a signature, are you sure you don't want to know what I've put in there for you?" Amycus questioned, looking at Alecto full of worry.

"No, I stand by it. You've said yourself, something isn't right and I can feel it sometimes, I'm not myself anymore. I trust you to look after me, even when I can't." Alecto looked down at where Leighton was sound asleep in her arms.

"Very well, go sign your own Will so Artemis can finish them and deal with them. Give me Leighton."

Alecto nodded but continued to sit in the rocking chair for another moment, "how is our guest downstairs?"

"You said you didn't want to know about Evan either," Amycus spoke.

"Of course I did," Alecto stood up and walked towards Amycus, handing Leighton over in the process.

Amycus walked over and took a seat in the rocking chair, he believed this chair to be a godsend.

When Celeste was pregnant with Leighton the only thing she specifically wanted was a rocking chair but no one gave her one, so the day before she went into labour Amycus had surprised her with it.

Amycus still can't get over how badly everything went wrong when Celeste went into labour, he still can't understand how it all happened either but he is doing everything he can to protect his barely two month old son, even if that means leaving him to his not even legal sister is something goes wrong and he gets killed at some stage during the war.

Amycus had confronted Alecto the other day while Evan was tied to a chair unconscious in the basement, hoping she was at least mostly herself and able to convince her to trust him, to trust him to do the right thing by her.

Amycus didn't trust his parents, ever since Octavia had left, or more so kicked to the curb by their parents, their mother had been eerily quiet and it was scaring both Amycus and Alecto while their father had gone off the deep end completely with the Dark Arts, hiding himself in his study researching things for the Dark Lord.

He didn't want to leave his son to the parents that spent years torturing his youngest sister, he didn't want to think that maybe there was a chance that his son would be subjected to the same treatment and he couldn't have that.

It's why he stated in his own Will that Leighton will go to Octavia, he knew that his youngest sister will do anything to protect the family she cared about and Leighton was only a baby, not having done anything against her yet and she will do everything she can to protect him.

Even the fine print stipulation that stated both Amycus and Alecto were to be placed in St Mungo's come the end of the war if the Dark Lord falls, he needed to have both Alecto and himself placed somewhere for their health reasons. If Alecto was losing herself, how long until she was completely gone and was there a chance that he would shortly follow?

Amycus had Leighton to try and stay sane for while Alecto didn't have anyone except him, she could barely form a connection with Leighton, the only reason she could form the small one that she had was because he shared his eye colour with Octavia.

Amycus placed Leighton back in his crib before walking downstairs to where Evan was locked up, a ward placed around the room that only allowed him to pass.

He stopped at the door and realised something, "Dinky?" he called out and it wasn't long until the elf appeared in front of him.

Amycus frowned at the sight of Dinky, it was now obvious that without Octavia around his father had turned on the poor defenceless elf.

"Mister Amycus called?"

"You know you can always leave my parents, come here, I won't say no to the help."

Dinky shook her head and gripped her apron with her long fingers, "I can't leave unless they let me."

Amycus just added it to another thing on his list of things to do, 'get Dinky away from his father so the poor thing can have a break'.

"I need you to go check on Octavia, make sure she's alright and as always stay hidden." Amycus ordered and Dinky nodded before disappearing from sight. He was grateful that he was still able to give orders to the elf, his parents had overruling control like it was when he was growing up but he was still able to send Dinky to check on Octavia.

It didn't matter if every few weeks he got a message from Octavia on the parchment they shared that stated she was fine, he needed Dinky to double check, to make sure she wasn't injury or lying to him.

Amycus took a deep breath before opening the door and walking in to fight Evan still unconscious, this whole thing no long held the same fun it did a couple of days ago, he doesn't understand how Alecto can do this for days on end.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **I seem to be having an issue with my reviews, I receive some emails stating that I received a review but I go to check it out and it's not there, I've had this happen on a number previously and it just takes a couple of days for them to feed through. So my apologies to anyone who has reviewed and hasn't heard anything from me but until I receive your review, thank you and I will get to them as soon as I can.**

 **Ginny10702 thank you for your review, it means a lot to me. Don't worry about the mistake, it happens to the best of us. I'm so glad you enjoy the storyline and I know exactly what you mean about the one shots grouped together, it's either that or literally the Golden trio, plus one. I always try to reply to my reviewers, sometimes it's just a simple thank you for reviewing. I'm so glad that I am one of your favourite, you don't understand how much that means to me.**


	71. Attack on Hogwarts

Chapter 70: Attack on Hogwarts

It was well known among the students at Hogwarts that this years' Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Professor Tea Faye, seemed to favour the Slytherin students. It wasn't an obvious favouring where she was constantly giving out house points, it was actually rare for her to give out house points, it was more she praising the Slytherins for their work, congratulating them on their correct answers and working more closely with them during class. If you weren't in Slytherin, you weren't on Faye's radar.

On this particular instance Faye had kept back Sirius and Octavia, giving them a lecture on their latest essays they had turned in, claiming they weren't the correct length or even housed the correct information.

"Pads!" Octavia hissed as she pulled on his arm.

"What Snow? We're going to be late and it's bad enough that the snake lover hates us." Sirius complained, Faye hadn't even given them a note for McGonagall since Transfiguration was their next class and she will give them detention for being late, once again.

"My wand is gone!"

"What do you mean your wand is gone, you are attached to that bloody thing?"

"I mean I placed it in my bag instead of my pocket with my books and now it's not there."

"You've got to be kidding me Snow, you lose your wand now of all times." Sirius rolled his eyes

"I didn't do it on purpose Padfoot!" She yelled at him, his face softened before he leaned over and softly kissed her.

"I'm sorry but now of all times is not a good time for any of our wands to go missing, I know you had it in class because you kicked my ass in that duel." Octavia grinned at him. "Let's just go to class and tell McGonagall what happened. The sooner we tell her the sooner we can make sure you are accountable if something happens."

"You really think someone would take my wand and do something so I get the blame?"

"Snow we are in the middle of the war, we think that some of the Slytherins are Death Eaters. Who knows what they have planned, especially for us. Our families want us dead." Octavia frowned but grabbed Sirius' outstretched hand and let him lead her out of the classroom and towards Transfiguration.

They were almost there when all hell broke lose, there was a loud bang from somewhere in the castle and the classrooms on this floor that housed students instantly had them flooding out in chaos.

Sirius and Octavia shared a look before rushing towards their own classroom, they spotted McGonagall rushing out and heading towards where they assume the bang came out.

"Professor McGonagall!" Octavia yelled out, McGonagall stopped for a moment and looked at them.

"Not now Miss Carrow, just head to your common room."

"But Professor it's important," She tried to stress the importance of their issue but McGonagall wasn't taking it.

"There is more important things to do right now." McGonagall spoke before rushing past them.

Octavia looked at Sirius, she was incredibly worried. Her wand was missing and now something was going horribly wrong within the Castle.

"I know Snow, but there is nothing we can do and I really don't want you out here unprotected without a wand." Sirius could see that Octavia was about to object and he held up a hand to silence her, "I know you can prefer magic wandlessly but we don't know how effective that can be in a duel just. I know you want to help but please let's go back to the common room." Octavia nodded at Sirius and wrapped her arm tighter around his as they headed towards the common room.

Octavia would be lying if she wasn't worried about what was going to happen now, they had an idea that it was the unconfirmed Death Eaters amongst the Slytherin students but what they had planned in hopes of blaming her for was a complete unknown.

Octavia didn't speak until she was in the Gryffindor common room, more exact the boys' dorm. Sirius was watching her with concern while she paced leaving the others completely confused as to what happened when they were kept back.

"I'm going to be expelled, those bloody snakes are trying to get me expelled for whatever it is they're planning!" Octavia finally spoke, but it wasn't even quiet. She yelled out in frustration before collapsing onto Sirius' bed beside him.

"You're not going to be expelled Snow."

"What's going on?" Remus questioned, Octavia yelled out in frustration into her hands and Sirius winced, he hated that she was this worked up.

"Snow's wand is missing, she had it during Defence and then we got kept back and now it's gone. We tried to tell McGonagall but then whatever is happening downstairs happened and she took off before we had the chance." Sirius explained and of their jaws' dropped in shock.

It was rare for wands to be stolen, up until recently there was no way to discover what the previous spells were cast on a wand. The only way to find out who the wand belonged to was to ask Ollivander or Gregorovitch who it belonged too since they were the main Wand Makers in Britain. It was in 1952 that the spell Prior Incantatem was discovered and then the Ministry and Aurors began using it to help prove who was and wasn't guilty.

"How bad could it be?" Peter squeaked out and Sirius scrubbed his face with his hands.

"Pretty bad, just looking at what Snow and I knew as kids compared to what they could know now. It's not good." Sirius explained, he laid down on the bedside Snow and pulled her hands off her face forcing her to look at him. "It'll be alright, they can't blame you for this, I've been with you this whole time."

Octavia didn't say anything, she just rolled over and buried her face into Sirius' side. He took a deep breath before shifting them both so he was more comfortable.

"What if they don't believe you, what if something goes wrong? How can we prove that Snow had her wand stolen?" James questioned and Sirius was silent, thinking about it in fact they all were.

"That's what memories are for, we know the spell Pads." Octavia spoke quietly from beside Sirius, but no one said anything in response, they all fell into a comfortable silence.

"Miss Carrow, I heard you were in here. I need you to come with me." McGonagall spoke startling all of them, she looked at the eagerness of all the boys to follow Octavia into where she was going. "Alone."

Octavia hesitantly nodded before looking at Sirius, he softly kissed her temple before whispering in her ear. "It'll be okay, remember what you said okay?"

Octavia nodded at Sirius before pulling away and getting off the bed and following McGonagall out of the common room.

"Where am I going?" Octavia questioned, the longer she was following McGonagall the more worried she became.

"Professor Dumbledore's office." Was all McGonagall said and Octavia swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat.

When they entered Dumbledore's office, her worst fears were coming true. Bartemius Crouch, the head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Ollivander were present.

"There you are Miss Carrow, could you please tell us if you recognise this wand?" Dumbledore spoke and Octavia hesitated before stepping forward and picking up the wand, her wand.

"It's my wand, where did you find it?"

"I believe it was found where you lost it Carrow, beside the dead girl after you killed her." Octavia's jaw dropped after she heard that. Someone had died on Hogwarts grounds and her wand was found beside the body.

"So you think I did it?"

"We performed Prior Incantatem on the wand we found, it showed that it had previously performed the Killing Curse. You yourself admitted that this was your wand, Ollivander himself as well said he remembers creating this wand for you specifically. The proof is all there," Bartemius spoke and Octavia looked at McGonagall.

"Not true, my wand went missing at the end of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Faye asked Sirius and I to stay back. That's when it went missing, we were going to tell McGonagall as soon as we turned up for class but we weren't quick enough. Everything happened and McGonagall took off towards the commotion."

"Carrow we are aware of your relationship with the Black heir, how do we know he isn't helping cover up for you?"

"Bartemius I believe that is a bit farfetched, I do remember both Miss Carrow and Mr Black trying to talk to me as I was on my way downstairs, I just assumed they were trying to give me story as to why they were late and I didn't want to hear it at the time." McGonagall explained and Octavia felt a little bit of relief, if McGonagall was believing her explanation, would Dumbledore?

"This is ridiculous, we have the girl's wand and it shows that this was the wand that killed that girl. Why is she not being arrested?" Bartemius yelled out but Dumbledore just looked calm and relaxed.

"Because she is a minor and under my protection Barty, she deserves to have her voice heard. Do you have any idea who could have taken your wand Miss Carrow?"

"My guess would be a Slytherin but there is no proof as to who took it, but if you don't believe me about not having my wand then take my memories or give me Veritaserum, I will do either of those things to prove I'm innocent."

"Veritaserum would be interesting, imagine the things we could find out Albus." Minerva spoke sounding amused and Octavia instantly regretted suggesting that.

"Now, now, Minerva we aren't here to find out about any of her previous wrong doings, we just want to find out if she did or didn't kill the girl."

"But I didn't kill the girl." Octavia tried to reason with them but Bartemius just became angrier.

"This is nonsense, I'm taking this girl with me. She is under arrest for the use of the Killing Curse and killing an innocent girl."

Octavia glared at him before she picked up her wand and pointed it at her temple and muttered the spell she knew that would pull out the memory required to prove her innocence, Dumbledore handed a vial over with a strange look on his face and she placed the memory in the vial.

"There, if I was guilty why would I happily hand over my memory?" She placed the vial on the desk, Dumbledore grabbed it and stood up to head over to his Pensieve.

"Are you coming or not Barty?" Bartemius didn't say anything, he stood up and followed Dumbledore.

"I apologise for not staying and hearing you out, surely you understand that with your track record in regards to tardiness and farfetched stories." McGonagall spoke, looking at the younger witch sitting next to her.

"I understand, I just didn't realise something would happen so quickly."

"Hopefully your memory helps."

"I hope so," Octavia murmured before she began bouncing her knees up and down due to nerves.

"You know that now Barty Crouch has seen your wand he is going to realise your true nature and it won't be long until word is out about you." McGonagall explained and Octavia nodded.

Octavia looked down at her wand that was still sitting in her hand, taking notice of the three woods creating a triple helix shape pattern. She had truly noticed a difference in her spell casting since acquiring the new wand and was grateful for it, but now she wished she still had her old wand, the one where it was difficult to notice the two different types of wand and in turn harder for people to realise she was in fact different to everyone else around her.

The two sat in silence until Dumbledore and Bartemius returned and looked at Octavia from across the desk.

"You are free to go Miss Carrow," Dumbledore spoke while Batemius had a sour look on his face.

Octavia nodded and stood up, going to leave Dumbledore's office when she heard Crouch's voice behind her, "don't forget Carrow, I know your true nature now." The threat was there but Octavia didn't turn to face him, just continued out of the office.

Octavia entered the boys' dorm, with her wand in hand, noticing that they were all still there. None of them said anything as she walked over and placed her wand on the table in the middle of the room, she stared at it before pacing back and worth.

Sirius getting tired of watching her do this to herself got up and walked over to her placing his hands on her shoulders to stop her from moving.

"Snow what happened in there?" he questioned softly and she looked back at her wand and he saw a look of disgust cross her face before she pressed her face against his chest.

"A girl died today and whoever killed her did it with my wand." Her voice broke and Sirius stared at her, wanting her to be lying but he knew she was telling the truth.

"Who was it?" Remus questioned.

"I have no idea, all I know is she was in Hufflepuff." Octavia spoke as Sirius wrapped his arms around her, knowing she was moments away from breaking down in front of them all.

"Is she really dead?" Peter spoke sounding scared and they all looked at him.

"It's what we're being told Worms." James reassured the scared boy.

"Besides the Professors will be able to find who did it and hand out the appropriate punishment." Remus pointed out and Sirius scoffed.

"Appropriate punishment my ass Moony, Dumbledore didn't expel Rosier after what he did to Snow," Sirius snapped and Octavia pulled away and looked at him.

"But yet he didn't return after Christmas break, maybe he did get expelled but Dumbledore was letting him finish out the term." Octavia suggested before heading for the door but Sirius grabbed her hand to stop her from leaving.

"Snow?" he questioned and she gave him a smile.

"I'm just going to my dorm, I promise."

Sirius reluctantly let go of her hand, he didn't want to let her out of his sight not now that a girl had died on Hogwarts grounds. He didn't want to think that whoever did it was wanting to put the blame on Octavia in hopes of drawing her out of Hogwarts, he didn't want to think about the possibility of someone wanting to hurt or kill her.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the Great Hall with Lilith beside her and both girls stopped at the sight of the room.

Not once in their five and a half years at Hogwarts had the lay out of the Great Hall changed, aside from their OWLs but that was a different situation due that being exams while this was a ceremony to mourn the loss of the girl that had been killed.

The four long tables that were normally positioned the room were gone and instead groups of smaller tables and chairs were placed around the room, completely allowing house unity if they wished and no one was restricted as to where they wanted to sit.

"I didn't even like the girl, tell me again why we are here?" Octavia questioned, looking over at Lilith.

"Honestly Snow, learn some compassion."

"What? The girl constantly picked on me, yes I feel for her friends and family for the loss of one of their loved ones but I'm better off, I won't be picked on by that girl. I never did anything to her."

"Are you sure?" Lilith questioned, raising an eyebrow at the other girl.

"Yes, I've hated Loreal since first year. There was just something about her that rubbed me the wrong way and she always claimed I was a snake in lion's skin, that I was going to turn out just like my family." Octavia explained as she looked over to where the older couple was sitting, most likely Loreal's parents.

"Just learn some tact or keep your mouth shut for the day, seriously Snow, the last thing you need is to say the wrong thing and have everyone claiming you are a hiding snake." Lilith hissed at Octavia and the other girl mimed zipping her mouth shut.

Octavia and Lilith were standing in the doorway when the boys arrived.

"Tell me, why are we here?" James questioned and Lilith's eyes went wide.

"Honestly you are all as bad as each other, why am I friends with you lot?" Lilith questioned.

"Because we are the best friends anymore could have," Sirius responded with a smirk and Octavia laughed.

"You know what, forget it. Today I don't you lot, you're all horrible." Lilith snapped before she walked off.

"Today of all days?" Remus questioned, turning and facing the others. "We're mourning the loss of one of own today, it doesn't matter if Snow didn't get along with the girl. Loreal was still a Hogwarts student, what if it was one of us? What if Snow couldn't get out of having the blame thrown on her, today would have been very different otherwise?" Remus snapped before he turned and followed after Lilith.

"We've been told," Sirius remarked while pretending to be scared. "You alright?" he looked over at Octavia and noticed she was awfully quiet.

"Lilith said if I can't say anything nice I shouldn't say anything at all," Octavia responded and both boys grinned at each other before stepping closer to her.

"What do you think of us Snow?" James questioned and Octavia looked at them.

She smiled up sweetly at them before turning and heading over to an empty table.

"Bloody girls," James muttered as he turned and followed after her while Sirius just started laughing at what happened.

Sirius instantly stopped laughing when he realised something, James asked about both of them and she didn't say anything.

"Hey wait a minute," he called out, chasing after them and Octavia laughed before looking up at him, the smile still in place.

"Love you," she finally and he grinned at her.

"Love you too," he quickly replied before Dumbledore stood up, grabbing all of their attentions.

.oOo.

Octavia was sitting in the Great Hall quickly eating breakfast as she had slept in and James would kill her if she was late, it didn't matter if they friends, Quidditch meant everything to James and so did winning.

"Morning beautiful," Sirius spoke softly before kissing Octavia's temple as he sat down beside her at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

Octavia narrowed her eyes while she looked at him, he was being overly affectionate which meant he wanted something.

"What do you want?"

"What makes you think I want something?" he flashed her a smile before leaning over and kissing her.

"That, right there." She pulled away from him. "Now let's try this again Pads, what do you want."

He frowned before reaching over and grabbing some bacon and placing it on his plate. "Who does Lilith fancy?"

"You seriously think I will betray Lilith by telling you that?" she raised an eyebrow and he shook his head.

"Come on, you know who Prongs fancies."

"Yes because Prongs has asked Evans out every Hogsmeade weekend since after Christmas break third year, it's obvious to the whole Castle that James is in love with Evans but the stupid git can't take a hint and realise that she hates him, all of us at that." Octavia stole some bacon from his plate and grinned at him when he noticed the action.

"Fine, you know who Moony likes and that one isn't painfully obvious?"

Octavia smirked at him, "isn't it? I did work out, I confronted Moony about it and he tried to deny it at first but eventually caved."

"Come on, we both know that Moony fancies Lilith."

"Hah!" Octavia pointed a finger at Sirius with a massive grin on her face, "I actually didn't know who Moony fancied, just hoped you would tell me."

"That's so not fair Snow, tell me who Lilith fancies."

"Can't, we have Quidditch practise and we shouldn't be late." Octavia stood up and headed for the doors.

Sirius managed to catch her and grabbed her hand to prevent her from running away. "Snow." He growled out but she smiled at him sweetly.

"Let's just say the next Hogsmeade weekend we should all pretend to be busy."

"The next Hogsmeade weekend is ages away," Sirius whined beside her and she just laughed as they entered the Quidditch Pitch and found James setting up for practise.

"Why is Padfoot complaining about our next Hogsmeade weekend?" James interjected, hearing the tail end of the conversation.

"When isn't Padfoot complaining about something, are we seriously doing fitness drills with our game this weekend?" Octavia responded.

"I give up," Sirius muttered as he turned and walked towards the Gryffindor team room to get changed before practise.

"What's his problem?" James questioned as they both looked over as to where Sirius was heading.

"Whoever knows with Padfoot," Octavia spoke, placing her hands on her hips as she faced James once more. "Honestly, fitness drills? Our game against Ravenclaw is this weekend Prongs." She spoke, her voice deathly calm.

A grin appeared on James' face, "go get changed Snow." He ordered and she narrowed her eyes before turning and heading towards the change rooms. "We'll get another win this way Snow, just you watch." James called out after her and it was followed by a laugh on her end.

"Not if I go on strike during the game," she threatened.

James' face paled at thought of being without a Seeker during the game against Ravenclaw.

The days leading up to the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match James was carefully treading around Octavia with fear that he may do something to upset her and cause her to go on the strike in the middle of the game.

Sirius and Octavia found this whole situation completely hilarious causing Octavia to give James situations that caused him to panic with fear of what could happen.

"Are you seriously going to let him keep him walking on eggshells are you?" Remus questioned as soon as James left the common room, claiming he was going to get some chocolate chip cookies for Octavia.

"What I think having a personal slave is amazing," Octavia leaned back on the couch and put her arms behind her head.

It was seconds later a cushion came soaring across the common room and hit her square in the face, she pulled it away and looked up to find Remus sitting there examining his hands.

"Honestly you need to try out for that open Chaser position next year with that arm and aim," she responded, making herself comfortable with the cushion.

"Too hard around the Full Moon," Remus responded and they all shared a look.

"Prongs is captain Moony, he will be a lot more understanding." Lilith spoke looking at Remus but he just shook his head.

"Yes and explaining to the third Chaser as to why I'm off my game some weeks during practise or as to why the playing schedule is getting changed around, no thanks. I'll stay away." Remus explained and Lilith looked at Octavia.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm not captain nor a Chaser, not on me," Octavia responded.

"And she wonders why she doesn't have more girl friends," Lilith stage whispered to Sirius.

"I can hear you, you bitch," Octavia snapped before throwing the cushion at where Lilith and Sirius were sitting next to each other on the floor.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Lilith questioned and they all laughed while Octavia continued to sulk on the couch.

.oOo.

The Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match had ended hours ago, Gryffindor coming out victorious proving that James was able to take the team that Frank Longbottom had left behind and improve on it, finding the right people to work in with the current players and it was crucial since the players he had to replaced worked with others.

All the younger students had already headed up to their dorms to get some sleep while the sixth and seventh years stayed down in the common room to continue to party but they were attempting to keep the noise down to not wake the younger students, as well as a group of drunk teenagers can do.

"Are we honestly playing this game?" Lilith complained as she looked around at they were all sitting in a circle.

"Hey I'm just surprised someone managed to convince Evans and Blake to join us," Octavia, being slightly drunk turned to face the two girls with a smile and raised her butterbeer bottle before leaning against Sirius and he wrapped an arm around her while having a hushed conversation with James.

"Oh come on, you can't make it through Hogwarts and not play a game of truth or dare Lilith." Marlene injected, not being bothered that the younger girl rolled her eyes.

"Someone tell me again why we agreed to this?" Lilith questioned and everyone laughed.

"Because we're celebrating our win today Lil and we've all be drinking," Remus explained, reaching over and grabbing her hand.

"Alright, so who's starting?" Rylea, one of the seventh year girls spoke and a grin appeared on Tyler's face.

"I will, O truth or dare?"

A smirk appeared on her face as she sat up straight and looked at Tyler, "dare."

"I dare you to kiss someone in the room." He spoke and Octavia instantly felt Sirius tense beside her.

"Bugger off mate," Sirius spoke, anger lacing his voice. "She's my girlfriend, what makes you think she will kiss you? Find some other poor girl to set your sights on."

Octavia knew she had to ease the tension that had just appeared in the room, she knew Tyler was just enjoying the fact that he was winding Sirius up. She knew that if she kissed Sirius it would only keep Sirius calm for a moment, but then she caught sight of Marlene sitting beside her.

She leaned over and quickly kissed Marlene, the room went deathly silent before they all started laughing as Sirius quickly pulled Octavia away from Marlene.

"Now I have to worry about you and Marlene?" Sirius grumbled while they all laughed.

"One would have thought you'd enjoy seeing two girls kiss Sirius?" Marlene spoke with a smirk.

Sirius didn't say anything in reply, just pulled Octavia on to his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Sh, calm down Pads." Octavia kept her voice low, knowing only he could hear her and she felt his arms tighten around her waist before he kissed her hair.

"Honestly Sirius, I don't understand why you are convinced that Ty has this big crush on O anyway. She's not exactly his type." Marlene spoke, sharing a looking with Tyler.

"What do you mean she's not his type? She's hot." Sirius responded and the seventh years laughed, knowing what Marlene was on about.

"Oh I'm not denying that Octavia isn't stunning, but you Sirius are more my type then she is." Tyler spoke and everyone began laughing at the look on Sirius' face, even Octavia couldn't help but join in.

"I…uhh….didn't," Sirius attempted to speak an English sentence but it all came out in stuttered words.

He scratched the back of his neck while the others laughed at him and his inability to form an English sentence due to embarrassment.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **I seem to be having an issue with my reviews, I receive some emails stating that I received a review but I go to check it out and it's not there, I've had this happen on a number previously and it just takes a couple of days for them to feed through. So my apologies to anyone who has reviewed and hasn't heard anything from me but until I receive your review, thank you and I will get to them as soon as I can.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and the Guest for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	72. Damaged Friendships

Chapter 71: Damaged Friendships

All the Sixth years were eagerly standing in the Great Hall awaiting their first Apparition lesson, well all except Octavia.

She had had a meeting with Dumbledore only a couple of days ago requesting her to hold back on her Apparition, Dumbledore believed that she will be able to get the process down perfectly on her first attempt because she was a Dreamer. Dumbledore said it was only a request and she doesn't have to hold back if she doesn't want too, it may only help her keep her secret that little bit longer.

"You figured out what you are going to do yet?" Sirius questioned, noticing Octavia's less then enthused attitude but she shook her head.

"I almost wish I could have practised elsewhere to see if I would get it as easy as Dumbledore thinks but I may just sit this one out, pretend I'm concentrating but I'm actually not and see how everyone else goes and then the next lesson join in." Octavia responded, looking up at the Ministry officials standing at the front of the Great Hall.

"It'll be alright, don't you remember Amycus and Alecto complaining about how the first few lessons no one seemed to do anything, it was a couple after."

Octavia let out a groan, remembering that conversation from years ago. "Great, even longer I can't do anything. Maybe I shouldn't have done this, maybe I should have opted out and then just gone for my test later."

"Sorry Snow," Sirius apologised but Octavia waved him off as the Ministry officials faced them and began getting their attention.

.oOo.

"What do you think is taking Lilith and Moony so long?" Peter questioned and the others shook their heads, they knew he just wanted his sweets.

Even this morning when they asked the pair to get them some things from Honeydukes and Zonkos they were received by strange looks, it didn't matter if the other four had detention they had found a way to enter Hogsmeade whenever they pleased and they had been doing so since they discovered the tunnels and got the map working.

James, Sirius, Octavia and Peter had landed themselves in detention and were unable to attend the Hogsmeade weekend but it was only Sirius and Octavia that knew what their true actions behind their failed attempt at prank Filch were, it failed on purpose and they were caught. The other two joined in for the fun of the prank and dealt with the consequences like usual.

Octavia looked around the Gryffindor common room, it was rather full indicating most of the students had in fact returned from the trip but yet Lilith and Remus had yet to show themselves. She didn't know if this was a good sign or not.

Octavia caught sight of Lilith rushing through the common room, clearly crying and Remus followed not far behind her.

"Lil, please stop," Remus called out but she didn't stop, she just continued up the girls' staircase.

Remus turned to face the others, "don't ask." Was all he said before he handed the bags over and headed up the boys' staircase.

Octavia quickly went through the bags grabbing what she had requested from Honeydukes before heading up to her dorm, hoping Lilith hadn't locked herself in the bathroom.

She entered her dorm and was glad to have found that Lilith had only closed the curtains around her bed.

She threw her things on her bed before walking over and joining Lilith in hers, kicking herself at the sight of her best friend sobbing into her pillow and she blamed herself because if her and Sirius hadn't come up with this stupid plan then this wouldn't have happened because the look on Remus' face indicated he did something wrong, he felt guilty about something.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Octavia questioned and Lilith nodded before sitting up straight and wiping away the tears.

"We were fine all day, just laughing and having fun, considering I know why you four landed yourselves in detention, we even spoke about you four leaving us alone for whatever reason."

"Only Pads knows the truth behind the detention, we knew Prongs and Worms would be up for the prank." Octavia explained and Lilith nodded.

"Still you set us up, which means you told him." Octavia could tell that Lilith wasn't happy, but she didn't exactly tell Sirius the truth.

"I didn't tell him Lilith, I just may have suggested-"

"Whatever," Lilith snapped, her gazing softening straight away realising what happened. "Either way we were fine after that."

"Then what happened? You're in tears and he's beating himself up over something." She questioned knowing full something had happened.

"I kissed him and was so incredibly happy when he instantly kissed me back but it was when he pulled away that I saw it all on his face." Octavia moved to sit beside Lilith as another sob broke through her and she hugged the other girl.

"What happened after the kiss?" She urged, hoping to get the whole story out of Lilith.

"He said he can't… won't date because of his condition, and that he would never dream of having to put a girl through everything that comes with being with a werewolf. Despite everything he feels and how he reacted to the kiss, he can't. He apologised but said he won't even consider it."

"But we've known the truth since we were just kids, your feelings developed knowing the truth. We've all done so much to make sure the Full Moons are easier on him, we've all accepted him regardless of what could happen the moment we graduate Hogwarts."

"I said that to him but he claim its different being in a relationship then it is to being friends with a werewolf. Everything I tried to say he had some counter response, it was when I started crying that I had enough and stormed off, he was following me the whole way up to the common room, I knew our dorm was the only place he couldn't follow me."

Octavia couldn't believe Remus was being like this, she pulled away and got off the bed and grabbed some of her chocolate. "Here, you eat this, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind." She handed the chocolate over.

"Snow, don't." Lilith attempted to persuade Octavia, but she left the dorm and headed downstairs.

She entered the common room, only to find all her friends were gone and decided they must have headed to their dorm.

"Out," she ordered entering the boys' dorm, they all looked at her like she was crazy.

"Snow this is our dorm," James spoke and she placed her hands on her hips.

"Really? So he's told you what happened while we were in detention?" She snapped and they shook their heads. "Exactly, so out!" She ordered once more, this time they all got up and left, Sirius softly kissing her cheek as he walked past her.

"She told you?" Remus questioned once they were alone.

"Of course she told me, what do you think was going to happen once I followed my _crying_ best friend up to our dorm?" She snapped, her anger at seeing Lilith like that starting to get the better of her.

"I really didn't want that to happen, the last thing I wanted was to hurt her."

Octavia took couple of deep breaths before walking over and taking a seat at the end of his bed, "but yet you did anyway, why?"

"Because she shouldn't have to be subjected to being in a relationship with a werewolf."

"Oh don't give me that shit Moony, people will fear me more than you once the truth gets out. I have no idea what to expect come our graduation but do you think Padfoot gave that a second thought when he kissed me?"

"But that's Padfoot, he's known the truth about you all along, always known there was something different about you. Lilith hasn't." Remus objected and Octavia shook her head.

"Growing up Padfoot was told we weren't allowed to date, _ever_ , regardless of us allowed to have our fun at Hogwarts. He only kissed me because we were away from our parents, he even said kissing me like he did was a calculated risk because he had no idea how I felt but I have a feeling you were pushing him in the right direction like we were trying with you and Lilith." Octavia knew it was a mistake when she saw something flash through his eyes.

"But it's different with Lilith."

"How Moony? She's known the truth since she was 12, she hasn't had a crush on you since then. She fell for you knowing the truth and having an idea as to what would happen. Remember she was the one that had no problems with werewolves growing up, unlike Pads and I. You honestly won't give it a shot? I'm not telling you to marry her."

"No, I can't." Was all Remus said before he stood up and entered the bathroom, shutting the behind him and ending the conversation.

Octavia took one deep breath before standing up and heading downstairs, knowing full well that the rest of them would pounce on her about what happened. She had no idea what to tell James and Peter, but she knew Sirius would want to know the truth.

She entered the common room and found them sitting in one of the corners, she walked over and made herself comfortable on Sirius' lap.

"Any chance you'll tell us what is going on with those two?" James questioned, shocking her that he didn't demand to know what happened.

"Well she's my best friend, so there for I have to keep her secrets so unless he decides to tell you, you won't be hearing it from me." Octavia spoke, turning and smiling at Sirius when he softly kissed her neck.

She buried her face against his body when she heard James and Peter gag at the sight of her and Sirius.

"Oh you two are just jealous," Sirius spoke before placing a hand on Octavia's neck. "Come on, let's go somewhere else Snow."

Octavia nodded and stood up and linked her fingers with Sirius' as he led them out of the common room.

"Where are we going Pads?" she questioned, Sirius just smiled at her before let go of her hand and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"The Quidditch Pitch, I could go with a fly. But first, please tell me what happened between Moony and Lilith because it is partly our fault."

"I know Pads and I was going to, but you can't tell Prongs and Wormtail. I meant what I said, if Moony doesn't tell you all then they don't need to know."

"I promise beautiful," he spoke, softly kissing the top of her head.

"She kissed him, very similar in the aspect of what happened between us but Moony has it stuck in his head that he shouldn't put her through whatever may happen due to him being a werewolf. I tried to convince him otherwise but it wouldn't help."

"You think he's convinced himself that he isn't good enough for her?" Sirius questioned and she nodded.

"He kissed her, even stated he felt something towards her but he couldn't and wouldn't do that to her. Why can't he see reason?"

"Because he's grown up with this stigma Snow, he's mentioned on a couple of occasions that not all of his family are accepting of him. He spends more time with his maternal side of the family and that's only because they are muggles and don't know the truth."

"What would you have done had I not agreed to date you?" she questioned causing him to pull away and look at her curiously.

"Snow, straight away I said from the start that if you didn't feel the same we would go back and pretend it never happened."

"I know that you idiot, but what if I said I couldn't, despite my feelings because of everything our parents had drilled into our heads?"

Sirius had a smirk on his face before he pulled her down one of the secret passage ways that was nearby and pressed her against the wall. "I would have been very persistent with you," his voice was low before he softly kissed her neck.

"Yes but you're as stubborn as a mule, Lilith isn't. What should we do?" she questioned, pushing against his chest.

"Alright, here's the thing. I don't actually want to go for a fly, I was hoping to snog you in peace without Prongs and Wormtail making gagging noises. We both know that if we butt into the whole Moony and Lilith again and things will become worse, they will be mad at us. Lilith has to be the one to convince him otherwise and Lilith has to decide to do it."

"You're disgusting." Octavia scoffed pushing Sirius away from her and continuing along the secret passageway.

Octavia only managed to make it a little way down the secret passageway before Sirius wrapped an arm around her waist and pin her flush against the wall again.

"You weren't saying that the other week when we went to the come and go room to shag all night," he spoke his voice low and husky as he softly kissed her neck.

"We are not having sex in the middle of a corridor," Octavia explained while pulling away from him, sending up an invisible wall when she heard him walking up behind her.

"Snow that's not fair!" Sirius yelled out and she turned around and smiled at him.

"Try and catch up love," she teased before turning around and walking away.

.oOo.

Octavia was incredibly bored, they were half way through their Apparition lessons and no one had managed to perform the act successfully yet. A couple of people seemed to have moved from spot in the Great Hall to another but not successfully, they always managed to leave some part of them behind.

Octavia was fed up with the waiting, she wanted to try and just hoped no one would think anything strange of her completing Apparition successfully, if she did.

She stood there and closed her eyes, remembering everything they had said over the last six weeks and focused on the hula hoop not far from her before she felt the pull in her navel that she remembered from side along Apparition.

When she opened her eyes she looked around and found she had moved to where she had wanted to go and grinned at Sirius when she found he was watching her.

She quickly looked over herself and realised she hadn't left a body part behind and it was then she felt a presence behind her and she spun around, spotting one of the Ministry officials standing there.

"Well done, what is your name?"

"Octavia Carrow," Octavia responded, ignoring the look that passed through his face at the mention of her name.

"Excellent, it seems as though Miss Carrow is the first one of you all successfully Apparate to a different spot within the Great Hall."

.oOo.

"What bloody hell was Moony's problem tonight?" James grumbled as he rubbed his shoulder.

They had just left the werewolf back in the Shrieking Shack and now they were all attempting to sneak back into Hogwarts, thankful that they now had the map they created because it allowed them to sneak around without getting in trouble.

"I've got no idea," Sirius responded, leaning against Peter since the other boy was helping Sirius walk since he had an injured leg.

The four of them all seemed to be sore in some shape of form, it may not be the worst injuries they've had but it's also the first time they've seen Remus this angry since they first joined him on a Full Moon, they didn't even attempt to leave the Shrieking Shack with fear of what could happen to him, or anyone else.

"You alright Snow?" Sirius questioned, looking over his shoulder at her.

"I've had worse," Octavia shrugged in response, falling quiet amongst the boys again.

The three boys were talking about what they were covering in their latest Transfiguration essay, hoping that between them they could work out what they were missing because Octavia refused to hand over her own essay for them to look over and find the missing information.

"What if it's because of Lilith?" Octavia finally spoke, cutting over whatever it was James was saying.

"What?" Sirius questioned and Octavia shook her head.

"Moony's bad mood, what if it's because of what happened with Lilith a couple of weeks ago. Things have been tense between those two ever since, it's obvious that whatever between them has affected the friendship between them." Octavia explained.

"It makes sense, those two have been weird around each other. You still won't tell us what happened?" James questioned, instantly noticing the look that Sirius and Octavia shared, "you told him!" he accused but they both just shrugged.

"I need sleep," Octavia yawned before snatching the map from James' hands and walking ahead of the boys.

"Come back here Snow!" James called out after her.

"Careful Prongs, we'll get caught." Peter added in, James quickly shrugging in response.

"Bit late for that," the three of them rounded the corner where they quickly ran into McGonagall.

"I'm going to kill that girl," James muttered, seeing Octavia nowhere in sight, knowing full well she would have seen McGonagall coming and pulled this on purpose.

"What are you three doing out of your bed this early in the morning? And injured at that?" McGonagall demanded to know, quickly noticing the awkward angles of their limbs.

"Bludger."

"Fell off my broom."

James and Sirius both threw at the same time while Peter just shrugged, McGonagall didn't look too impress but ordered the three of them to follow her towards the Hospital Wing before giving them detention.

Octavia was in hysterics when she finally joined the boys in the Great Hall for breakfast after getting a couple of hours sleep in, none of them looked entirely impressed at her ditching them this morning and leaving them to get in trouble with McGonagall.

"What am I missing?" Lilith questioned, quickly noticing the dirty looks they were sending Octavia.

"What you mean aside from the fact that Moony was a right old git last night and we think it's because of you," James snapped and Octavia instantly reached over the table and hit him across the arm.

"We don't know if that's true of not," Octavia hissed, quickly sneaking a look at Lilith and noticing the look on her best friend's face. "Lilith don't listen to Prongs, we honestly don't know if Moony's mood was because of you or not."

"How bad were you injured?" she questioned, looking over the three of them.

"Well Snow wasn't thrown into a tree this time, mind you if she gets thrown into one more I'm not letting her down there anymore." Sirius spoke sternly narrowing his eyes at his girlfriend who just smiled innocently at him.

"Love you Pads," she spoke softly and he hung his head, taking a deep breath before looking up at Lilith.

"We've had worse, but we couldn't leave the shack, unsure as to if we could control him or not."

"It was that bad?" Lilith questioned in shock, watching as the four of them shared a look.

"Lilith," Octavia spoke, attempting to convince her best friend that they were fine but Lilith just shook her head before standing up and leaving the Great Hall.

"Where do you think she is going?" Peter questioned and Octavia looked at Sirius.

"With any luck, to see Moony." Sirius threw in and Octavia leaned over and hit him across the arm.

"Bloody hell women, where did you get the idea that I wanted to be hit?" Sirius questioned, rubbing his arm where she had previously hit him.

A smirk appeared on her face before she looked at James, "Oh I don't know, you weren't com-"

Sirius cut her off by throwing a piece of toast, not entirely impressed where the conversation was now going but it was obvious that James had caught on as he rounded to face Sirius with a look on his face that says it all.

"You ask your girlfriend to hit you?" he accused and Sirius just glared at his girlfriend who was trying to look completely innocent.

Sirius shook his head, knowing full well he couldn't stay mad at Octavia for something like this.

.oOo.

Remus turned his head, attempting to ignore the pain in his body.

He remembered what happened the night before and he couldn't be that the werewolf was that mad, that it was taken out on his friends and he just hoped that they weren't that injured this morning.

He cracked an eye opened as he caught of a whiff of Lilith's perfume and found her sitting there in one of the chairs with a book resting her lap.

He still hated himself for making her cry like she did after the last Hogsmeade weekend, yes he had seen both her and Octavia tear up on occasion but it was rare to actually see one of them cry like Lilith was and he wanted to kick himself for it, for being the reason behind it.

But he knew in the long run this was better, better that he was slowly pushing her away because he didn't want to subject her to the life that will be, a life being with a werewolf.

He had fallen for the girl despite attempting to convince himself not to, he couldn't deny that Lilith was strikingly beautiful, inside and out, she was also smart, caring and kind. Everything that he would logically want in a girlfriend but he couldn't do it, he couldn't bring himself to be in a relationship with Lilith and potentially ruin her life.

He cared about Lilith, he truly did but he cared enough about her to not risk her life like this.

"What are you doing in here?" Remus croaked, scaring the poor girl. "Sorry."

"Oh look he speaks, he's actually acknowledging me for once." Lilith snapped and Remus frowned as he sat up in the bed, ignoring the protests coming from his muscles.

"I'm doing what's best for you," Remus responded as he reached over and grabbed the glass of water that Pomfrey always placed on the table for him.

"What's best for me?" Lilith scoffed, "You never even asked what I thought was best for me. You just assumed what's best for me, but yet you haven't realised how it's been killing me that you have pushed me aside like you have." She spoke, her voice breaking and Remus faltered, hearing how hurt she was. He never wanted to hurt her this badly.

"I never wanted to hurt you, I just can't subject you to a relationship with me."

"Why? What will be so bad about it? What is so different about it compared to the relationship that Snow and Padfoot share, we all know that one day everyone will realise what she is and it could end badly. I'm the only one that doesn't go into the Shrieking Shack with you, you can't physically hurt me like you can with them." Lilith questioned all over again as the tears built up in her eyes and Remus had no choice but to swing his legs over the edge of the bed so he could face her properly.

"Lil," Remus spoke softly as he reached over and grabbed her hands.

"You know they're all blaming last night on me," Lilith spat out and Remus was shocked.

"Why?"

"Because they believe your bad mood is because of me, I'm the reason the wolf was so angry."

Remus shook his head before leaning up and wiping away the tears that slowly escaped, "not you, never you Lil. I was angry at myself, for hurting you like I did, for causing you to cry. I hated myself."

"You have enough self-hatred Moony, you don't need anymore. You even agreed to feeling the same as I do, why can't we honestly be in a relationship? Be happy like Snow and Padfoot?"

"You honestly want to have a relationship like Snow and Padfoot? Where they constantly make jokes about having other partners?" Remus spoke with a smirk on his face, grateful when Lilith finally laughed.

"Godric no, those two are incredibly weird. Regardless of that, they are incredibly happy with each other now that they have given in. Don't you want that? What about your parents? Don't they want you to be happy, to have a normal life like every other teenage boy?" Lilith questioned and Remus took a deep breath.

"It won't be a normal relationship, I can't guarantee anything Lil, I can't guarantee to give you what you want. I don't even know if I will be able to find work after Hogwarts."

"Hold it right there Moony, I'm not asking you to marry me, we still have one more year until we graduate. All I'm asking if for a chance, a chance to see if this will actually work. Why can't we be happy?" Lilith questioned softly.

Remus frowned as he leaned forward on the bed closer to her, her scent pulling him into her. This close to the Full Moon and his senses were at all time high and he just had to breathe her in.

He couldn't help himself, being this close to her, he had to kiss her again. He was marvelled at how soft her lips were and he didn't want to pull away, but after enough restraint he pulled away from her.

"Remus, please." Lilith pleaded softly.

Remus opened his eyes and he could tell she was flushed from the kiss and she was breathing heavily, he licked his lips and leaned in closer to her.

"Why can't we be happy?" she questioned once more, her voice barely a whisper but Remus heard her all the same.

"Because I'm a monster, I don't deserve happiness Lil."

Remus took a step back when anger appeared on her face, sitting back down in his bed.

"No, you Remus Lupin are not a monster, the monster is the werewolf who did that to you, attacked a poor innocent four year old boy in the middle of the night in his own bed. You are a kind and gentle man, despite who our friends are." Lilith stood up and walked over until she was standing in front of him. "You are not a monster and if I have to keep reminding you of that then I will, every day, but you aren't a monster." She reached out and placed her hand on his cheek, softly rubbing it with her thumb.

"But what if I hurt you?"

"Physically you can't, I don't go out there every Full Moon with the others, I hate that they do just as much as you do but I see the difference they are making in you, they are helping and you know it. As for emotionally hurting me, we don't know what will happen, maybe I will break up with you." Lilith teased and Remus shook his head.

"I haven't even asked if you will be my girlfriend," Remus responded.

"Too bad I'm asking first," she began to tease but Remus cut her off with a kiss.

"I don't want to be anyone's girlfriend," Remus complained, smiling when he heard her laugh. "Despite Padfoot showing how well he makes it work, being Snow's bitch and all."

"That's not what I meant you know it."

"I know Lil, I just wanted to be the one to ask you. Will you do the honour of being my girlfriend Lilith?"

Remus wasn't even given a verbal response, Lilith just quickly nodded before leaning over and kissing him.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Ginny10702, Raven that flies at night and the Guest for leaving reviews, they all mean so much to me.**


	73. Prophecies

Chapter 72: Prophecies

Dumbledore was sitting in his office conducting the quarterly one on one meetings with his Professors, most of the information he was being told by them was the usual he heard, whether it be in the group meetings throughout the term or in previous one on one meetings.

The only person he was interested in hearing from this time round was Tea Faye, he had brought in a favour with her by bringing her on as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor this year in hopes that she will be able to keep an eye on the Slytherin students, since no one in Britain knew her and knew about the connection they had. But unfortunately she had no luck so far.

He was currently having the last meeting with Cleo Fairchild, the Divination Professor.

"Good evening Cleo," Dumbledore bid her goodbye, but it was then he noticed something strange about the Divination Professor, almost like she was spacing out. "Are you alright Cleo?" he questioned but there was no response.

 _"The Dark Lord and the Dreamer will come to meet once more, on the night of the following Blue Moon._

 _The two will battle, causing a cosmetic reaction that hasn't been seen in centuries, one that comes when a Dreamer battles someone missing part of their soul._

 _The cosmetic reaction will permanently link the two, allowing each other to see into each other's mind with no repercussions or boundaries for each and every following Blue Moon._

 _The only way for the connection to be permanently severed is for the one to come along and defeat the Dark Lord."_

Dumbledore's brow furrowed as he realised what this was, a Prophecy had just been made about Octavia Carrow and it did not seem like it was going to be a good thing.

"I'm sorry what did you say Albus?" Cleo questioned, noticing the strange look on the Headmaster's face.

"Nothing at all, good evening." Cleo nodded before standing up and leaving the Headmaster's office.

"I believe the next job is finding out when the next Blue Moon is Albus," Phineas Black spoke from his portrait on the wall and Dumbledore looked over at him.

"You're only getting involved now of all times because it is a Dreamer we are talking about Phineas, otherwise you are more interested in stay quiet." Dumbledore retorted and Phineas made a noise of disagreement before going back to pretending to be asleep once again.

Dumbledore picked up his wand and extracted the memory of him hearing the Prophecy before placing it in a vial and adding it to the collection sitting behind a false wall.

Dumbledore knew he had to tell Octavia about the Prophecy that has now been made about her and Tom Riddle, he knew he had to warn her but how do you go about warning a 16 year old about something that is going to completely change her life?

.oOo.

"Everything alright Albus?" McGonagall spoke, pulling Dumbledore from his thoughts as he looked out onto the grounds from his office where he caught sight of the six Marauders enjoying the warmer weather that had finally graced the grounds of Hogwarts.

"It seems as though something as arisen that concern the young Carrow girl," Albus explained.

"What you mean asides from her and her friends making it rain confetti on the Great Hall."

"You have to admit Minerva that it was rather amusing to witness, no one was hurt."

"Yes but Argus rather annoyed at the mess he had to clean up," McGonagall countered and Albus finally turned and looked at her.

"A little sweeping never hurt anyone, but no that wasn't what I was talking about. It seems as though a Prophecy has been made about the girl."

Dumbledore then proceeded to inform McGonagall about what he had heard and she didn't look too impressed.

"She needs to know, especially considering the next Blue Moon isn't too long away."

"I understand that Minerva, how do you explain to a 16 year old that her life is about to drastically change?" Dumbledore questioned and McGonagall fell silent.

"She deserves to know what could happen that night, that she runs the risk of running into Voldemort again, and that her safety is at risk. She needs to know Albus and if you don't tell her, I will." McGonagall threatened before standing up and leaving the Headmaster's office.

.oOo.

"Do you think they've noticed that there is still a pink cloud up there?" Octavia questioned as she was staring at the ceiling of the Great Hall.

"I still can't believe you managed to get the ceiling to rain confetti," Lilith pointed out but Octavia just grinned.

"We had to celebrate two of our best friends finally realising that they are better off with each other."

"No one did anything when you and Padfoot finally became a couple," Lilith pointed out and Octavia shrugged.

"I dunno, Prongs did that weird dance or was that because Quidditch?" Octavia questioned and the other girl couldn't help but laugh. "Regardless, you two finally realising it meant you two were talking again and in a much better mood. I don't recall Padfoot and I ignoring each other before we started dating."

"Just a number of times," Lilith pointed out and Octavia waved her hand at the girl. "Come on Snow, you and Padfoot argue all the time."

"Regardless of the two of us arguing all the time, when was the last time we weren't speaking?"

"Oh I don't know, what about when you were terrified because he muttered that he loved you in his sleep."

Octavia narrowed her eyes, "just the other week you were questioning why I didn't have more girlfriends, that right there is why you don't either." She pointed a finger at the girl across from her but she just laughed.

"So we're both a little fucked up and don't know how to communicate with girls, it's probably why our dorm mate hates us," Lilith shrugged and Octavia laughed.

"Prongs won't be happy that the future Mrs Potter hates us," Octavia pointed out, looking over her shoulder as she heard laughter indicating that the boys had arrived for breakfast.

Both Sirius and Remus sat down beside their girlfriends and kissed their cheeks earning gagging sounds from both James and Peter but the two girls just shared a look.

"One day you two will find your own girlfriends and will stop making those sounds," Remus pointed out and James just shrugged before standing up and moving down the table to where Evans was sitting alone.

"I feel bad for her," Octavia spoke, instantly clapping a hand over her mouth afterwards, as shocked as the rest of them.

"What did you just say?" Sirius questioned as he removed her hand from her mouth.

"Her best friend was pulled from Hogwarts by her parents, her other best friend called her one of the dirtiest words amongst our community only a year ago. I get she has other friends in other houses, but being sorted into houses forces us to spend a lot time with said house." Octavia explained, earning smiles from Remus and Lilith.

"Awe look Lil, our little Snow has realised what compassion is," Remus teased with a smirk and she narrowed her eyes.

"Git," she threw a piece of toast at him. "I'm just going to keep my mouth shut from now on."

"Excellent," Sirius rubbed his hands together before the glare of his girlfriend was turned on him.

Octavia looked at him for a moment before she got up and headed down the table to where the seventh years were sitting.

"And just when I thought things were all good between Padfoot and Snow," Lilith shook her head and Sirius laughed before reaching behind him and scratching the back of his neck.

"Ah well I have made a fine act of screwing this up with my girlfriend haven't I?" he questioned and they all laughed before he got up and followed after Octavia, turning before he reached her at the sound of a hand connecting with skin and found James sitting there with a look of pure shock on his face.

"Looks like Prongs got slapped again," he heard Octavia's voice and he looked over to find her standing beside him.

"Guess so, you know I was only joking right?"

Octavia nodded before smiling up at him, "I've got to keep you on your toes somehow Pads," she had a smirk before she turned and left the Great Hall.

Sirius shook his head before walking over and taking a seat beside the rest of his friends, "Where did Snow go?" James questioned, having returned to the group as well.

"Who knows, she made a comment about keeping me on my toes." Sirius spoke with a shrug and Peter laughed.

"She's probably doing something to your bed right now, you know that right?" Peter pointed out and Sirius looked at him, before looking at James.

"She better bloody not," Sirius threatened before standing up and rushing out of the Great Hall, heading up to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Snow," Sirius growled as he pushed opened the door to his dorm, not seeing her in sight but the curtains were drawn around his bed. He walked over and ripped them open to find the bed empty except a note.

 _Check the bathroom._

He scrunched up the note before heading over to the bathroom and finding it empty as well, he let out a breath as he took notice of the note stuck to the mirror.

 _Come and go room Pads._

He let out a laugh, once they had worked out the trick to the come and go room the group of friends had been using it every now and then. Sirius' concern now was how he was meant to get in there with Octavia already in there? He just hoped that thinking about finding her would do the trick.

He made it to the part of the seventh floor corridor that housed the door to the come and go room, he paced back and forth thinking of finding Octavia, hoping that it would reveal the room she was in.

A grin appeared on his face as the door appeared and he pushed it open, stepping in and worry setting in as the room was completely dark.

"Snow?" he questioned softly and it was then he saw the balls of light appear in front of him, putting a soft glow in the room and when he looked over and spotted his girlfriend sitting in the middle of a bed with a large smile on her face as she looked at the balls of light, he knew it was all her.

"I see you found me," she sat up on her knees as she spoke and he instantly picked up on the flirtatious tone to her voice.

"I did, what's my prize?" he questioned but wasn't met with a verbal response. Instead Octavia dropped the sheet that she was holding around her and he marvelled in the sight of his girlfriend sitting before him naked. "I like my prize very much baby," he responded before walking over and climbing onto the bed, pushing her back on her back.

"I love you," Octavia spoke with a laugh, Sirius just kissed her deeply in response.

.oOo.

Octavia had a smile on her face as she skipped down the hill towards the meeting spot for Care of Magical Creatures, she knew Remus would turn up at some point, he and Lilith had Ancient Runes while she had a free period and normally met him down here before the start of class.

She spotted Dorcas Meadowes sitting on the grass enjoying the sun and warmth that was coming through, it was almost the end of term with only a couple of weeks left before the year was over.

"Hi Dorcas," Octavia chirped as she sat down next to the other girl, the only one who was down here waiting for class to begin.

Not many sixth years were taking Care of Magical Creatures at a NEWTs level, there was six of them in total and Remus had Ancient Runes with two of them.

"Hi Octavia, how are you?"

Octavia gave the girl a smile and exchanged pleasantries, waiting for the real topic of discussion to appear.

"How's Peter going?"

Octavia held in the laugh she wanted to release to the poor Hufflepuff girl, instead slightly shook her head. "You share History of Magic with him Dorcas, you could always struck up a conversation with him yourself."

Dorcas' cheeks turned pink and Octavia reached over and patted the other girl's shoulder, "come now Dorcas, this is Peter we are talking about. It's not like you have a crush on James that could end badly."

Dorcas finally laughed, having relaxed in front of Octavia. "The whole Castle knows that Potter is in love with Lily but she cannot stand him."

"I do not know about that Dorcas, their banter could always be considered to be flirting." Octavia had a slight smile on her face as she now had come to terms with the fact that maybe her future did involve Evans, that maybe James will one day win her over and the two get married. She hasn't seen anything to prove that they had changed the future, but she also hasn't seen anything to prove that they hadn't.

Octavia wanted James to be happy and if that meant with Evans, then she will change her tune towards the Muggleborn girl.

"That's a little farfetched Octavia."

"No?" Octavia questioned before looking out into the Forbidden Forest, quickly catching sight of the animals running along the edge. "You're friends with a Muggleborn, surely she has gotten you to read Pride and Prejudice? I know I have and it is a marvellous story, surely Evans and James remind you of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy?"

Dorcas raised an eyebrow, "have you actually read the story? Because that doesn't like them to me."

Octavia laughed, "alright you have me, I haven't read it. Just listened to Smith tells us about the book during Muggle Studies, it was worth a shot. My point stands, one day Evans will come around. Hi," Octavia greeted before she turned around and smiled at Remus who had just arrived.

"And pray tell O, who is Lily coming around to? Hello Dorcas," Remus greeted the other girl sitting beside Octavia, more interested in the conversation they were previously having instead of greeting one of his best friends.

Octavia narrowed her eyes slightly, a little annoyed at the lack of greeting but smiled all the same before sharing a look with Dorcas.

"I believe that Evans will come around to James, I see a future for those two in the horizon." Octavia grinned up at the older boy standing before her and he shook his head before taking a seat on the grass beside her.

"One would think you would want to change that particular part of the future," Remus warned and Octavia shrugged.

"I can't see into the future, so who am I to talk? I may be completely wrong about Evans coming around to James, who knows, she may be secretly into girls and is just baiting James like Ty was doing with Sirius." Octavia put out to Remus and Dorcas choked on a cough.

"She was dating Mason O'Connor Octavia, or are you forgetting that."

"Not at all, I agreed to a date with his twin brother just to piss Blake off, ahh the look on her face was enough to make the horrid thing worth it." Octavia leaned back on her elbows.

"One would think you rather enjoyed slapping the younger Black brother like you did during dinner," Dorcas spoke and Octavia looked over at her before standing up and brushing the loose grass and dirt off her robes.

Dorcas looked over at Remus as Octavia walked off, away from the two of them as everyone else began arriving for the beginning of class.

"What did I say?" she questioned and Remus shook his head.

"Not you exactly, that slap with Regulus is a sore topic with her. Did you manage to speak to Peter today?" Remus teased slightly and the other girl lowered her gaze to hide the blush once again appearing on her cheeks.

Dorcas was saved from further embarrassment as Kettleburn arrived to begin the class.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the Gryffindor common room that night after classes had finished to find Sirius laughing about something with Peter, unsure as to where the rest of their friends were.

"Padfoot," she whined as she walked over and sat down beside him.

"What Snow?" he questioned with slight annoyance, knowing that she was going to try and convince him to do something for her.

"Can you please go to the kitchens for me and get some chocolate chip cookies?" she pleaded with him.

Sirius was shocked that this was all she was asking of him, remembering what she was complaining about this morning he nodded before softly kissing her and getting up from the couch leaving her alone with Peter.

"That was easier than I thought," she spoke allowed before looking over at Peter with a smile on her face.

"What? I don't like it when you look at me like that." Peter fidgeted under Octavia's gaze but she just laughed.

"I had an interesting conversation with Dorcas Meadowes today," Octavia spoke, holding back the urge to increase her smile at the sight of Peter's pink cheeks.

"What did she say?" He stuttered out.

"Oh just that she wishes she had a date to the Hogsmeade weekend." Octavia lied, she knew about Dorcas' crush on Peter and hoped this was case and also hoped that Peter sucked up the courage and asked the other girl out on a date to the final Hogsmeade weekend of the year since it was obvious that he felt the same way to the girl.

Peter nodded and then mentioned something about History of Magic homework before heading to the stairs to the boys' dorm leaving Octavia alone in the common room.

Octavia shrugged before laying down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling waiting for Sirius to return.

Sirius entered the common room and stopped at the sight of his girlfriend sound asleep on the couch, he was worried about her but knew there was nothing he could do. He knew exactly what she was like and knew that the closer their exams got, the worse she would get. He just hoped her lack of sleep was due to exam stress and nothing else.

He walked over and knelt on the floor beside her, softly kissing her forehead and brushing the hair out of her face.

"Morning already?" she questioned softly as she rolled over and buried her face against his arm.

Sirius laughed before running his fingers through her hair, "not at all, I've only been gone a short while. You wanted cookies?"

She rolled back over and he noticed the happiness in her eyes before sitting up and holding her hands out for the cookies.

"I love you," she spoke as he handed them over before softly kissing him.

"Me or the cookies?" he teased, a look of shock appearing on her face as he sat in beside her on the couch.

"So I've decided if this war ends and I can't get a job working with magical creatures I may just start a match making business," Octavia spoke, breaking the silence between the couple.

"Is that so, why do you say that?" Sirius responded and his girlfriend looked up at him with a small smile.

"First Moony and Lilith and now hopefully Wormtail and Dorcas."

"You would have more luck of Evans and Prongs."

"That's next," Octavia stated.

"You honestly believe those two get married in the future?" Sirius responded, having heard it once or twice over the last week or so. He had no idea where she got this idea from but she was sticking to it, which surprised him considering how much the two girls didn't get along.

"Evans is in our future for some reason and I doubt it's because of me," she spoke before burying herself into Sirius, hoping for some more sleep before dinner.

.oOo.

"You wanted to see me Professor?" Octavia questioned as she entered Dumbledore's office.

She was unsure as to why she was requested here, McGonagall had just told her at the end of Transfiguration that she was requested by Dumbledore. Octavia hadn't done anything bad enough to warrant being sent to the Headmaster's office, even then she was requested, not sent.

"Yes, please take a seat."

Octavia walked over and took a seat across from Dumbledore and anxiously stayed silent, still unsure as to what is going on.

"How is your research going?"

Octavia smiled, grateful at finally finding out about what this request was about. "Good, it's going really good. I believe we are finally getting somewhere with finding out about Dreamers, it's just magic I'm struggling with. Everything is slowly coming towards me but I have no idea how I even go about making any of it defensive and I haven't had the ability to master my shield yet."

"It will come with time, you are still young and still learning and it's not as if you cannot wield a wand, you shouldn't stress so much." Dumbledore reassured Octavia and she nodded before taking a deep breath.

"Was that really why I was requested here?" Octavia questioned and a look crossed Dumbledore's face before he held up a bowl of sweets. "No thank you."

"A Prophecy has been made about you."

Dread filled Octavia, she had only heard bad things about Prophecies, she had never heard of a good thing coming from a Prophecy for the people they were about anyway.

"You heard wrong, it wasn't me." Octavia responded, not wanting to be in a Prophecy, if it was a Carrow, it had to be Alecto, right?

"Do you know where I can find the other Dreamer if not you? The Prophecy specifically stated the Dreamer."

"You still heard wrong, may I leave?" she questioned beginning to rise from her seat.

"No, you will sit and hear me out because you deserve to know what you may be getting yourself into soon enough." Dumbledore spoke sternly and Octavia reluctantly sat back down, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What was said? Because let me guess if it's I'm meant to be the one to take down Voldemort, I'll pass. I'd rather not come across that slimy bastard again thank you."

"It never stated that you were the one to take him down, although you may help with it. Are you going to hear me out?" Dumbledore questioned and Octavia stayed silent.

Octavia looked over to the window and noticed Fawkes sitting in the window, she stood up and made her way over and begun petting the phoenix.

"Yes," she spoke softly, sitting there as Dumbledore repeated the prophecy to her.

"What does it mean by missing a part of their soul?" Octavia questioned, feeling uneasy about that particular part of the Prophecy.

The fact that if this does come to the light of day, come every Blue Moon she will be linked to Voldemort and that was unsettling at best.

"It could be a number of things, but that is not for you to worry about, I am looking into it. For all we know it is just the wording of the Prophecy, they may refer to him as missing a part of his soul due to his lack of compassion as he goes around murdering countless victims, both magical and muggle."

"And if it's not that?" Octavia questioned, hoping Dumbledore will answer her.

"You may return to your friends now," Dumbledore dismissed her and she frowned before walking towards the door.

There was something about the whole missing part of a soul that wasn't sitting right within Octavia, there was something that Dumbledore wasn't telling her and she wanted to know.

.oOo.

"No way in hell Snow!" Sirius yelled and Octavia frowned at him before looking over at Remus.

The group of friends, minus James who was getting a late dinner thanks to a detention from Flitwick, were sitting in the boy's dorm while Octavia had finally gathered the courage to tell them all about the Prophecy Dumbledore had filled her in on.

Sirius was beyond annoyed at the idea of Octavia coming across Voldemort once more, since the last two times she has faced him, she's come out of it injured.

"Padfoot calm down," Lilith spoke up, noticing the tension building up in Sirius.

"Why should I calm down? The last time she came across that prick she came out of it worse off, why would I want to risk her safety once more?" Sirius snapped.

Octavia stood up from James' bed and walked over to where Sirius was on his own, she placed her hands on his face and softly stroke his cheeks, "Pads," she spoke softly but he just pulled away from her.

"What's a Blue Moon?" Peter questioned, hoping diffuse the tension between the group.

"A Blue Moon is an extra moon that appears in a subdivision of a year Wormtail, so an extra moon within the month or during a season." Lilith explained.

"Oh so those months where we went out twice within the month, the second one would have been a Blue Moon?" Peter questioned and they all nodded. "But the moon wasn't blue."

"It's just what it's called, it may not actually be blue, although I believe that is another occurrence all together. Astronomy isn't a strong suit of any us." Remus explained.

"Regardless of all of this, I will not let Snow go up against him defenceless again." Sirius spoke, ending the conversation of Blue Moons.

Octavia narrowed her eyes at him, "I am not defenceless Padfoot, I can take care of myself!" she yelled at him.

"Are you kidding me? The first time you were face to face with him you came out with that scar on your arm-" Sirius started but Octavia cut him off.

"I was eleven Padfoot! And the second time, it was me against a room of Death Eaters, I wouldn't have gotten out alive if I put up a fight."

"You barely got out alive as it is Snow," Sirius' voice was low as he stood up and faced his girlfriend.

"Alright, you two I think a timeout is in order." Remus spoke heading towards the couple.

Despite Sirius' temper they never once questioned their safety, especially Octavia's. This wasn't the first time that Sirius and Octavia have faced off, now that Octavia had pulled away from her family she wasn't as shy and reserved as she was back in first year, even fourth year when they completed the Animagus transformation and it was something they had all commented on once, believing if she was to complete it now instead of earlier, her form would be a dog.

Sirius hitting Octavia before Christmas, after what happened with Snape and the Whomping Willow was an accident and he apologised profusely for it and still to this day felt incredibly guilty for hitting her. They all knew he would never do it on purpose.

Even Octavia's tendency to hit people wasn't exactly a malicious one, she did it when they were being idiots or prats as she usually called them. She had only twice became physical when she was in the middle of an argument and even then she has only slapped Regulus and Sirius.

The door to the dorm opened, causing them all to turn and look around noticing James standing there and something was clearly bothering him.

"Prongs what's wrong?" Peter questioned and James shook his head, shutting the door behind him.

James threw his bag on his bed as he continued through to the bathroom, his friends all stood around and watched him with caution, something was wrong and it was different to when Evans has rejected him in the past.

Sirius waited until he heard the showering running before he went over and began looking James' bag.

"What the hell are you doing?" Peter hissed at him.

"Looking for a note, he was obviously told something, that isn't the Evans rejected me once again and even then, the last Hogsmeade weekend was last weekend." Sirius pointed out and a grin appeared on Peter's face, remembering his date with Dorcas.

Octavia walked over and grabbed Sirius' hands, "he will tell us when he's ready, please stop doing this." she spoke softly and he turned and looked at her, wrapping his arms around her in the process.

"Can't lose you," he whispered in her ear.

After that they were able to talk rationally about the Prophecy regarding Octavia, they were all also confused about the missing part of the soul part.

James left the bathroom and found them all staring at him. "What?" he questioned.

"What's wrong Prongs?" Octavia questioned and it was then they saw the normally confident teenager look completely broken and shattered.

"Mum's in St Mungo's, something about Dragon Pox." He spoke, they all stared at him taking in the information.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	74. Dragon Pox

Chapter 73: Dragon Pox

"Explain it again, please." Octavia spoke, her voice incredibly soft.

"Snow, we've talked about this, over and over." Sirius responded as he walked over to hug her but she just pulled away him.

The two of them and James were currently sitting in the dining room while Fleamont was still at St Mungo's with Euphemia, the three teenagers still unable to spend a lot of time in there with her, more so Octavia then the other two.

"No, I don't get it. We get pulled from Hogwarts not long after Prongs tell us to have diagnostic spells run on us at St Mungo's and we're shoved into a room only to be found that we don't have Dragon Pox, Fleamont doesn't have Dragon Pox either but Euphemia does. How does that work? How does she have it and not him?" tears built up in her eyes as she spoke, and Sirius hated seeing his girlfriend like this but she wouldn't even let him touch her, let alone hug her to comfort her.

"It happens Snow," James banged his hands on the table, scaring the other two. "Dad might just have a more resilient body then mum. Do we honestly have to keep talking about this, this is my bloody mother in St Mungo's." James snapped before getting up and leaving the room.

"It's not making sense," Octavia spoke as she buried her face in her arms against the table.

Sirius walked and squeezed himself in beside her on the chair, hoping more than anything she wouldn't pull away from him, "I know baby, but not everything has to make sense to you. Fleamont may be more resilient then Euphemia, maybe Fleamont came across Dragon Pox when he was younger and is able to battle the disease better. You constantly questioning everything is making things harder for Prongs." Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips into her hair.

Octavia looked up at Sirius as the tears built up in her eyes, "they're family Pads."

Sirius cupped her face, "I know baby, I know. You're hurt and upset, but you are making things worse by constantly questioning it."

"I'm going to apologise to Prongs," Octavia pulled away from Sirius and headed out looking for James.

Sirius stayed there, sitting at the table and watched as Octavia walked away from him.

He was worried, worried about what would happen if Euphemia did happen to die. He would be an idiot to not think that the only reason she stayed all those months ago was because of something Euphemia said instead of him, he worries as to what will happen to his girlfriend when the worst case scenario happens.

Sirius was still sitting there at the dining table, griping his hair as he thought over possible scenarios of what could go wrong and if he would lose Octavia, or if she would lose herself, when he heard James and Octavia re-enter the room. He looked up at them.

"We're going to St Mungo's to visit mum, you coming?" James questioned and Sirius nodded before walking over and grabbing Octavia's outstretched hand.

Sirius Apparated Octavia and himself to St Mungo's before the two of them and James walked through the halls heading towards Euphemia's room.

"How are you feeling mum?" James questioned as the three of them entered the room and took seats in the chairs.

They may not have Dragon Pox yet and were being closely monitored until they were definitely cleared from the disease, but they also weren't allowed to get within close proximity of Euphemia until she was clear of the disease.

"I am much better now that you three are home from Hogwarts," she gave them all a smile but James frowned at her.

"I don't know why dad didn't tell me earlier, we could have come home earlier."

"Don't be like that, I convinced your father not to tell you. You had exams to worry about and I wasn't that bad, I didn't feel that sick. Your father was worried and admitted me to St Mungo's."

"That's because you're stubborn mum." James retort before scrubbing his face with his hands.

"Oh Jamesy, don't be like this I feel fine now." Euphemia spoke, hoping to reassure her son as well as the other two teenagers sitting there in front of her, "honestly, I do."

"You wouldn't be in here if you feel fine mum, you would be at home where you belong." James responded.

"They're taking precautions, now tell me all about your school year, I want to hear everything." Euphemia gave them a smile as they all began talking about their year at Hogwarts.

.oOo.

"Snow?"

"Fuck," Octavia muttered as she dropped the cup that was in her hands due to Remus startling her.

Remus waved his wand and fixed the broken glass, "didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine, I suppose everyone is a little jumpy around here." Octavia finally turned and looked at Remus, all he did was shake his head before stepping forward and hugging the girl on the verge of tears.

"Euphemia is a very strong women."

"I know, it's just being in that Hospital room with her reminds me so much of when my grandmother was in there." Octavia's voice cracked and Remus softly rubbed her back.

"Sh, it'll be alright, if things go badly we're all here for all of you, we're family and we will get through this together. Speaking of our little family, where are the others?"

Octavia pulled away and wiped away the tears before putting more hot chocolate in the repaired mug, "Prongs and Wormtail are at St Mungo's and Padfoot is probably drunk in his room again."

"Again?" Remus raised an eyebrow, not questioning where Lilith was since he knew his girlfriend was in France visiting family.

"If we're not at St Mungo's he's hiding away in his room with a bottle of Fire Whiskey, barely lets me in as it is."

"So none of you are really coping?" Octavia shook her head before looking up at the roof where she heard a thud. "Padfoot?" Remus questioned wearily and she shrugged.

"Probably tripped over something, if he's hurt he'll come looking for me. Fleamont spends every day at St Mungo's and Prongs is there pretty much all the time as well and I just can't go all the time, especially considering the closer it gets to the end of the month."

"With the Blue Moon coming up?" he questioned and she nodded in response.

Octavia placed the cup in the sink before leaving the room and taking a seat on the couch, Remus following behind her, he sat across from her on the couch and the two of them looked at each other in silence.

"I know I shouldn't lock myself up like a psych patient because of this stupid Prophecy but I don't want it to come true either."

"None of us do Snow, none of us want you to come across him again but then again it's a Prophecy, if it's not this Blue Moon, it may be the next."

"And then I become a connection to his mind, as if I wasn't weird enough already." Octavia complained and Remus laughed softly.

"We're all a little weird, it's why we're all such good friends," he grinned at her, glad to finally get her to laugh. "It'll be fine Snow, if it happens, it happens and we will take it one day at a time, just like we will with what's what happening this summer."

Octavia nodded, it was only then she heard a door slam upstairs, curiosity got the better of her and she stood up and headed towards the stairs, only to have Sirius rush past her.

"Padfoot," she called after him, hoping he would stop, glad when he did.

"Hi baby," Sirius spoke, as he spun around, his steps stumbling.

"Where are you going?" she questioned as she walked over and helped steady him.

"For a ride baby, do you want to join me?" Sirius cupped her face and kissed her forehead, if it wasn't for the fact that she knew he was most likely drinking Fire Whiskey in his room, the smell of it on his breath helped confirm it.

"Give me the keys Padfoot," Octavia ordered and he eyed her carefully before shaking his head.

"Nope," he responded, turning around and bumping into Remus and falling to the ground.

"What were you saying Padfoot?" Remus questioned but Sirius didn't respond, just looked at where he dropped the keys.

Octavia threw herself to the floor in hopes of getting the keys first, but Sirius attempted to crawl after her in hopes of getting the keys back.

"Padfoot, stop." Remus ordered, but he ended up being ignored.

Sirius managed to flip Octavia and pin her to the floor, halting his actions at the look on her face.

"Please don't get on the bike, please don't ride it after you've been drinking." She pleaded with him, eyes brimming with tears. "Please, I can't lose you."

Sirius looked at where the keys were sitting in Octavia's hand before he let go of her wrists and placed them on her neck. "Okay baby, I promise. For you I promise to never ride the bike after I've been drinking."

"Then let me take the keys," Octavia spoke and Sirius shook his head as he leaned forward and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

Octavia looked over his head and at Remus, hoping he would use Sirius' distraction and grab the keys from her hand.

"I'm going to go visit Prongs and Wormtail, I'll come see you later, you going to be alright with him?" Remus questioned as he bent down and grabbed the keys.

"I'll be fine, we all know Pads acts like a puppy when he's drunk, most of the time anyway." Octavia responded, smiling at Remus when Sirius begun softly placing kisses along her neck.

"You know where I will be if you need me Snow," Remus gave her a smile before he disappeared from the room.

Sirius pulled away and noticed that the keys were missing from her hand, "that prat took them didn't he?" he snapped and Octavia nodded.

"I can't lose you, I hate that you ride the bike sober as it is, you drunk, terrifies me or do you not remember what happened New Year's Eve with you drunk on a broom?" Octavia spoke as tears built up in her eyes and Sirius frowned before cupping her face.

"Okay baby, now your comment about me being a puppy?" he questioned and she grinned at him.

"Come on, let's get you upstairs for a nap and then you can take a shower and then maybe we can go to St Mungo's. You need to stay away from the Fire Whiskey Pads."

Sirius pulled away and scrubbed at his face, "it's helping me forget how fucked up our life is."

Octavia sat up and looked at him before wrapping her fingers around his wrists, pulling them away from his face. "How? We have each other, we've made a family with people who love each other, we're both happy and away from our controlling parents."

"The family we've made is about to lose one person, we are still unsure as to how and if we will lose a couple more by the end of the war, speaking of the war we are going to be in it come our graduating because it doesn't look like it's letting up any time soon, if that war happens to kill your brother you get dumped with a baby and let's not forget about that damn Prophecy that came out not so long ago."

"Alright, come on let's go have a nap, you need to sober up before we go anywhere."

Octavia's stomach did flips at the look that appeared on his face before he leaned closer to her and kissed her, "come join me in my bed? We are home alone for a change." He suggested and a smirk appeared on her face.

"I wouldn't want to be taking advantage of a puppy," she teased and he pushed her back towards the ground.

"What's this about me being a puppy?" he questioned, his voice low and she smiled at him.

"When you're drunk, you become excitable, overly energetic, everything that resembles a puppy. It's only been since you've started drinking since we've gotten back from Hogwarts that you've turned into this depressive state, you're normally the complete opposite of this."

Sirius shook his head before standing up and pulling Octavia up with him, before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder earning a bubble of laughter from her as he carried her up the stairs towards his room.

"We'll see about this bloody puppy comment," he grumbled and she just laughed once more.

.oOo.

The house was too quiet for Octavia's liking, she had managed to pull the Fire Whiskey from Sirius after the confrontation between the two of them about him drinking and going on the motor bike, so instead all he's been doing is riding his motor bike instead of drinking and as much as Octavia was grateful he stopped drinking, she was still terrified about something happening to him while on the bike. That was where he currently was with James, hoping to lift the boy's spirits.

Before this summer she had long gotten used to the noise that was regularly coming from Sirius and James while they were up to whatever it is they were planning, even Euphemia had a habit of leaving the wireless on and the sound of it wafted through the house, but now there was nothing, dead silence and it unnerved her.

Even turning on the wireless sitting in the living room on didn't help, it didn't help fill the void that the house now had without Euphemia around.

Octavia scrubbed at her face before looking over at the doors that led outside, a blue sky indicating it was nowhere near night time and she was able to leave the house. The Prophecy indicated 'at night', so Octavia thought she would surely be alright as long as the sun was still up.

She went upstairs and quickly got changed into some Muggle clothes before she walked out the front door, locking up behind her before she made the short walk into the local town to wonder around in hopes of curing her boredom and getting rid of the silence that had been bothering her.

Octavia had completely lost track of time as she was wondering around through the town looking at all the unusual things sitting in the muggle shops, between Muggle Studies and the number of trips the group of friends had taken with Remus over the last few breaks that she was able to manage on her own in the town and a buy a few things for herself and a couple of things she thought Sirius might enjoy.

It wasn't until she spotted something in the window of a jewellery store that she regretted her earlier purchases, wishing she had the spare gold to purchase the bracelet sitting in the window. She might still have ample gold in her vault but she had no idea what her future held for her and that's what terrified her the most, she didn't know how long her and Sirius could continue to live of the Potter's wealth. She hadn't voiced it to anyone else yet, but if Euphemia had fallen sick, how long until Fleamont followed? Both of James' parents were older than her own, even Sirius' parents who were slightly older than her own.

A sigh of disappointment left her knowing she couldn't blow anymore gold today, not with the looming Hogwarts Letter due to arrival along with their book lists, she had no idea how much the books were going to cost and it didn't help that Smith had ended the year on a warning to make sure they brought the books listed in the letter.

She was heading back to the Potter's, hoping that Sirius and James had returned and Sirius had waited around for her being heading off to St Mungo's since James had made mention of visiting Euphemia tonight since tomorrow they were attending Frank and Alice's engagement party, them having gotten engaged the other week, Lilith was returning for the day for the party before going back to France.

She made a cut through an empty field hoping to get back to the manor quicker, the sun setting in the distance putting her on alert.

She stopped in her tracks as she caught sight of the figures in the distance, she wanted to kick herself, she had to walk past them unless she wanted to backtrack her steps. She couldn't Apparate and she couldn't use magic since she was still underage.

A gasp escaped her lips as she stumbled back a couple of steps due to the figure appearing in front of her.

"Octavia Carrow, isn't it funny running into you here."

Dread filled every inch of her as the voice spoke, she didn't even dare look up into his eyes.

She didn't want to believe that she was now standing in front of Voldemort.

Octavia attempted to ignore him and continue walking through the field, hoping his want of her was greater than his annoyance at her not wanting to join his side.

She barely got 10 ten steps away before her feet froze to the ground.

"A greeting is normally returned Octavia, now I can see why your parents disowned you."

Anger coursed through her as Voldemort spoke, "I left because my parents abused me, I left for my safety. Why are you so interested in a blood traitor anyway?" she snapped, no longer caring what he did, she just hoped she could keep herself alive long enough to make an escape.

"Just because you associate yourself with blood traitors doesn't mean you are one Octavia." Voldemort responded and Octavia shook her head.

"No a blood traitor is anyone who sympathises with Muggles and Muggleborns, not to mention all the other half breed creatures out there like Werewolves. I enjoy taking Muggle Studies and despite not getting along with my own Muggleborn roommate, I do get along with other Muggleborns within Hogwarts. What do you have to say now, still think I am not a blood traitor? Admit it, you don't want me for my name or the gold that comes with my name, you don't even care about my blood status. You only want me because of what I am, tell me, how did you come to realise that I am a Dreamer, before I did myself?" Octavia questioned, for once seeing the calm demeanour that always accompanied Voldemort finally slipped.

"Despite me not being able to get into your head, your wand, I daresay your previous one was very different, I noticed early on the small differences in colouring and realised it could mean one thing. Add that to you thinking that you were alone, when you weren't that summer in the cabin, I saw some things you probably thought I didn't."

"You're lying," Octavia hissed holding her wand out, wondering if she should throw the first spell.

"Think what you want, if you want to be treated like a blood traitor, fine I will treat you like a blood traitor." Voldemort waved his wand and Octavia's feet were free, and she was able to turn to walk away. "Where do you think you are going?" he yelled and she was forcibly turned around to face him. "I punish blood traitors, or are you forgetting that?"

"You say that but I seem to recall you punishing me twice before," Octavia pulled her wand out of her sleeve and held it up.

"I punish everyone that doesn't bend to my will, now are we duelling or are you going to attempt to run away again?" he taunted.

Octavia didn't respond, she just threw a hex his way, the Ministry be damned about using magic while underage.

The two of them fell into silence, the only words they spoke were the hexes and jinxes they sent towards each other.

Octavia was in pain and exhausted, she was also pretty sure that she had several cuts on her body due to the stinging sensation that she felt all over.

She thought she was faring well considering who she was duelling, but it wasn't until she was disarmed and her wand was thrown to the ground that she knew she was in trouble.

"I think the warm up is over don't you?" Voldemort questioned but Octavia stayed silent. "You're a Dreamer Octavia and that means you preform wandless magic, do so."

Octavia stood there with her hands up waiting to do something but she didn't know what, she didn't know how the Charms she had learnt to preform wandlessly could be defensive, she didn't know how they could help her in this duel against Voldemort.

"You don't know how to use your magic do you? Had you sided with me all those years ago I would have helped you, instead Dumbledore has left you on your own, he left you to work out your own differences, learn how to control everything on your own, deal with everything on your own. With me, you wouldn't have been alone." Voldemort spoke as he threw a jet of green light at Octavia causing her to jump to the side.

"You're wrong, I wouldn't have been alone because I would have had my friends. I rejected your task because they were my friends and I love my friends, I could never do what you asked of me. I don't understand how you would have been able to help me, Dumbledore can't help me because no one can, I'm on my own with my magic using books and practise as the only way to improve. You are not a Dreamer and therefore you cannot help me." Octavia responded before throwing a gush of wind towards Voldemort and sending him off balance.

"So you have been practising, friends don't mean anything, they make you weak."

Octavia then started jumping and dodging the hexes that Voldemort sent her way as she was thinking of what she knew her magic could do to send towards him.

She finally caught sight of her wand and made a grab for it and that was when it finally happened.

She didn't realise when it became dark around her, the light from the Full Moon making the field bright enough for them to see as well as the light from the spells they threw around.

She didn't even recognise the jinx that was sent towards her and she threw her hands up in hopes of getting a shield to work to protect her because she was exhausted and couldn't continue to jump out of the way anymore.

She managed to produce her shield just as the light appeared in front of her, a loud bang sounded in the area and a burst of energy pushed them both back to the ground.

Octavia slipped into blackness, not having the energy to stay awake any longer.

.oOo.

The older couple quickly rushed through the field, unsure as to what was happening near their home but quickly left to investigate.

At first the couple thought it was the stupid muggles in their area playing with fire crackers again but it was when they caught sight of the man standing in the field quickly disappearing from their vision that they realised it was something completely different happening.

They rushed over to the lone girl laying on the ground wondering if she was muggle and fallen to the antics that had been troubling their community, but instead they caught sight of a wand in her hand and discovered that she was a witch and knew that she had to be taken to St Mungo's.

.oOo.

Octavia came to and let out a groan at the pain she was in, hearing a noise in the corner of the room she opened her eyes and saw Sirius curled up in the armchair.

They were looking at each other and Octavia could instantly tell he hadn't been sleeping properly and he looked like complete shit, nothing like she remembered seeing him look like last.

"Padfoot?" she croaked and Sirius instantly got up from his chair and rushed to her bedside and kissed her urgently.

"Fuck baby," Sirius breathed as he pulled away and ran his hands through his hair. "Damn it Snow!" he yelled at her.

Octavia was so confused, she didn't understand why he was mad at her.

"Prongs and I returned to the house and we just thought you went and visited Marlene since you had been talking about doing that for a week, we go to St Mungo's and everything's fine until Liam comes into Euphemia's room looking for us, claims it's something to do with Lilith so he doesn't worry her but yet it's actually him informing us that you had been admitted by some old couple that came across you passed out in the field near their house. Fuck Snow!" he yelled once again before collapsing into a chair.

"I was terrified Snow because I knew, I just knew it was Voldemort, you can't even deny it. We all know it was a Full Moon that night, we all knew it was a Blue Moon and when the Prophecy was meant to come to be that night. Why couldn't you stay at home? Or go to Marlene's? Why the bloody hell did you have to leave the house alone."

Octavia sat there on the bed and stared at Sirius, it wasn't until he leaned forward and placed his head in his hands that she was finally able to speak.

"Come here Padfoot," she spoke softly but his head snapped up and she could tell he was still angry at her.

"Damn it Snow!" he yelled again and Octavia frowned at him. "Five days, I've sat here for five days wondering if you would wake up, wondering if I would lose you. We've all been worried about you, Lilith even cut her trip short to come home, Euphemia is beyond worried, she's gotten worse baby."

The tears Octavia had been attempting to keep at bay finally escaped, "please come here." She pleaded with him and after a couple of minutes of silence, him watching her silently cry, he finally stood up and made way over to her bed and climbed in beside her.

"I'm sorry okay, I'm sorry I put everyone through that. I just couldn't stand being in the quiet house and went into town. The sun was still up when I was heading home and the sun was still up when I ran into him, I still don't even know why he was there in that field. For all I know he knew I was at the Potter's and was planning to ambush me in the house, I would have been screwed either way." Her voice broke and Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"I thought I was going to be safe, I thought I was in clear because the sun was still up. How was I meant to know he was in the field behind their house, I just-"

"Sh baby," Sirius cut her off before pressing his lips against her temple. "Just get some more rest, I'm going to find Liam and have him check you out before going and seeing Euphemua."

Octavia didn't remember falling asleep but she was woken up by the sounds of voices in her room and found Liam and Lilith standing in the corner of the room whispering between themselves.

"Lil?" Octavia questioned, hoping to get their attention and they both looked at her.

"Glad to see you awake Octavia, Sirius came and found me earlier but by the time I managed to make it back to your room you had fallen asleep again." Liam spoke and Octavia nodded as she attempted to sit up in the bed.

"Where is he?" she questioned, noticing the look that Lilith and her father shared. "What is it?"

"Nothing you should worry about," Lilith shook her head at the look Octavia gave her. "Honestly, it's nothing. Euphemia is fine, no worse than she has been and Remus is handling Sirius."

"Why what'd he do?" Octavia spoke, looking completely worried.

"I told you it's nothing to worry about, just fallen back on the bottle is all, or so I've been told." Lilith explained waving her hand around. "If you are really that worried I will go check on them, I think all the boys are together."

"Please," Octavia pleaded and Lilith nodded, before turning and kissing her father's cheek and walking over to hug her best friend.

"Now how are you feeling?" Liam questioned as soon as Lilith was gone, she looked over at her best friend's father and nodded.

"Fine I think, my body is a little sore. I don't even remember what happened for me to pass out." She knew what happened, she remember seeing Voldemort send a jinx her way and she hoped of putting her shield up in hopes of protecting herself and then she blacked out, only to wake up in here but she couldn't tell Liam that.

"You know the Aurors are going to have questions for you."

"I have no answers."

"Honestly Octavia, I would have thought you would have realised by now that I know just how much you and Sirius keep from everyone. Your diagnostic revealed that you were in a duel but there is no damage to show that you shouldn't remember what happened. The older couple said they heard lots of noise and saw lots of light coming from where you were, now let's try this again, what happened?"

Octavia just averted her gaze and refused to answer Liam's question.

Liam let out a sigh, having seen in the past just how stubborn she can be when she has decided not to tell anyone what happened. "You will be fine, may be in a little pain for a few days, something which a pain potion will help if you wish. You are free to leave your room if you wish to go and visit Euphemia but I want you to spend one more night here just to be safe and then tomorrow you can return home."

"Thank you," she muttered before climbing out of the bed and leaving her room in search of Euphemia's.

Octavia walked over and took a seat in the armchair in Euphemia's room when she noticed that she was asleep.

Sirius was right when he said that she has gotten worse, it was obvious just by looking at her and it broke Octavia's heart.

She didn't know what was going to happen once her maternal figure had passed away, her sense security was also gone but then again, was she truly safe if Voldemort had found her in that field.

"You gave us all quite the scare sweetheart." Euphemia spoke, startling Octavia.

"It's not like I did it on purpose, how are you feeling?"

"Everyone keeps asking me that but yet I can see just how badly you, Sirius and James are suffering. I've barely seen Sirius over the last five days while you've been unconscious and James has been torn as to who he wants to visit."

"You're his mother, he should visit you. I was fine, I would have woken up eventually." Octavia responded, shifting in the chair.

Euphemia shook her head, "they didn't know what happened to you, the Healers couldn't be sure if you would or not."

Octavia lowered her gaze and wiped away at the tear that escaped, she couldn't believe she put them all through this. Euphemia's worry over her, decreased her own health and Sirius jumped back on the Fire Whiskey because of it.

.oOo.

Octavia collapsed against the wall and sunk to the floor, she only needed to see the look on James' face to know that Euphemia had died, she didn't need to hear the words from James' mouth as well.

She watched as James turned and went back into the room to be with his father while Sirius walked down the corridor, she knew he needed a moment alone, hell she did as well.

It's only been a couple of days since Octavia woke up but in those days they could see the decrease in Euphemia's health, the Healers had tried warning them all that it could be any day that the Dragon Pox would finally take it's full affect but she was still shocked that it happened, that Euphemia had died.

So she continued to stay sitting there, letting the tears run down her cheeks while she continued to stare at the door that had been Euphemia's room at St Mungo's before she passed away.

Octavia wiped away the tears and stood up, heading towards the reception where the fireplaces are situated so she can floo back to Potter Manor, it was in this moment that she wished she was older, that there wasn't so many months between her and James, who was the second youngest of the group. She wanted to be able to Apparate already, it didn't matter if she could do, she was able to do it from the first go but she wasn't 17 yet and able to get her Apparition license.

She made it back to the Manor and headed straight for the bedroom she was using as her own and began throwing everything in her trunk, grateful for the undetectable extension charm that had been placed on it when she was younger.

It wasn't until she entered the living room, planning on grabbing the books on Dreamers they had spread out in the room, that she finally came across someone and it was Sirius sitting on the couch.

"What do you think you're doing Snow?" he questioned and it was then she noticed the glass in his hands, most likely full of Fire Whiskey.

"I'm leaving, don't you dare think about getting on your motorcycle after you've been drinking." She demanded before collecting up her books and throwing them in her trunk.

Sirius waited until she picked up her trunk to pull it behind her out of the house before he threw the glass he was holding at the wall beside her head, causing her jump.

"What the hell Padfoot! You could have hit me!" she yelled at him, dropping the trunk.

"What's this bullshit about you leaving?"

"I have to leave, I'm not safe anymore, and we're not safe Pads." Sirius stepped forward and frowned before pulling a piece of glass out of her hair.

"We are safe, we've been safe for over a year."

"Bullshit! How the hell do you explain Voldemort cornering me in the field the other week?" Octavia snapped and he fell silent, not having a response.

"Why are you only panicking about this now?"

"We shouldn't have stayed this long and put the Potter's in this much danger, we have to leave." She pleaded with him and he cupped her face.

"But we are safe Snow, no one is going to get us here, I promise you that. Please stay here, don't leave me." He spoke, his voice breaking.

"But Prongs and Fleamont need to be together as a family so they can grieve, we will only get in the way."

"No Snow, Euphemia considered us family, Fleamont considers us family, Prongs and Fleamont are family and Euphemia was considered family, we will grieve with them, as a family because we are a family Snow." Sirius spoke softly before resting his forehead against hers.

Octavia pulled away from him and pushed against his chest. "Fine, you want me to fucking stay, fine I will fucking stay but we're fucking done Sirius!" she yelled before storming upstairs and slamming the door behind her.

Sirius gripped his hair with his hands before walking over, picking up the Fire Whiskey bottle and throwing it against the wall, adding more glass and Fire Whiskey everywhere.

He transformed into his dog form before barrelling through the doors and taking off into the woods.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to the Raven that flies at night, it means a lot to me.**


	75. Grieving

Chapter 74: Grieving

A week had passed since Euphemia had died and since Octavia broke up with Sirius and neither James nor Sirius had seen Octavia, she had literally locked herself in her room and the only reason they knew she was still alive was because Tillie, the Potter's house elf, had been bringing her food for her meals.

James had no idea what happened between the two of them, he came home from St Mungo's with Fleamont and noticed the mess in the living room, the wide open doors to outside and Octavia's trunk sitting on the floor. It was only because of the sounds of howling, that he knew distinctively belonged to Octavia and Sirius that he told his father that everything was fine and he was grateful that his father didn't question how he knew.

Even Sirius was barely at meals, only appearing when he felt like it and even then James was 95% sure that those times Sirius was drunk.

James didn't want it to be true but he felt like he was dealing with his _own_ mother's death better than his friends were and he didn't know what to do to fix it, to fix what was broken between them because something obviously had happened.

It wasn't until their Hogwarts letters turned up that James truly broke and the death of his mother really sunk in, he saw the Head Boy badge sitting there, resting in his palm glittering under the sunlight streaming in from the kitchen windows. He knew his mother would have been so proud of him, he knew she hated the side of him that caused him to spend many hours sitting in detentions but she was still proud of him none the less for being made Quidditch Captain, for having decent grades or even excelling in Transfiguration. He does wonder what his mother would think that he was able to complete the Animagus transformation.

"Oh look at who the prat is now," Sirius commented from behind James, catching sight of the Head Boy badge in James hand. "Moony is a Prefect and you're now Head Boy, just great." Sirius slurred, giving James the idea that the other boy was drunk once more.

James grabbed Sirius' shoulders before shoving against the wall. "What the hell is your problem mate? She was my mother but yet you've spent the last week drunk, Snow has spent the last week holed up in her room. I have to sit here and watch as two of my best mates fall apart and I don't even know how to fix it." James hissed at him through gritted teeth.

Sirius pushed against James, managing to push him away knowing he was stronger thanks to his Beater training. "My problem is I have a prat for a best friend, maybe Evans will finally give you the light of day now that you're Head Boy, wait she won't because she hates you." Sirius mocked before grabbing the keys to his motor bike and heading out through the doors.

"Snow will kill you for driving that thing drunk," James called out after him, surprised when Sirius stopped walking.

"Well she broke up with me, doubt that she actually cares whether or not I kill myself on the bike." Sirius spoke before continuing on, leaving James standing there shocked at the information.

.oOo.

Octavia stood there in the doorway to Sirius' bedroom, looking at him full of worry. James was banging on her bedroom door for a full five minutes waiting for her to open the door before he gave up and yelled through the door, letting her know that Sirius had gone out on the motor bike after drinking, something she had requested he never do.

There wasn't any noticeable injuries but ever since the incident in fourth year when she dislocated her shoulder they had begun working on healing spells, she just assumed James had healed any obvious injuries. But then again she most likely would have heard Sirius cause a fuss at the damage done to his bike, he loved the thing and even more so since the summer before his 17th birthday when she had placed the charms on it so it could fly.

She reluctantly walked over and climbed into the bed with him, unsure as to how he would react to finding her in there with him, she wasn't entirely surprised when all she could smell was Fire Whiskey when she climbed into the bed.

"Thought you broke up with me," Sirius mumbled, catching the familiar sent that belonged to Octavia, he wanted to open his eyes and look at her since the week felt so much longer than it actually had been.

"Thought I told you not to ride that bike drunk," she spoke softly as she made herself comfortable against him, happy when he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"The prat dobbed on me didn't he?" he grumbled and she whacked him across the chest causing him to let out a small laugh. "What the prat is Head Boy, if that doesn't determine a prat then I don't know what does."

"He's one of our best mates, he's not a prat. Please tell me you are fine and Prongs didn't heal you of any injuries that you may have caused while riding drunk." Octavia pulled away and waved her hand putting some light into the room so she could get a better look at him.

"I'm fine, he wouldn't heal me if I was injured anyway. I was drunk and called him a prat, it kind of went from there. Why are you in here anyway, you broke up with me."

Octavia's eyes filled up with tears, "I did but I hate I said that, I love you, I don't want to lose you." Her voice broke and it caused Sirius to sit up on the bed.

"I love you too but you can't throw out the I'm done every time something goes wrong, that shit hurts Snow."

"I know and I'm so sorry, please don't leave me." her voice broke as the tears started to fall down her cheeks.

Sirius cupped her face and wiped away the tears with his thumbs, "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

"Please stop drinking so much Fire Whiskey Pads," she spoke as the two of them laid back down on the bed.

"As long as you come out of your room more often, what made you come in here tonight of all times? It can't have been of worry for my life otherwise you would have come and found me sooner."

"Partly, I was planning on confronting you in the morning hoping you would be sober but I had a dream tonight."

"A bad dream where you thought I crashed my bike and you panicked thinking it was real or one of your future dreams?" Sirius questioned as he pulled her closer against his body and softly kissed the top of her head.

"A future dream, I saw us happy and still clearly in love despite what we may go through because of this war."

"How far into the future is this one?"

"I don't know, but we're much older, older than what I looked in that dream with Moony when we were arguing."

"So we make it through the war, still very much in love, isn't that what we want? To know that we make it through?"

"I wonder if it means we changed something and that Prongs and Worms don't die? Moony was dead set on the fact that you betrayed us." Octavia spoke mid yawn.

"I told you, I'm not going to betray you, I don't know why you keep questioning me on that fact and keep thinking that all your dreams are going to come true, so far only one has and even then it was only half. We know that the map is real, we manage to create it but as for who you saw holding it, we have no idea who that is."

"We're going into a war and I'm worried we're going to lose some of our friends, aren't I allowed to be paranoid?"

"Get some sleep Snow," was all Sirius said in response.

"Pads," Octavia spoke softly after a couple of minutes of silence.

"What Snow?" Sirius questioned, sounding completely annoyed at having his sleep interrupted once again.

"I really am sorry," Sirius let out a sigh before opening his eyes and look at her, noticing the tears building up in her eyes.

"I know, you panicked when Euphemia died and you took it out on me, I understand. Just please, no more shutting me out."

"I promise, I love you."

"I love you too Snow," Sirius smiled as she leaned over and softly kissed him.

Sirius placed his hands on her waist and rolled them so she was straddling his lap and he finally took a good look at what she was wearing.

"Bloody hell Snow, you walked down the hall dressed like that?" he questioned, his voice sounding hoarse.

"Figured Prongs deserved a show," she teased before kissing him once more.

When Octavia woke up the following morning she felt incredibly rested, the best night's sleep she's had in a while and she doesn't know if it's because her and Sirius made up or because for once she had no worries on her mind as she fell asleep.

A smile appeared on her face as Sirius wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, "morning baby," Sirius spoke before he pressed his lips against the crook of her neck.

Octavia wrapped her arm around him and pressed herself closer to him, "morning Pads." She responded finally opening her eyes and looking at him, instantly realising he was in pain, probably due to a hangover from yesterday's drinking.

"Don't look at me like that," he grumbled as he pulled away and rolled over before climbing out of the bed.

"Do we have to repeat last night's conversation or do you remember it?" she questioned and he looked at her before shaking his head and began digging through his draws.

"No, we don't have to repeat it. I get why you broke up with me, you were angry, hurt and scared and you took it all out on me. I hate that you did it and you were being stubborn while my pride and ego got hurt and I didn't feel like taking another blow by confronting you about it all." Sirius rubbed his hands up and down his face before he took a deep breath and looked back over at Octavia who was now sitting up in the bed, looking at him, worry written all over her face. "Baby don't look like that, we're fine. It's always been you and me against the world, if we can get passed what I did with Snivellus then we can get passed this."

"But I broke up with you, I hurt you and did something incredibly stupid." Octavia lowered her gaze and Sirius walked back over and sat on the bed, placing his fingers under chin and forcing her to look back at him.

"Baby I love you, I sure as hell don't want to lose you. Do you want to stay broken up?" he questioned and she shook her head. "Exactly, so we move past what's happened this past week, perhaps even longer. How about we go back to how things were two months ago, back before we found out about the Prophecy and Euphemia getting Dragon Pox?"

"Can we do that though? Can we act like nothing ever happened?" Octavia questioned and Sirius fell silent for a moment.

Sirius cupped her face and gave her a smile, "we can do whatever we want baby, do you want to act like nothing ever happened?"

She frowned at him, "we can't act like Euphemia didn't die Pads."

"I'm not saying that, I'm meaning in regards to us and our relationship, we forget everything that caused an issue for us. Yes we will still grieve for Euphemia but we won't let it affect us."

Octavia nodded before softly kissing him.

"Come on baby, get dressed and we can have some breakfast. I'm sure Prongs and Fleamont will be happy to have us join them both." Sirius whispered when he pulled away, groaning at the look on her face.

"Are you sure you want me to get dressed?" Octavia knelt up on the bed and let the blanket drop, revealing her body to him.

Sirius bit his lip and closed his eyes as he held in a groan. "Damn it Snow," he growled before cupping her face and kissing her hard.

It wasn't until she had managed to flip the two of them and she was straddling his lap that she pulled away and smirked at him, "Come on Padfoot, I'm hungry." She climbed off the bed and grabbed her clothes before getting dressed and heading for the door.

"Tease," he snapped as he laid back and pounded his hands on the bed, only causing her to laugh and Godric did Sirius miss her laugh.

Sirius leaned forward so he was resting on his elbows and caught sight of his girlfriend standing there with a smile on her face, she might be laughing at his expense but right now, that doesn't mean a thing to him, he's just glad that she is happy after the summer they've had.

.oOo.

James was standing in the living room looking out the windows to where Sirius and Octavia were sitting out on the grass laughing about something.

A week had passed since his Head Boy badge turned up, Sirius went out on his motor bike drunk and James went behind Sirius' back and told Octavia.

James had no idea what happened between the two of them to begin with for Sirius to claim they broke up, but the following day after letting that information slip they were both back to normal, well as normal as one can be when they are grieving the loss of someone they loved and cherished.

Both Octavia and Sirius had been turning up for meals, Sirius had also cut back on the amount of Fire Whiskey he was drinking.

James was at a complete loss, unsure as to if they were fine or if another explosion was on the way.

"You look like a creep standing there like that Prongs," James was startled at the sound of Lilith's voice.

"I'm worried about them," he explained, looking over at her.

"Why? You're the one that lost your mother, how are you doing?" Lilith spoke before she hugged him.

"Surprisingly, I'm doing a lot better than those two."

"Why?" she questioned and they both looked out the window to where Sirius and Octavia still were.

"Snow locked herself in her bedroom and Padfoot was drunk for like a week straight, he even let it slip that the two of them broke up but then one morning it was like it never happened."

"Those two broke up? That is something I would never have believed, ever since they finally realised what we had all saw between them and they were sickening at times."

"And what you and Moony weren't?" James teased but Lilith just rolled her eyes.

"Besides the point, I also know Moony and I argue a lot but most of that is put down to his condition and the war. I'm not saying either of us are perfect couples but those two, were clearly in love with each other."

"I know Lilith, I was shocked as well. I can look back probably point out where it happened, the day mum died, dad and I came home from St Mungo's and the living room was a mess. There was Fire Whiskey and glass in one of the rooms, Snow's trunk was sitting in there and the back windows were thrown open."

"You think she was planning on taking off?" she questioned and he nodded.

"I think that was what happened, Padfoot confronted her and she took it out on him. You know he went out on his bike after he had been drinking?"

"Snow would have been furious."

"That's what I said, it's how I found out they broke up. It makes me wonder if that hadn't happened if I would have been told."

"I'm sure we would have at one point, the three of you have been through so much this summer with Euphemia getting sick and then passing away and let's not forget what happened when Snow came across Voldemort. It's the way it's always been with Snow and Padfoot."

"But I thought we all agreed on no more secrets after finding out about the abuse Snow received at home?"

"I know Prongs, but this is Snow and Padfoot we are talking about. Snow probably panicked, remember your mum was the one who had managed to convince her she was better off not returning home. She panicked and in Padfoot's attempt to make her see reason she got angry and took it out on him, breaking up with him. Then he dealt with losing her the only way he knew how."

"I know, it makes sense and that is all completely them but aren't you worried about what may happen next time something goes wrong?" James questioned and Lilith shook her head, staying silent for a moment, just watching the two outside.

"She couldn't even break up with him after what happened with Snape, he hit her and she was ignoring him because of what happened with Snape. If they can make it through that, I honestly believe they will make it through this, they only needed something or someone to know that they were being silly."

"So what, you think we should all just go back to worrying about you and Moony?" James teased as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

"I am," Lilith spoke softly, shocking James and he looked at her full of worry.

"What's going on?"

"I get my relationship with him is completely different to what Snow and Padfoot have, I haven't known him as long but there are such huge differences and it makes me worry. I worry that one day he's going to end things because he's afraid of his condition and what it may do to us, I've known since I was 12 and fell for him anyway. I'm worried that because I'm the only one who doesn't spend every Full Moon out there, he will use it against me."

James noticed the tears building in her eyes and wrapped both arms around her, "you convinced him to start dating, you can convince him to keep pushing through. We've all heard the rumours that Voldemort is rallying the Werewolves, he'll just worry about you and what could happen if he doesn't side with Voldemort."

Meanwhile outside Sirius and Octavia were laughing between them, completely oblivious to the tearful moment happening inside, mere metres from them.

"Please stop Padfoot," Octavia laughed as Sirius softly ran his fingers along her side, tickling her in the process and she squirmed against him hoping he would stop.

"Say it," he spoke but she shook her head as she continued to squirm against him.

"Nope, no way." Octavia managed to pull away and it was then she caught sight of James and Lilith hugging through the window.

"Baby?" Sirius questioned, noticing the looked on her face and he too turned and looked through the window. "Come on, let's check it out." He stood up and held a hand out for her.

The closer they got to the window they both noticed that Lilith and James pulled apart, Lilith wiping away the tears and giving them a small smile.

"Hey, you alright Lilith?" Octavia questioned looking at her best friend.

"Come on Padfoot, let's go and check out the new brooms in Quidditch Supply in Diagon Alley." James spoke and Sirius followed, not before softly kissing Octavia.

"You know Prongs told me you two broke up," Lilith spoke once the two girls were alone, Octavia looked at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Octavia shrugged before walking over and taking a seat on the couch, "I didn't see the point, Padfoot told Prongs and I've seen the way he's been looking at us. If Padfoot and I can fix things and go back to normal, why should we tell everyone that I made a mistake?"

"Because I'm your best friend and we shouldn't have secrets, I wouldn't have judged you. I know you well enough by now to realise you panicked after Euphemia died and you thought taking off would be the best option while Padfoot attempted to make you see reason and you took your hurt and anger out on him by breaking up with him." Lilith spoke, explaining the situation to a tee and Octavia nodded before hanging her head.

"Why were you crying and hugging Prongs like that, surely Moony won't be happy." Octavia teased, completely changing the subject, something that didn't go amiss to Lilith.

"You and I both know Moony won't care that I'm hugging Prongs," Lilith responded and Octavia laughed.

"I don't see Moony being the jealous type."

"You're right, that's all Padfoot isn't it." Lilith threw in and the two girls shared a look.

"Padfoot gets annoyed when I hug Prongs and that's his best mate, he gets jealous when I'm too close to any guy for his own comfort."

"He hates it when you talk to Regulus more," Lilith pointed out and Octavia grimly nodded.

"He's a reminder of our past, the families we left behind, and the fact that he almost lost me to his own brother but we're changing topics again, what's wrong?"

Lilith stayed silent but leaned against her best friend as the tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm scared Moony's going to leave, things are getting worse with the war and I'm afraid he's just going to use that as an excuse to leave me, in hopes of keeping me safe."

"I'll kick his ass if he leaves," Octavia deadpanned and Lilith giggled before looking up at the other girl, quickly noticing the serious look on her face.

Lilith pulled away and sat up to face the other girl, "you're serious," she pointed out.

Octavia smirked, "No I'm Octavia but I am dating Sirius."

"Not funny," Lilith rolled her eyes.

"But yes I am serious, you're my best friend, why would I let anyone hurt you, one of our own friends included? Moony won't leave, I guarantee it." Octavia grinned at Lilith.

"What have you seen Snow?" Lilith narrowed her eyes but Octavia just smiled sweetly before climbing off the couch and heading towards the kitchen.

"You'll find out one day!" Octavia yelled out and Lilith laid back on the couch letting out a sound of annoyance.

.oOo.

A smile appeared on Octavia's face as she woke up to the feeling of Sirius softly placing kisses along her bare shoulder.

"Morning Pads," Octavia responded, her voice filled sleep.

Sirius moved his lips from her shoulder to her neck as he nuzzled it, pulling her closer to him. "Morning baby, happy birthday."

Octavia rolled over and smiled at Sirius, still can't believing that after the summer they've had, it was now the day before they return to Hogwarts and Octavia's 17th birthday.

"Can we just stay in bed all day?" she questioned and they heard a laugh from the doorway.

"Thought we had plans today?" James questioned as he leaned against the doorway with a smirk on his face.

"Bugger off mate," Sirius spoke as he grabbed the pillow from behind his head and threw it at James.

"It's my birthday and I want to stay in bed, go away Prongs," Octavia muttered as she curled herself up against Sirius.

"Thought we were all going to the zoo today, the three of us, Moony, Wormtail, Lilith and my dad. Dad was actually excited about going to the zoo, you don't want to disappoint my dad do you?" James spoke and Octavia groaned before throwing her own pillow.

"You're prat for guilt tripping me, leave unless you want a show." Octavia responded and the two boys laughed.

"Depends, what type of show are you offering?" he responded with a chuckle but Octavia just snapped her head up and glared at him.

"Come on mate, just leave. Who knows, maybe with that Head Boy badge Evans might give you the time of day." Sirius spoke and James raised an eyebrow.

"But you said…"

"I know what I said mate and I apologise for that, I do, but after the summer we've all been through, between Snow and your mum well I don't think any of us will be the same and Evans might notice that." Sirius explained.

James nodded before pushing off the wall, "I know mate, some things were said when we weren't ourselves. If you two can go along like you didn't break up, then I'm sure I can forgive you for what you said. But you're right, now of us will be the same, I don't know how to act knowing that I'm leaving dad at home alone that mum won't be sending her care packages anymore or even what is truly going to happen with Snow come the next Blue Moon."

A groan came from Octavia, "we don't even know when the next Blue Moon is coming."

Sirius pressed his lips into her hair before looking at James.

"I'll let you two get dressed." He turned to leave the room before looking back at Octavia, "Happy birthday Snow," he had a hint of a smile on his face before he left, leaving the couple alone.

"We'll find out when the next Blue Moon is, we'll make sure nothing happens to you come the next Blue Moon baby but for today, no worries, no issues, no concerns. It's your 17th birthday and you are officially a legal witch, we are going to celebrate like we've done the rest of our birthdays, as a family."

Octavia pulled away and looked at Sirius, a hint of a smile on her face before she leaned down and kissed him. Could it be truly that simple for her to have a birthday with no worries?

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Ginny10702 and Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means so much to me.**

 **Ginny10702, I'm glad you enjoyed the last couple of chapters and found them full of surprises. I was kind of expecting no one to see the break up coming, but honestly did you think it would last long? As for Euphemia dying, I actually remember reading somewhere, I think the Harry Potter Wiki page, that both Euphemia and Fleamont actually die from Dragon Pox but not until after James graduates from Hogwarts, I think they actually see him get married but don't get to meet Harry. I needed this summer to go the way it did to lead up to what I have planned for their seventh year. As for Fleamont's death, I'm still unsure on some of fate of some of their futures.**


	76. Seventh Year - Who Is She?

Chapter 75: Who Is She?

"How long do think they'll last before Evans hex's Prongs?" Peter questioned and a laugh came from both Sirius and Octavia.

They were on the train heading back to Hogwarts, Peter was sitting in the compartment with Sirius and Octavia while James, Remus and Lilith were in the Prefects carriage for the beginning of term meeting.

James had been given the Head Boy badge putting him in charge of all the rounds with the Head Girl, who they assumed was Evans since Lilith had been given a Prefects badge, well it was either that or Evans was pulled from school but they saw her on the platform.

"I give it 10 minutes," Sirius responded and Octavia shoved her elbows into his ribs.

"Be nice, how long do you think Prongs will last until he breaks and we're allowed to pull a prank?" she questioned and the look on Peter's face was disbelief.

"We can't pull pranks?" he questioned.

"Sorry mate but honestly, between Prongs planning Quidditch Practises and handling all the Prefects he might not have time for them." Sirius explained but Peter looked over at Octavia.

"That means Prongs can't pull pranks, why not the rest of us?" he questioned and Octavia looked at Sirius with a grin on her face.

"He has a point you know Pads."

"Prongs will kill us," Sirius responded.

Octavia just batted her eyelashes and flashed him a smile, "like we haven't heard that one before."

"You're killing me here Snow," Sirius spoke but she just continued to smile at him as the compartment opened.

"Dorcas!" Peter exclaimed with a large smile on his face.

"Hi Pete," Dorcas spoke as she walked over and sat down beside him.

"What's going here?" Octavia questioned while she pointed her finger at them and they both went bright red in the face.

"Come on Snow, let's give them a moment alone." Sirius spoke as he grabbed her hand and pulled her from the compartment.

"But I want to know what's going on," she complained and he just laughed at her.

"Knowing you, you'll say something stupid by putting your foot in your mouth and make things worse."

"Oh come on I do not do that." Octavia spoke and Sirius looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "name one time."

"Fourth year when we were all talking about what Wormtail would turn into, you called him a cute bunny rabbit, earlier in the year when we were attending the ceremony after Loreal had been killed you stated you didn't see the point in attending or some shit."

"Oh come on, you and Prongs were saying the same shit I was," Octavia responded but allowed Sirius to pull her down train looking for an empty compartment.

They didn't end up finding an empty compartment and resulted in wondering up and down the train a couple of times before they headed back to their original compartment after deciding that Peter and Dorcas had had enough time alone.

"I didn't mean to kick you out of your own compartment," Dorcas spoke quietly when they entered and took their seats.

"It's fine, don't worry about it Dorcas." Octavia gave her a small smile before curling up against Sirius, a small pounding had begun in her head from the noise in the corridor of the train carriage.

"You alright?" Sirius questioned softly as he placed a hand on her head and she nodded before closing her eyes and snuggling in closer to him.

As the rest of the group returned to the compartment the noise level increased, making Octavia's headache that much worse and she wasn't able to fall asleep.

It wasn't until the train was almost at Hogwarts that Octavia couldn't take the noise level any longer, she sat up and yelled at them. "Just shut the fuck up already!"

They were all startled and stared at her, shocked at her losing her temper like that.

"She's not feeling well," Sirius explained as he tugged on her arm to pull her back against him.

"Sorry guys," she mumbled as she made herself comfortable again.

After her anger burst the group of friends lowered their voices to continue talking between them, still noticing the pained expression on her face as they spoke knowing that it was the advanced hearing she had that made it all worse for her.

When they made it to Hogwarts Octavia attempted to go straight to her dorm in hopes of getting some sleep and getting rid of her headache but McGonagall stopped her before she could walk up the stairs.

"Where do you think you are going Miss Carrow?" McGonagall questioned and Octavia winced at the level of noise.

Octavia turned and faced the Transfiguration Professor, "I'm not feeling well and was planning on getting an earlier nights' sleep. I know in the past students have missed the Sorting Ceremony due to illness."

"I understand that but tonight Dumbledore has an important speech planned and wishes that all students are in attendance, I assure you that the number of first years are low this year and he will make the announcement straight after the sorting allowing you to quickly have something to eat before heading up to your dorm."

"I have a rather large headache and the noise of the Great Hall will only make it worse, I had enough trouble on the train." Octavia explained and McGonagall nodded before walking over and waving her wand at Octavia.

"How's that?" she questioned and Octavia was shocked.

The noise she could hear had decreased dramatically, her headache was still there but her hearing ability had decreased.

"What did you do?" Octavia questioned and McGonagall gave her a rare smile.

"I remember how it can be in the beginning, dealing with headaches and the advanced hearing, the spell merely numbs your senses a little allowing you to not suffer as much. It will only last a couple of hours, just enough to get through the Sorting Ceremony. I will teach you the spell at another time, for now you must enter the Great Hall with your friends before the first years arrive."

"Thank you," Octavia gave her a smile before walking over to where Sirius was waiting for her. She laced his fingers through hers, allowing him to pull her closer to him.

"Feeling better baby?" he questioned, unsure as to what exactly McGonagall did regardless of what he heard being spoken off between them.

"No but it helped lower how much I can hear, I just need to get through the sorting and Dumbledore's speech before I can go to bed."

"You haven't eaten all day, you should at least have some dinner before going to bed."

"We'll see Pads," Octavia responded as they took a seat at the Gryffindor table.

"Feeling better Snow?" Lilith questioned but just received a shake of Octavia's head before leaned against Sirius and closed her eyes.

The first couple of first years had been sorted but Octavia wasn't really paying attention to any of them, her being a seventh year wouldn't warrant any interaction with them except for the small few that were sorted in Gryffindor and even then that may be minimal.

She was almost asleep against Sirius just by him softly rubbing her arm but her head shot up as soon as she heard the name.

"Carrow, Avianna." McGonagall's voice rang throughout the now deathly silent Great Hall, a silence very similar to the one that followed her own sorting seven years ago.

Octavia looked at Sirius with wide eyes, she knew her family was extensive and could be rather large but the surname Carrow was very limited these days, as far as she knew it was only her, Alecto, Amycus and Bexley that had the same surname, there was no one else. So who was this Avianna girl?

"We'll work it out," he whispered and Octavia turned to look at the small girl sitting on the stool with the hat on her head.

The only thing Octavia could tell from a distance was that the girl had blonde hair, she wanted to know who this girl was and why she had Carrow as a last name. She hadn't even heard of a Muggleborn attending Hogwarts with the same last name, it's happened once for the Blacks and twice for the Burkes.

" _GRYFFINDOR!"_ the hat shouted and McGonagall pulled the hat off the girl's head allowing her to walk down and join the Gryffindor table.

The Gryffindor table was cheering but when Octavia looked over at the Slytherin table there was hushed conversations happening between some of the older students and she knew why, they were also trying to work out who this girl was.

Octavia stared up at where the young girl was sitting further up the table, trying to work out who she was. Surely there couldn't be any more people with the name Carrow that she didn't know of, from all of her family history lessons she hadn't even heard of the Carrow's disowning anyone for a long time and even then from memory most of them were girls, not being able to carry on the Carrow name.

"I didn't realise you had any other family members," Peter spoke but Octavia still couldn't remove her gaze.

"She doesn't with the last name Carrow, growing up it was just her, Amycus and Alecto that carried the surname Carrow. Her parents may be cousins but before that, her family were a part of another Pure Blood family that is still rather extensive and she grew up among those instead." Sirius explained to their friends and Octavia nodded.

"But then who is _she_?" James questioned, all six of them now looking down the table at the group of first years that were sitting around the new Carrow.

A cough from the front of the Great Hall interrupted their conversation and they all looked up to see Dumbledore standing, waiting for silence to give his start of term speech.

"Before we eat I would like to announce one thing, before everyone becomes too full to focus on what I am saying. I am delighted to announce that at the end of term, before the beginning of Christmas Break we will be throwing a ball to help promote house unity. All students are allowed to attend but as per usual, the younger students will have an earlier curfew then the older students. I am also putting in the one rule about the ball, if you are attending with a date they must be from another house." Dumbledore put emphasis on the word 'must'.

The noise level increased in the Great Hall as the students began talking about the ball that was just mentioned and Dumbledore waved his hands making the food appear.

The appearance of the feast gave Octavia the chance to get up and make her way down the table to where the first years were sitting, she couldn't help but laugh at how they all stopped talking at the sight of her, she remembered being afraid of the seventh years in her first year.

"Hi, I just wanted to congratulate you all on being sorted into Gryffindor, it may be a bit biased but it is the better house." She gave them all a smile but no one said anything, just nodded, smiled or laughed. "I'm Octavia Carrow," she introduced herself and looked over at the young blonde, instantly noticing the same bright blue eyes she had.

"Are you two related?" one of the other first years questioned and Avianna just looked put out at the question.

"I don't know, I thought I knew all of my family members." Octavia smiled at them before looking back at Avianna, hoping the girl would say something.

"I was adopted, I don't know who my real family is." Her voice was quiet and Octavia frowned.

"Magical or Muggle?" she questioned, worried when Avianna didn't respond at first.

"Muggle, is that a bad thing?"

"No not at all, our current Head Girl is probably the brightest witch I know and she is a muggle born, mind you if you tell her I said that I'll deny it," Octavia smirked, earning some laughs from them. "Your blood doesn't determine how well you will do at Hogwarts, some of the Slytherins that have magical bloodlines dating back for generations are barely passing classes, just remember that." Octavia turned and looked at the rest of them, unsure as to what their blood status was and gave them small smiles. "All of you remember that, it doesn't matter where you come from or who you are."

"Do you think we could be related?" Avianna questioned and Octavia looked up at the staff table, knowing one of them went to her house, one of them had to know something and she just hoped it was McGonagall.

"I honestly don't know, if we are I wouldn't even know where, we could be sisters but I doubt that my parents had another child after me and that leaves cousins but…" Octavia trailed off, going silent for a moment. "What's your middle name?"

"Why?" she questioned but Octavia didn't respond, just waited for an answer. "It's Bexley."

All the colour drained from Octavia's face, there was no way. She didn't believe that Maxton and Cora had another child, if this was the case she would have been born in the two years that Maxton and Cora had disappeared from the world, barely seeing their family and she would have been born before they killed themselves but what confused her was why Maxton and Cora put their child in a muggle orphanage instead of a magical one, or was that so the same thing didn't happen again?

"Snow?" she looked up and faced Sirius, unsure as to what was going to happen now that Avianna was here.

"I think she's Bexley's sister…"

"Okay, how about we go back down the table and let the first years enjoy their night and worry about this problem at hand another day?" Sirius held out his hand and Octavia nodded.

"Who's Bexley?" Avianna questioned and Octavia closed her eyes.

"Another time Avianna, it's been a long day and O here needs some sleep."

Octavia didn't hear anything to begin with and when she opened her eyes Sirius and Avianna were both smiling at each other, "it was nice to meet you Octavia."

"You too Avianna, I'm sure we will see plenty of each other." Octavia grabbed Sirius' hand and allowed him to lead her back down the table.

"We will work it out, I promise Snow but we've had a long summer and a long day, just don't try and work it out tonight." Sirius spoke and she nodded as they sat down at the table.

"Who is she?" James questioned and Octavia shrugged before leaning against Sirius and closing her eyes.

"Please eat something Snow," Lilith spoke and Octavia cracked an eye and looked at her best friend sitting across from her.

"Lilith is right, you need to eat." Sirius cut in but Octavia just pulled away and rested her head on the table.

They all looked at Octavia and were worried about her but knew that she was being stubborn and there was nothing they could do.

It was when dessert arrived that they all smiled at was sitting in front of them all.

"Snow," Peter spoke hoping she would looked up and not continue to ignore them all.

"What Worms?"

"Ellie gave us a gift," he responded and Octavia finally lifted her head and spotted it.

The two chocolate pizzas sitting in front of them, Ellie was the only one that made them the chocolate pizzas and she must have prepared them because they were going into their seventh year.

Octavia had a smile on her face as she reached over and grabbed a slice, raising an eyebrow at Sirius who was looking at her funny.

"Nothing, enjoy your pizza." He responded before grabbing a slice for himself.

Octavia had ended up staying for the rest of the Sorting Ceremony and headed up to the Gryffindor common room with her friends, assuring Sirius that she was going straight sleep and that she would speak to him in the morning.

"You told Padfoot you were going straight to sleep," Lilith spoke, sitting on her bed watching as Octavia was pulling everything out of her trunk and make a mess of the dorm.

"Well yes I did tell him that, but I need to find my parchment that is connected with Am."

"Why? Snow, you told Padfoot you would leave the issue about the girl alone for tonight, if you don't know anything why would Amycus?"

"I don't know alright!" Octavia snapped, noticing that Evans left the bathroom at that point in time, she just looked at the other two girls before climbing into her own bed pulling the curtains closed. "I just need to ask if he heard anything, he reached 17 and heard some of the family secrets and since I was disowned before reaching 17 I have no idea about them." Octavia spoke, finally having found the parchment that she was looking for.

 _O – Have you heard about there may be another Carrow aside from us three? There is a first year named Avianna Bexley Carrow she said she was adopted into a muggle family, did you hear anything about Maxton and Cora having another child after Bexley passed? Or even if our parents did?_

Octavia sat there, she had no idea if Amycus even had the parchment nearby. It didn't matter if she had changed the charm slightly on the one between her and Amycus, the message never disappeared, it was password protected, something similar to the Marauders Map that they had created.

 _A – I can tell you now it's not another sibling, I've never heard of the girl but having Bexley and Carrow in her names makes me believe the same thing but I can't go asking questions until something reaches home from one of the other Slytherins. You find out on your end and I will do what I can from here._

"There happy, I'm going to sleep now." Octavia spoke shooting Lilith a look who just sat there looking incredibly pleased.

.oOo.

"Miss Carrow if you could stay behind," McGonagall spoke after dismissing the seventh years from the Transfiguration class.

Octavia looked at her friends and shrugged, this not being the first time she has asked to stay behind.

Octavia packed up her things and headed towards the front of the classroom, not even able to get in a word before McGonagall handed over a piece of paper. "Professor Dumbledore wants to see you in his office, I know you have a free period. You also need to collect Avianna, she will be in Potions by the time you head down there and that is what the note is for."

"Are we related like I think we are?"

"Professor Dumbledore will explain everything, go and collect Avianna."

Octavia left and headed downstairs, unsure as to what Dumbledore wants them for, there was a part of her that hoped it was just a coincidence, that she a muggle born put up for adoption with the surname Carrow and they aren't related. She didn't know what would happen if her parents found out about her and tried to claim her, she didn't want that poor innocent girl who had no idea what kind of life she could have had had things been different, she wanted to protect her from their own family.

"Ah Miss Carrow what a lovely surprise," Slughorn spoke as she entered the classroom, glad to see that the first year Gryffindors didn't share Potions with the Slytherins, she was unsure as to what would happen if they did under Slughorn's teaching.

"Professor McGonagall sent me down here," Octavia gave him a smile, knowing it was better to stay on his good side since she didn't want to be in the Slug Club. She handed the note over and watched as Slughorn read it.

"Very well, Miss Carrow you've been requested to see Professor Dumledore, the older Miss Carrow will show you the way." Octavia headed back to the door and waited for Avianna to pack up her things and follow her out.

Avianna waited until they had left the classroom before she spoke. "Am I in trouble?" she spoke in a quiet voice and Octavia shook her head.

"Doubtful, we've only been here two days, it would be a record for someone to be sent to his office within two days and I should know. He probably knows something about if we are related or not."

"Who is Bexley and why did you look you had seen a ghost at the mention of her name?"

"She was my cousin."

"Was being she's dead?"

"Yes, both her and her parents are dead."

"What happened?" Avianna questioned and Octavia was unsure as to how to answer, did she really want to tell a stranger her family secrets in case she wasn't really family.

"Let's see what Dumbledore wants before I tell you everything about a family you may or may not be a part of. Banana rocks." Octavia stated the password and watched as the staircase appeared, sneaking a glance at Avianna and noticing the shocked look on her face.

Octavia laughed and placed a hand on her shoulder to lead her forwards, "come on, it can't be the most surprising thing you've seen."

"I grew up in the muggle world, everything here is surprising." Avianna shrugged and Octavia looked at her before giving her a light push to get her to head up the stairs.

"You're sure I'm not in trouble, my parents will be really mad if I'm in trouble already."

"I haven't even gotten in trouble yet, I doubt you could have done something to warrant a visit to the Headmaster's office. You haven't severely injured anyone, blown up a classroom, flooded the Great Hall or gee what else have I done?" Octavia questioned and tapped her finger to her chin while she thought about the past few years.

Avianna looked up at Octavia in disbelief, "you've done those things?" she exclaimed and Octavia pushed the door open while she laughed at the girl, instantly noticing the amused expression on Dumbledore's face as they both entered his office.

"Are you admitting to those things Miss Carrow?" he questioned and she smiled at him.

"Why would I do things like that?" Octavia responded before taking a seat and helping herself to the sweets sitting on the plate. "Yum, Glacial Snow Flakes," she responded as the sweet melted in her mouth.

"I'm sorry what did you just say?" Avianna questioned in shock.

Dumbledore picked up the plate and offered Avianna some of the sweets.

"They're really good Avianna, you should try them. The sweets I grew up with and you will be surrounded with while at Hogwarts are very much different to the ones you grew up with." Octavia explained and the younger girl nodded before hesitantly reaching out and grabbing one of the snowflakes before placing it in her mouth.

"Why are we here Professor?" Octavia questioned, smiling with a large smile appeared on Avianna's face at the taste of the sweet.

"We are just waiting on one more guest before we can proceed but I'm assuming you both have questions as to whether or not you are related. In the past when we have had students attend Hogwarts from the Muggle community that share surnames with the Sacred Families they are Muggeborns, their parents claiming they are theirs but Avianna here is the first one that was adopted by her parents. I like you Octavia know that your Aunt and Uncle secluded themselves from everyone and wonder what they did in their absence."

"So does everyone think I am related to you Octavia, that I come from one of these, you say 'Sacred Families'?" Avianna questioned.

Octavia looked at Dumbledore before looking at the younger girl, wondering if she was in fact a long lost cousin. "I'm not sure about everyone, but the question is there. My Aunt and Uncle secluded themselves after Bexley passed away, it was two years before they passed away as well and your birthday would match in with those two years, it's the only way for you to be at Hogwarts this year." Octavia explained and Avianna nodded.

"I understand that, but what do you mean by Sacred Families?"

"Again, if you turn out to be related to me then everything will be explained but in simple terms I would compare them to the Royal Family." Avianna's eyes went wide as she looked over at the Headmaster.

"I'm potentially Royalty?" she questioned in shock and Octavia shared a look with Dumbledore.

Octavia understood incredibly well that if it turned out that Avianna was an actual member of the Carrow family they wouldn't accept her because she grew up in the Muggle world, she would most likely be sympathetic towards Muggles while the Carrows wouldn't.

"Let's worry about that after, I believe our other guest has arrived." Dumbledore spoke as the fire place lit up and Octavia turned to see one of the Gringotts Goblins step out.

"What's going on?" Avianna whispered to Octavia while Dumbledore greeted the goblin.

"The goblings have their own magic, one of them is that they are able to charm parchment so that a single drop of blood will show the person's family tree. In most cases it is done to determine head of family or vault ownership but for you, it will determine if you have a magical family. From what I'm told Muggles do not appear on the parchment, yours will appear blank if we aren't related."

"Will it hurt?"

"No, it's just a single drop of blood, a pin prick on a finger is all it needs." The goblin explained before Octavia could respond.

"So I prick my finger and let the blood drop on to a piece of parchment?" Avianna questioned.

"Essentially yes, but more specifically this piece of parchment." The goblin pulled out a piece of parchment and placed it on the desk for Avianna to have a look at it.

They all fell silent as they listened to the goblin explain to Avianna the process of what will happen, knowing that both Dumbledore and Octavia knew what was going to happen and how it all worked.

Once a drop of Avianna's blood was dropped onto the parchment they all looked at it to see what it would show, it was taking a while, longer than usual Octavia suspected but it eventually showed who her parents were.

 _Maxton Carrow (1921 – 1965) and Cora Carrow (1926 – 1965)_

Octavia waited a couple of moments until her name appeared and she placed her finger below it, "that's me." she said and watched as Avianna took in everything that was being laid out in front of her, her whole family and history.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **I am heading overseas for a couple of weeks in a couple of days and may not be able to post as frequently as I usually do. I will be spending the next couple of days editing my already prewritten chapters and having them all set up ready to go so if I have time I will post a chapter, but because of this I may also not get the chance to respond to any reviews.**

 **If you are a Guest reviewer it is less you will get a response until I get back but if you have an account I will try and shoot you a PM when the email comes through letting me know of the review.**

 **Thank you to the Raven the flies at night of reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	77. A New Family

Chapter 76: A New Family

Avianna looked up at Octavia, a family member that she never had growing up and had no idea what to say.

From the small conversation they had on the way to the Headmaster's office she gathered that her parents and older sister were all dead but unsure as to why and that she was a part of this sacred, almost royal like family but they wouldn't explain any further.

Avianna stayed silent as she followed Octavia back to the Gryffindor common room, she had so many thoughts in her head but was unsure as to where she would start, at this point in time she didn't know if she would be able to speak if she opened her mouth.

She looked up when she saw a hand waving in front of her gaze and looked up to find Octavia staring at her with what she assumed was worry.

"Are you alright?" Avianna nodded at Octavia's questioned. "I know it must be a lot to take in, see your whole family laid out in front of you after spending the last however many years wondering who your family was."

"Weeks," Avianna mumbled.

"Sorry?"

Avianna looked up at Octavia, unsure as to if she should let the older girl see her cry but at this point in time she didn't care, she wanted to be back at home with her parents.

"I only found out I was adopted because Professor McGonagall turned up at my house to inform my parents that I was a Muggleborn witch who had been invited to study at Hogwarts. My parents informed her that they weren't my biological parents and it was wrong to assume I was a Muggleborn."

Avianna looked at her cousin, unable to read the expression on the older girls face wondering if that's how she was or if it was because of being raised in the family she missed out on.

"I know I promised you answers once we found out if you were a part of my family but I think right now you just need a moment alone to process everything."

"What about you?" Avianna stuttered and Octavia's facial expression didn't change, causing Avianna to frown. Growing up she was able to see emotions written on her parents faces, but being unable to read the expressions on Octavia's face bothered her.

"I'm 17 Avianna, legally an adult in our world, nothing surprises me anymore." Octavia spoke and Avianna nodded before walking ahead and giving the password to the Fat Lady and stepping through.

.oOo.

"Snow?" Octavia looked up at the sound of Sirius' voice and saw him taking a seat beside her at the table in the library.

It had been a week since it was revealed that Avianna was in fact related to Octavia and a part of the Carrow family but Octavia had no idea how to even begin to explain the family she was no longer apart of, why her own family killed themselves because of the traditions that were forced upon them.

"Hi Pads," Octavia responded softly with a smile before looking back down at the Charms essay in front of her, already stressing with the amount of homework that came with being a seventh year.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine, just a little stressed." Octavia leaned back in the chair, stretching her arms over her head, smirking at Sirius when she caught his gaze "There is so much going on between NEWTs and my own studies about Dreamers."

Sirius grinned at her, not caring that he was caught for checking out his own girlfriend. "That's not what I meant and you know it, I mean Avianna, the sweet little first year who has been trying to get your attention for the past week, you know the same one who also happens to be a cousin of yours."

Octavia shook her head before grabbing a book from her bag and opening it, "what do I even tell her, I don't remember that much about Maxton and Cora or even Bexley. How do I tell her that Bexley killed herself because of what happened at a summer school for etiquette training and in turn her parents killed themselves within the two years after it happened, that they hid themselves from the world? How do I tell her that my parents, her aunt and uncle, abuse their children and forced their youngest to attend the same etiquette school?"

Sirius reached over and placed his hand on her face, softly caressing her cheek. "You don't have to tell her that, surely she won't expect you to know why they did what they did considering the small age gap between the two of you. She just wants to know about her family, you are her family and I doubt you will subject her to knowing about your parents, I won't let her. If she wants a family within the magical world she has been thrown into we can introduce her to Dromeda and Ted as well as Fleamont."

"But what if she wants to know about Amycus and Alecto? I may be in contact with Amycus but it's not like we're planning secret meetings or anything, it's just to make sure each of us are still okay."

"She will find out about the war eventually, she isn't completely sheltered and when she does we will just tell her that Amycus and Alecto are on different sides along with the rest of the family. Just let her in enough to be family because she is family."

Octavia let out a sigh before resting her forehead against the table, earning a chuckle from Sirius for her actions but all she did was tilt her head and glare at him, he just grinned at her in return.

"Have Prongs and Evans killed each other yet?" Octavia questioned softly.

"Now why would Prongs kill the girl he was in love with, I sure as hell wouldn't be able to kill you let alone hurt you. Evans on the other hand may since she hates us all."

"You have hit me before," Octavia pointed out, shocked when Sirius removed his gaze from her and looked out across the table.

"It will never happen again," he spoke, his voice harsh.

Octavia, kicking herself for bringing it up, reached over and grabbed his hand. "I know Pads, all these years seeing you lose your temper, I have always trusted you." She spoke softly and he finally turned to look back at her.

"Doesn't excuse the fact that I did baby, that I was so clouded I couldn't realise that you were standing in between Prongs and I, the fact that I threw a punch at Prongs in the first place was insane. I'm internally grateful that you both forgave me."

Octavia sat up and placed a hand on his neck before leaning over and softly pressing her lips against his cheek. "I love you Pads, I accept everything about you, and that includes your bad temper." She spoke softly.

Sirius turned his head and smirked at his girlfriend, "I suppose it's only fair considering the things I accept about you." He teased before standing up and leaving the library, leaving Octavia sitting there unsure as to what he was on about.

If it wasn't for the fact that Octavia was sitting in the library, she would have yelled after him but she needed to be able to still have access to the library for her NEWTs, the last thing she wants or needs is to be banned.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the Gryffindor common room after Care of Magical Creatures hoping she could find her friends but instead she spotted Avianna sitting on an arm chair staring at the fire, Octavia took a deep breath before walking over and kneeling beside the younger girl.

"Are you alright?" Octavia questioned and it was then she noticed the younger girl was silently crying. "What's wrong?"

"Oh so because I'm crying somethings wrong?" Avianna snapped but Octavia didn't respond, "That's what I'm talking about right there, every time I try and talk to you, you don't even seem bothered it's like you don't care!"

Octavia looked around before grabbing Avianna's hand and pulling her up from the chair and up to the seventh year boys' dorm.

"This is the boys' dorm," Avianna hissed but Octavia ignored her and looked at the three boys sitting in front of her.

"Out," she ordered.

James and Peter shared a look before quickly getting up and leaving the dorm while Sirius hesitated, walking over to where Octavia was standing.

"Snow?" he questioned softly but Octavia gave him a smile.

"Out," she repeated with a smirk and Sirius laughed before leaving the room.

"Why are we in here?" Avianna questioned but Octavia didn't say anything, she just waved her wand putting up some none verbal silencing charms around the room, also preventing her friends from eavesdropping on the outside.

"Because I'm friends with all the boys that live in this dorm, I can just as easily come in here and kick them out without worry of people over hearing us. In my dorm I have a third roommate who I can't exactly kick out and your dorm as other first years." Octavia explained.

"Why does it always seem like you have no emotions, is that what it means to be a part of the family? We're all cold hearted?"

"My brother may be but no, we're raised to hide our emotions, that showing emotions make us weak. Over the years my perfectly well constructed mask does slip, if you watch my friends Sirius and Lilith have one as well but Lilith's isn't anywhere near to the perfection that Sirius and I have."

"Why is that?"

"The difference in our families, mine and Sirius' families are extremely close, we grew up together, we associated with other families, the ones that are mostly in Slytherin."

"They say mean things to me," Avianna complained as she took a seat on one of the beds.

Octavia shook her head as she walked over and took a seat beside the younger girl, "it's because they think you are a Muggleborn, if they knew the truth and that you were a part of an old and sacred family like the Carrows they would leave you alone, give you a pardon for your existence during your time at Hogwarts. The only reason I don't get a pardon is because I don't leave them alone. You might have seen the rivalry that exists between Gryffindor and Slytherin but as I said, you aren't a part of those families." Octavia explained and Avianna looked up at her, tears glistening her eyes.

"I have a feeling they won't believe me."

"You're right, they won't, most likely won't believe me either because I will be seen as the one protecting a first year but I know someone who will believe me and help spread the word. You have to understand something though, if word spreads that you are a part of one of the sacred family's things will be different for you."

"How so?"

"There is so much you don't understand and won't believe because of how you were raised, the families partake in many old traditions. Some of the unattached boys in Slytherin may try and gain your attention in hopes of merging the two family lines, you can't accept anything that comes from a Slytherin, even if it is a small as a quill."

"I don't understand."

"I know and you will with age, I promise you but there isn't much else I can tell you about our family. I left them, I don't live with them anymore and your parents and sister, I don't remember much about them Avianna."

Octavia sat there and watched as Avianna lowered her gaze and stared at the floor while her tears finally escaped and ran down her face.

Octavia had no idea what to say or do, she knew if this was Lilith crying she would hug her best friend and tell her everything will be okay, but Octavia had no idea if everything will be okay for Avianna.

The girl had just been told of who her family is, or was, but has no way of knowing them because they are dead and her extended family is someone Octavia doesn't want to introduce her to.

Avianna finally looked up and faced Octavia, "but your my family, can't I get to know you? And Sirius, you two are dating so isn't he family as well?" she questioned.

Octavia nodded with a smile on her face, "yes I am family and so is Sirius. If you want during Christmas break I can introduce you to more people we consider family."

Avianna gave her a watery smile, "I'd like that, I really miss my parents, I like the idea of having family here."

Giving Octavia the idea that Avianna wanted to know her as family, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around the younger girl.

"Now how about I go and take care of the problem you're having with the Slytherin students and then I can get us some chocolate cake and we can get to know each other?" Octavia spoke and felt Avianna nodded against her.

"I'd like that," was her response.

"Good, now wait for me in the common room or your dorm and I will be back." Octavia unwrapped her arms from the girl and stood up, waiting for her to leave before picking up the map that was resting on Peter's bed looking for Regulus.

"Who are you looking for?" Sirius questioned as he walked over and took notice of Octavia holding the map.

"Regulus," she spoke softly, sneaking a look at the other boys who were entering the room.

"Why?"

"The Slytherins are picking on her because they believe she is a Muggleborn when she isn't, they will leave her alone if they knew the truth."

"As long as she leaves them alone," Sirius responded.

"Not all Gryffindors are like us, Evans leaves them alone."

"Do you want me to come with you?" he questioned and Octavia looked up at him before she laughed.

"Godric no, it will make things worse." She leaned up and softly kissed him before leaving the dorm.

The map said Regulus was in the Quidditch Pitch, alone but she had no idea how long it will last and she had to do this. If she could make Avianna's life at Hogwarts any easier then she had to do it.

She entered the Quidditch Pitch and found Regulus doing laps of the Pitch on his broom, a smile appeared on her face as she decided to grab her broom and join him.

After a couple of the laps the two of them stopped and Regulus faced her with a grin on his face, she much preferred when he was carefree around her, not always resulting in putting his mask up.

"How was your summer O?" Regulus questioned, becoming worried when all emotion left her face. "What happened?"

"James' mother passed away, but it's not why I'm here. I need a favour," Octavia spoke, not looking Regulus in the eye.

"I might not be Potter's biggest fan but I know how much she meant to you, I'm so sorry for your loss O."

"You could always try giving your condolences to your brother as well," Octavia responded harshly.

"You and I both know that the relationship I previously held with Sirius is far from fixable, the wedge was placed in because he was sorted into Gryffindor and it was completely shattered the moment he left."

"Why Reg? Why him and not me? You knew from day one if our marriage went through he would have always been there, regardless of the two of us being in Gryffindor. You two have always been ignoring the one fact that put a wedge between the two of you and it's bloody jealously!" She yelled at him and he visibly flinched, not having been yelled at from her before.

"What's the favour you need O?" he questioned, hoping to remove some of her anger.

Octavia shook her head and looked at Regulus. "That first year in Gryffindor, Avianna Carrow."

"Everyone thinks she's just a Muggleborn with the same surname."

"She's not Reg, Dumbledore had a Goblin out and did the blood test on her. She's family, she's a part of the Carrow family. She needs to be left alone, I know you have some control over the Slytherins because you're a Black, can you put a pardon on her?" Octavia pleaded with the youngest Black and he looked at her, all emotion gone from his face.

"I can't just go and put a pardon on any old first year, the only reason I haven't even tried with you and Sirius is because you both go and keep making issues for yourselves among them. I need proof that she is in fact an actual Carrow and not some half blood or Muggleborn with the same surname." Regulus explained but Octavia couldn't take the answer, she needed to protect her cousin.

"Please Reg, I'm not completely naïve I know exactly what is happening out in the world, I know what Alecto and Amycus are doing out there. If anyone thinks that Avianna is a Muggleborn when she isn't, she's family Reg. Talk to Amycus and find out from him what you can do, he was in your position when he was at Hogwarts. Please Reg, she's family." Octavia pleaded with him.

"Only for you O, I will talk to Amycus and some of the other older ex-students and see what I can do, remember there is no proof she is in fact a Carrow but I will try O, I promise." Regulus reassured Octavia as he placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a soft squeeze.

"Thank you," she whispered and he gave her a nod.

"I will take in on my end of the favour one day O, chances are it will be when things are bad and I need it no questions asked." Regulus spoke and Octavia stared at him.

"What have you done Regulus?" she hissed as she made a grab for his left arm, quickly pulling the sleeve up, letting out a sigh of relief when she found it bare.

"Nothing but you said yourself, you aren't naïve O, I doubt Sirius is either. See you around O," Regulus spoke as he pulled away and headed towards the Slytherin team room leaving Octavia standing there unsure as to what Regulus just said, or even suggested.

She shook her head before heading towards the Gryffindor team room, knowing she couldn't tell Sirius what was said, she couldn't confirm the suspicious Sirius already had for his brother.

.oOo.

Regulus entered the Slytherin team room and placed his broom on the bench before scrubbing his face with his hands, he thanked Merlin that he hasn't been given his mark yet, knowing that if he had been given it over the summer he would have lost Octavia and the friendship they had.

The older Slytherin students typically left the younger students alone, the most they did was shove or push the younger students knowing if they aimed spells at the younger Muggleborn students it will just bring attention to them.

Regulus had heard word of what they all assumed the new Carrow girl to be, while it had been said that she grew up amongst the Muggles it was also said that she was adopted by said Muggles.

He and the older students all knew that there was a possibility that the Carrow girl was in fact a part of the sacred Carrow family but there was no proof.

Despite Octavia telling him the blood test has been done by the Goblins, no one else had seen it.

Regulus entered the Slytherin common room and walked over to where his 'friends' were sitting, friends was a loose term because Slytherins didn't typically have friends, more allies or associates than anything. Regulus considered Octavia to be a closer friend than some of the allies he had in Slytherin.

Regulus walked over and took a seat beside Cortez Selwyn and Nixon Tavers, the closest allies he had amongst the Slytherins, there was only the three of them plus Barty Crouch Jnr in their year but he was more interested in sucking up the older students who were set to get their mark in June come their graduation.

He didn't want to think what Crouch or some of the other Slytherins would think if they knew that the Dark Lord wanted to give him the Dark Mark come the Christmas break.

"We all set for Quidditch practise this year," Cortez spoke and Regulus looked over him.

"I do hope that we can remove the Quidditch Cup from those Gryffindors," Nixon spoke and Regulus laughed.

"That is the plan but Potter has a strong team, despite him having two new players from last year and having to recruit two more this year, he is a skilled Chaser, my brother is a skilled Beater and Carrow is practically undefeated as Seeker." Regulus explained.

"You know Black is rather lucky that he managed to score Carrow, she is fit." Cortez spoke, ignoring the look Regulus was giving him.

"If only she hadn't been disowned Regulus, she would have been yours." Nixon spoke.

"I thought we were talking about Quidditch and not the blood traitors that the families sort to disown." Regulus pointed out.

"Good point, when does practise start up?"

Regulus didn't even get the chance to respond as they were both distracted by Camari Avery and Hartley Flint who had appeared at the top of the girls' staircase, catching their attention and they quickly left leaving Regulus alone by the fire.

Regulus didn't know how long he was sitting there staring at the fire but he was quickly broken out of his train of thought as Imogen Conta took a seat beside him, placing a soft hand on his thigh.

"You alright?" she questioned softly and he looked over at her.

He let out a laugh before looking over at where Cortez and Nixon were attempting to flirt with Camari and Hartley.

"Those two have no shame, they attempted to flirt with me the other day in hopes I would have sex with them."

"I have limited people to associate with in Slytherin, our year consist of seven people, the six of us get along." Regulus added in.

"But then there is Crouch." Regulus nodded. "Don't you think after five years of him trying to prove he wants nothing to do with his father proves that he can be trusted?"

"Says the girl who doesn't belong to a sacred family, you don't understand what it means to turn your back on those types of families." Regulus snapped before standing up, giving Imogen one last look and taking a breath at the look on her face.

"And you forget how well I don't care, I'm still a Pureblood and have a rightful spot within Slytherin. Don't push me aside because you made the mistake of letting me in," Imogen spoke before she stood up and left, heading towards where Camari and Hartley were still standing, quickly pulling the other two girls away with her.

Regulus watched the retreating blonde, unsure as to what he truly felt towards the strange girl who had inserted herself into his life.

Imogen was correct when she was a Pureblood, the Conta's are a Pureblood family just not as old and prestigious as the Black or any other one of the Sacred families but Regulus didn't know what to think of her.

The Conta's had been considered a neutral family, much like Greengrass and Fawley families have been, not taking a side in any of the issues taking place within their community, refusing to show their alliance with either the Ministry/Dumbledore or the Dark Lord.

It was in their third year that Imogen had made it her mission to insert herself into Regulus' life, at first he thought it was because the Conta's wanted to merge their family lines with the Blacks and when he questioned Imogen on her actions she just shrugged and said she already knew about the marriage contract in place between him and Octavia, mentioned that she in fact had her own with Evan Rosier.

After Regulus looking into said contract and finding out that it was in fact true he allowed Imogen to get closer to him.

Regulus took the moment of being alone to escape to his dorm and write a letter for Amycus, asking for his help on how to get a pardon on a first year. He has never put in a pardon for anyone amongst the Slytherins since he had been given the reins with Amycus' graduation.

It didn't matter if both Cortez and Nixon were from Sacred families, or even Evan before he was expelled, the Blacks were more noble than most and he had ruling over the Slytherins because amongst the families, the Blacks, Malfoys, Carrows and Lestranges were the ones at the top, it was those four families that had total control amongst them all and Regulus was the last one of them at Hogwarts.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**


	78. Understanding

Chapter 77: Understanding

Octavia was laying there on her bed, trying to keep her headache under control. She doesn't know if it's stress, her Animagus abilities or the fact that she was a Dreamer but it felt like she has had a constant headache ever since the start of term and it didn't matter how many times she escaped to the Quidditch Pitch, it would only give her a small amount of relief.

"What is going on with you three?" Evans questioned when she entered the dorm room and Octavia removed the cold wash cloth before looking up at the other girl.

"Excuse me?"

"You, Black and Potter have been strangely quiet since the beginning of term. What are you up to, what does Potter plan now that he's Head boy?"

"You seriously think we are up to something because we've been quiet and stayed out of trouble? What the hell is wrong with you Evans!" Octavia yelled at Evans just as Lilith walked out of the bathroom.

"What is going on here?" Lilith questioned but she was ignored.

"Ever since first year you three have been walking around like you own the castle and now, you've been keeping your heads down. What are you all planning?" Evans accused and Lilith rushed over to step in before something went wrong.

"Lily this isn't the time, don't do something you'll regret." Lilith tried to convince Evans to drop it, but it didn't work. Lilith knew and understood why they were keeping their heads down, their summer had badly affected all three of them. It didn't matter what they said on the train about still pulling pranks, their hearts weren't in it anymore.

"Bugger off Lilith, come on Carrow spit out. I know what is going on in our world, I know that this Voldemort person is terrorizing our community. How do we truly know that you are on our side?" Evans accused and that was when Octavia snapped.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I RAN AWAY FROM HOME, WELL ACTUALLY MORE LIKE DRAGGED FROM MY HOME AND MY FAMILY BECAUSE THEY ABUSED ME! HAVE MY WHOLE LIFE! THE REASON WE ARE SO QUIET ISN'T BECAUSE WE ARE UP TO SOMETHING, IT'S BECAUSE JAMES' MOTHER DIED DURING THE SUMMER!"

During Octavia's yelling Lilith had slipped out of the room muttering something about Sirius.

"What?" Evans spoke sounding shocked and Octavia shook her head.

"That's right, the perfect Pure Blood that comes from the perfect Pure Blood family actually gets abused by both her parents. James' parents took me in so I was safe and protected, away from my family. His mother died during the summer Evans! You're insane for thinking I'm on his side of things when I've been trying everything I can to get away from my own family, they're on his side!" Octavia might not be yelling but it was obvious that there was an angry tone to her voice as well as the fact that she had her wand out.

"SNOW!" Sirius yelled when he was standing in the doorway, noticing what Octavia was doing and knowing that Evans wouldn't know about her bluff.

Octavia looked at Sirius before shaking her head and walking towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Come on Snow, please open the door." Sirius spoke softly from the other side, hoping she would open the door for him.

"Is what she said true?" Evans spoke and when Sirius faced her, he could tell something was bothering her. He had only heard half of the conversation but he's never known Octavia to spit out lies when she was angry, it was only ever the truth.

"Yes, why couldn't you leave well enough alone Evans!" Sirius snapped at her. "Come on Snow, please open the door, or at least let me in?" Sirius knocked on the door, pleased to see when it opened and he carefully walked in, unsure as to what to expect when he entered.

"I wasn't going to hurt her…I just wanted her to stop." Octavia whispered and Sirius shook his head before walking over and hugging her.

"I know, I know you wouldn't hurt her but you still had your wand out. She didn't know, it'll be alright." He spoke softly and rubbed her back softly.

"How did you get up here anyway without a broom?" she questioned against his chest.

"A feather light charm and Lilith carried me," Octavia pulled away and looked at Sirius, she was a little unsure as to if she should believe what she was just told but there is no other for him to get up to the dorm unless he had a broom stashed in his dorm.

"Godric, I can't believe I got so angry I told her about the abuse I received from my parents, I'm such an idiot." She ran her hands through her hair in frustration and he instantly made a grab for them, pulling them away from her and holding them in the space between them.

"It won't be as bad as you think, remember you're away from them and there is nothing they can do for you speaking up about the abuse you received at home. Healing involves no longer keeping it a secret, you shouldn't be ashamed of it, it happened and you probably aren't the only one that was abused by their parents." Sirius spoke softly, hoping to remove any fears that his girlfriend had.

He knew it was a lost cause when she looked over at him with a calm expression on her face and no emotion was showing in her eyes.

"I love you for the good, the bad and the ugly, remember that baby." Sirius spoke before he stood up and left her alone in the bathroom.

"Is she alright?" Lilith questioned when Sirius left the room, quickly noticing that Evans was gone.

Sirius shook his head before looking over his shoulder at the bathroom door, "no, I think she just needs a moment to calm down and then hopefully she will be. Just give her space."

"Well lucky for her there is a Prefects meeting and the dorm will be empty with both Lily and myself being there."

"You call her Lily now as well?" Sirius complained but Lilith just laughed.

"Come on, let's get you out of the girls' dorms before you see something you shouldn't." Sirius nodded and followed Lilith downstairs, waiting for her to check that the coast was clear before he activated the slide.

.oOo.

Before this year when James had been given the Head Boy badge he had walked past this door a number of times, attempting to open it but after a while gave up deciding that this was just one of the many fake doors that Hogwarts housed.

Turns out it was the door that led towards the Prefects room, it was similar to the Prefects bathroom where only they gain access having been given the password from the Head Boy and Girl but with this room, the Quidditch Captains couldn't gain access.

He was wondering where Lily was, the two of them had always arrived in the room earlier than the scheduled time so they could go over what they planned to talk about during the meeting before everyone else was set to arrive.

He looked at his watch once more wondering where she was, knowing that she wouldn't skimp on her duties and the other Prefects were set to arrive in ten minutes.

"I'm sorry about your mother," Lily spoke sincerely as she entered the room, startling James.

James' head snapped up at her comment and he just stared at her unsure of what to say at first. "How'd you hear that?"

"I kind of got into it with Carrow…" Lily spoke and James' jaw dropped before he stood up and rushed towards the door muttering to himself.

"Black is with her if that helps."

"What did you do Lily?"

"I didn't mean it, I didn't even know something like that happened. I just thought you were all up to something and I asked her about it and she just kind of lost it and only stopped when Black yelled at her. Why does she seem worse off than you when it was your mother?" Lily questioned, she was confused.

Sirius had no problems mentioning that him and James were now living together during the breaks but Octavia hadn't said anything, it confused Lily when she let it slip.

"How much did she let slip when she was yelling at you?"

"I know about the abuse…" Lily fidgeted on the spot feeling uncomfortable about knowing something as bad as that, she knew what it was like to feel unwelcome within her own family but to be abused by them, she couldn't understand why someone would do that to their child.

James rubbed his face with his hand before facing Lily again. "Christmas break fifth year, Sirius and I broke into her house and took her. She was pretty bad off, my mother was the one that managed to convince her to stay. Nothing Sirius or I could say would convince her to stay where she was safe, it was my mother. We have no idea how she managed it but we think that when my mother died so did Octavia's sense of safety."

"What makes you think that?" Lily questioned as she took a seat at the table, hoping James wouldn't walk away.

"Some things happened between the two of them, I don't know all of it but I came home one day to broken glass and liquid all over my living room along with her trunk. They didn't speak for a week and in the middle of an argument Sirius threw out that she broke up with him."

"But they seem fine now, like nothing ever happened between them."

"It's the way it's always been with them, trust me after being friends with them for six years and seeing how they make dysfunctional work." James took a seat at the table as he waited for Lilith to arrive knowing that the other girl would if Octavia was alright.

"I really am sorry James," James looked over at Lily, the first time she has called him James. "I honestly am, I didn't think something like that had happened, or what would happen if I confronted her. I've seen six years' worth of pranks and didn't want anything to happen while I was Head Girl, I've never you all this quiet." Lily explained and James nodded as Lilith entered the room.

Lilith shook her head as she looked eyes with James letting him know things weren't okay with Octavia but he didn't get the chance to say anything else the other Prefects were arriving behind her.

.oOo.

"Can I ask you something?" Lily questioned as her and Remus did their patrol for the evening.

So far throughout the year Remus and Lily had been doing their patrols together because they found it was a better situation because the first couple where Lily and James were partnered together they were too distracted to notice what was going on around them due to them arguing.

Remus looked at Lily, unsure as to where this was going. Two years doing patrols together and they stuck to safe topics, their family, their classes, anything besides the friends that Remus had, the same ones Lily wasn't overly fond of. "If it's about finding out the truth about Octavia's home life, surely you can understand why I can't tell you anything about that." Remus responded and she nodded.

Remus was shocked when Lilith told him of what had happened in their dorm prior

"I know that, I can understand what it feels like to not be welcome in your family home, mind you I only get it from my sister but to have your whole family turn on you and to have them abuse you, I can't imagine the cruelty of it."

Remus was shocked by that bit of information, unsure about what to say about the fact that Lily's sister wasn't welcoming towards to her.

"She's out of that house Lily, she has been for a couple of years now and is safer because of it. What was your question?" Remus questioned, hoping to move past the topic of Octavia and the abuse she received from her parents.

"Why are you friends them? I know it's a terrible question to ask but you are such a kind person, I don't understand what draws you to Potter, Black and Carrow. Some of the things they've done to people, it's all so terrible."

"If you take everything they've done towards Snape out of the equation it will make sense, I don't know what it is they have against Snape, I don't understand it but I suppose even now some of that hatred comes from the fact that Snape did almost kill Octavia."

"He what?" Lily responded, sounding incredibly shocked at what her former best friend had done.

"He levitated her by her feet, Sirius in attempt to get her down sent a jinx at him and Octavia did drop, just head first to the ground effectively cracking her head open." Remus explained and there was a look of pure disbelief on her face.

"I can't believe he did that, when?"

"End of fourth year."

Lily was silent for a few moments and Remus let her be knowing she had to evaluate what she was just told, considering Snape almost killed Octavia back when they were still friends.

"If I take Snape out of the equation, why are you friends with them?" Lily finally spoke and Remus looked at her, knowing she was still slightly annoyed.

"They are incredibly loyal to those they consider family, they will do anything to protect their loved ones and even if that means breaking a few school rules. The three of them will go above and beyond to make things right, even if that line of what is right is a little blurred. Aubrey broke up with Octavia by means of ignoring her and a couple of days later there were rumours floating around that he was seeing someone else. James and Sirius, seeing how hurt Octavia was got pay back on Aubrey by increasing the size of his head. They protect each other, secrets included and they do so much to make their loved ones feel safe. Octavia has this little match making plan in her mind, she succeeded in getting Lilith and I together and now she is working on Peter and Dorcas because they are both too shy do anything. The three of them may say incredibly stupid things as well as pull stupid shit but you have to admit that some of the things they pull are amazing feats of magic and do cause the students to laugh." Remus explained his three best friends with a smile on his face.

"I admit making the Great Hall ceiling rain confetti was quite impressive, but secrets, I'm assuming you mean the fact that you are a werewolf?" Lily spoke and Remus stopped walking to stare at her.

"I don't know what you are on about Lily."

"You sure? Because you seem to spend an awful amount of time in the Hospital Wing, your friends are incredibly protective over you when you are sick, your patrols shifts have been switched around to suit you and when I look back over it coincides with Full Moons. The fact that I'm standing here in front of you showing no fear or disgust should show that I do not care, I've suspected for a while."

"They're good friends Lily, they've known since first year and have done everything to help protect me and my secret. Octavia threatened a bunch of first years one year when they were saying bad things about me because of my scars."

Remus didn't say anything else, he just continued his patrol with Lily in total silence.

"For what it's worth, I won't tell anyone," Lily spoke once the two of them were back in the empty Gryffindor common room. Remus looked over at her wondering where it was going. "And for them to not judge you like some of the other students for their differences. I also know they don't judge Muggleborns like some of the other students do, after hearing about the abuse, them accepting you and keeping your secret, makes me wonder if I had them pegged wrong."

"Enough to give James one chance at a date?" Remus questioned.

"If you can convince him to not be a prat the next time he ask, then maybe. Goodnight Remus" Lily responded before heading up the girls' staircase, her bed in mind.

.oOo.

Octavia stood there in the doorway to the boys' dorm, both James and Remus were out on rounds after their Prefects meeting and she had passed Peter on her way up here, him mentioning something about meeting up with Dorcas.

She knew Sirius had noticed her arrival the moment she stood in the doorway, he may not be facing her but she saw his body relax. She also had no idea what he was doing because he still hadn't rolled over to face her and she hesitated.

Octavia would be an idiot to not realise why he left earlier, she was close to breaking, they both knew it and knew what would happen if she did break. Sirius knew her well enough by now to know that she just needed time alone to cool down.

She transformed into her wolf form before walking over and jumping up onto Sirius' bed, curling up on the end.

"Is that how it's going to be?" Sirius spoke, lowering his motorbike magazine and looking at the white wolf at the end of his bed.

Octavia lifted her head and looked at him before resting her head on her paws and closing her eyes.

"Come here," he spoke softly and patted the spot beside him when he caught sight of her looking at him.

Octavia stayed in her spot for a moment before she crawled up the bed and curled up beside him.

Sirius petted her head as he went back to his magazine, now realising that she was still angry, just didn't want to be alone.

Octavia was startled awake and she let out a growl before she saw James leaning over her, "sorry Snow." James apologised and she transformed back, stretching her body out on the bed, noticing that Sirius was gone. "He's in the shower, are you alright? Lily told me what happened."

"Yeah I am, I just lost it for a moment back there. You said he was in the shower?" Octavia questioned with a smile and James nodded at her.

"I'm glad Snow and let Lily apologise when she does," James called out, only briefly catching the sight of her nod before she disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Octavia quickly stripped off her robes before pulling back the shower curtain, a smile at the sight of Sirius before she stepped in behind him.

"Feeling better baby?" Sirius questioned as Octavia wrapped her arms around him and softly kissed his back, laughing softly as his muscles tensed under the action. "I'll take your laugh as a yes," he responded as he spun around and faced his girlfriend, glad to see a smile on her face.

"Do I have to apologise for my attitude?" she questioned, looking up at up him.

"No baby, as much as I wish you didn't have that dark part of you that comes from being a Carrow, I understand."

"What like you having that shocking Black temper?" Octavia countered and Sirius laughed before kissing her.

"Exactly, we can't help where we come from and the attributes we get from them. You have that dark part of you and I know it's there, I also know it rarely comes out but I know the signs of when it is coming out and know you mostly need time alone to calm down or it may get worse." Sirius cupped her face and gave her a smile.

"I love you," she spoke.

"I love you more baby," he responded before kissing her feverishly.

Octavia entered her dorm and Lilith instantly started laugh. "What's so funny?" she questioned.

"Your hair," she pointed out and Octavia was confused before she walked over to the mirror and noticed her bright red hair was now green.

She let out a scream before she spun around and faced her best friend.

"Everything alright out here?" Lily questioned, leaving the bathroom but quickly noticed that Octavia had green hair and put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"It's not funny," Octavia whined before spinning around and leaving the dorm, knowing it was one of the boys that did this because she had washed her hair while in the shower with Sirius.

When she entered the boys' dorm she instantly took sight of Sirius standing there with green hair, fuming, while he glared at James who was in hysterics about the whole situation.

"Prongs!" she yelled causing James to instantly stop laughing and look her way.

"Oh fucking hell, Snow it wasn't meant for you, just Padfoot." James spoke, hoping to plead with the downright terrifying girl once angered.

"You think that makes it all that much better, that it was meant for Padfoot and not me? How would you feel if you got hit with a spell that charmed all your robes to resemble the Slytherin ones instead of Gryffindor when I was aiming for Padfoot?" she questioned.

"Hey, how did I get dragged into this?" Sirius questioned but was instantly shot a look by Octavia.

"Because you had to put bloody itching powder in his bed _again_!" Octavia snapped at Sirius before turning to face James once more with a sweet smile, "just remember you started this Prongs." Octavia turned and left without bidding the boys goodbye, still furious about her green hair.

She entered the dorm and went straight for the bathroom.

She stood in front of the mirror and took a deep breath before waving her wand at herself and transfigured her to resemble her nature colour as closely as possible, knowing that James' potion will wear off eventually.

"Listen Carrow I wanted to apologise," Octavia looked over at Lily, quickly sneaking a look at Lilith and she just shrugged. "I honestly thought you three were planning something, drawing everyone into a false sense of security before pulling a prank over us all."

"It's fine Evans, you didn't know and that does sound like something we would do." Octavia smirked at Evans and Lilith laughed.

"Okay O, don't give the poor Head Girl a panic attack over what you may or may not do with the boys."

"But that's no fun, but I suppose I can just stick to getting revenge on James." Octavia grinned at her.

"Have you ever thought of doing something to his broom?" Lily questioned quietly and both girls looked at her, blinking their eyes unsure as to if they just heard what she said.

"I'm sorry?" Octavia questioned.

"Potter, he's obsessed with Quidditch and in turn his broom yes? I'm not saying do something during a game affecting his playing ability, or something that could hurt him or permanently damage the broom but something to annoy him during practise?" Lily explained and Octavia looked over at Lilith before back at Lily.

"All these years you've complained about our pranks and yet you come up with that."

"No, all these years I've complained about you all bullying the other students. Doing that to his broom is harmless fun, same as causing the ceiling in the Great Hall to rain confetti, getting the suits of armour to duel with random students when they pass by is harmless fun. Harmless fun is when no one gets hurt." Lily explained once more.

"Huh," was all Octavia said and when she looked at Lilith she just shrugged before they all said goodnight and climbed into their beds for the night.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**


	79. Setting The Path For The Future

Chapter 78: Setting The Path For The Future

Octavia looked over at where Avianna was sitting on Lilith's bed painting her toenails as if she just didn't ask what she did.

"What did you say?" Octavia stuttered out, Avianna finally looked up.

"I said I want to meet my family."

"No you don't," Octavia laughed before standing up and walking over to her trunk.

"Why not? I've met you, you're family so technically your family is my family."

"I was disowned Anna, for a good reason." Octavia explained but it didn't seem to dissuade the younger girl.

"I've overheard you and Sirius, you are in contact with your brother."

Octavia cursed herself for not being more careful when her and Sirius spoke about Amycus in the common room. "But I don't see him, I haven't since I was disowned and I won't when I graduate. There are things happening out in the world that you don't understand because you didn't grow up in this world."

"You don't think I know that, that I'm actually apart of some sacred family but yet my parents dropped me off at an orphanage!" Avianna yelled and Octavia took a deep breath before walking over to take a seat with Avianna.

"There's a war going on in our world Anna, I'm on the opposite of it to the rest of our family and you're only eleven and haven't made your decision about it all yet. I'm telling you now you don't want to meet them."

"Why? What's so bad about this war that will prevent me from wanting to meet them?"

Octavia looked at her younger cousin, "the guy leading the other side has issues against Muggles and Muggleborns. Our family won't approve of your parents, won't approve of you because of how you grew up for the first eleven years of your life."

"Why did they disown you O?"

Octavia stood up and headed towards the door before pulling it open and looking back at Avianna, "because I left them, I think it's time for you to head back to your dorm."

Avianna looked at Octavia, unsure about the sudden change in her before she stood up and reluctantly left the dorm, flinching at the sound of the door slamming shut behind her.

"Avianna?" Avianna turned around and looked at the older girl standing there, recognising her as Lilith, Octavia's best friend.

"Hi Lilith," she responded, putting on a fake smile but Lilith frowned instantly seeing through it.

"What'd she do?" she questioned.

"Nothing I don't think," Avianna tilted her head for a moment before shaking it. "I asked why she was disowned and I got kicked out." Avianna responded with a shrug, "see you round I guess." She gave the girl a smile before continuing along to her own dorm.

Avianna entered her dorm and grinned at the sight of Chloe Cooper sprawled out on her bed taking a nap, she broke into a run before throwing herself on the other girl's bed and rudely waking her up.

"What the hell is your problem Anna," Chloe complained as she shoved the other girl off her bed. "I was happily sleeping, I thought you with your cousin anyway."

Avianna shrugged but climbed up on to the bed, "I feel like she's keeping something from me about our family."

"What you mean aside from them all being Muggle haters and completely into the Dark Arts?" Chloe threw out and Avianna stared at her.

"How do you know?" Avianna questioned, she had already been warned about her family hating Muggles, her own parents included but the Dark Arts confused her.

She, along with the other first years, had overheard conversations between the older students that mentioned how the Slytherin students were into the Dark Arts but she couldn't see her cousin Octavia into the Dark Arts.

"I'm a Pureblood as well Anna, my family may not be in the same league as yours but they are still up there. I know more than you think Anna." Chloe responded and Avianna nodded.

"So you can tell me about my family?"

"Well in theory yes, but it would be easier if you got the information from your cousin. There are obviously some things that get left out from the public, the reason why a Carrow and a Black were sorted into Gryffindor after their families have been in Slytherin for generations before them. There are currently two Blacks at Hogwarts, one is in Gryffindor while the other is in Slytherin and I've never seen them speak, wouldn't one assume that maybe something is amiss with the families?" Chloe pointed out and Avianna let out a groan before collapsing back onto the bed.

"Can I go back to being a Muggleborn again?" Avianna complained and Chloe just laughed before patting her leg.

"Kind of defeats the purpose of the pardon that you now have amongst the Slytherins." Avianna lifted her arm that was covering her face and looked at the other girl. "They all leave you alone now, don't you think word has spread about you being a Pureblood Carrow?"

Avianna just shrugged in response, Octavia didn't say otherwise but she had a feeling that she wasn't meant to tell anyone that Octavia went and requested her pardon, she just let everyone assume as such.

.oOo.

Octavia was currently sitting in the stands of the Quidditch Pitch, she claimed she was feeling a little dizzy and opted to sit out of training today but little did James know, she lied with the idea of sitting on the stands and messing with his broom.

"You alright?" Octavia looked up at Sirius and nodded.

"I'm fine, just don't want to risk being on a broom, you should get back to practise before Prongs has an aneurism." She reassured him but he didn't look too convinced.

"You sure?" he questioned once more.

"If I say you should get back to practise because I'm getting revenge, will you go back to practise so Prongs doesn't suspect something?"

Sirius' face lit up as he leaned over and softly kissed her cheek, "I love you baby," he whispered in her ear before pulling away with a grin on his face.

"And I you," Octavia responded with a smile as Sirius flew away, back to his original position.

She looked over at where James was, watching her with a curious glance but she just smiled and made herself comfortable on the bench.

Octavia quickly looked at her watch and noticed that there wasn't long of practise left, she knew if she did it too early in practise James would have had a fit, more likely to find the whole thing funny if she didn't disrupt practise too much.

She focused on the magic within her before focusing on James' broom and grabbing a hold of it and taking control of it.

Before practise started she managed to cast a non-verbal sticking charm to his broom so he wouldn't fall off and was glad he hasn't attempted to get off before now.

She sat there holding in her laughs as she pulled James through the pitch, doing somersaults, twists, spins and countless other tricks on his broom causing everyone else to laugh at his antics.

Octavia had finally joined in with the laughter as she magically changed his broom to flash green and silver.

"You!" James roared as he caught sight of Octavia in a fit of laughter in the stands and instantly knew that what he was just forced to go through was because of her. "Practise is over!" James yelled out before he flew over to Octavia and glared down at her.

Octavia smiled up at James, "revenge is sweet," was all she said before she jumped on her broom and flew off.

"Snow I can't get off my broom!" she heard James yell behind her but she just let out a laugh, finishing off her laps.

James was fuming by the time Octavia finished her laps but she didn't seem too bothered, still finding the sight of his broom hilarious.

"What's the matter Prongs?" she questioned sweetly.

"I'm stuck on my bloody broom Snow."

"Well I couldn't have you falling off your broom while I was flinging you all over the Pitch," Octavia responded and James just narrowed his eyes at her.

"Calm down mate," Sirius spoke as he appeared beside the two of them.

"You want me to calm down, I'm stuck on my bloody broom!" James yelled out and Octavia shook her head before pulling out her wand and waving it so he wasn't stuck anymore and proceeded to fall off to the ground, luckily they weren't far off the ground.

Octavia looked over at Sirius and he let out a laugh, "Prongs didn't like it," she spoke sadly and Sirius shook his head.

"You threw him around the Pitch on his broom, just give him a couple of moments allowing him to calm down. I'm going to shower and then we have to meet with the group for Muggle Studies." Octavia nodded as she climbed off her broom and put it away, wanting a quick shower herself before her and Sirius had to work on the group project they had for Muggle Studies.

.oOo.

Octavia was sitting in her dorm that following night, or more so hiding from James after the stunt she pulled during Quidditch Practise.

Her and Sirius had retold the event to the others and Peter instantly found it funny while Remus and Lilith were worried about James' safety but when she told them that she cast a sticking charm on his broom they weren't as worried and found the thing funny as well.

"What did you do to him?"

Octavia looked up at the sound of Lily's voice and raised an eyebrow to the other girl, unsure as to what she was on about. The last time Lily entered the dorm sprouting a question like that, things didn't end well.

"I have no idea what you are on about."

"James, I just had a meeting with him about the Prefects and what the rounds are going to be like for the next month and he was in a foul mood. I tried to question him and he would just mutter something about girls and ruining Quidditch Practise, you're the only girl on the team, so what did you do?" Lily requestioned, explaining herself a bit better this time round and Octavia couldn't help but laugh.

"I may have taken your idea and put it to practise," Octavia spoke with a smirk on her face, hoping Lily wouldn't ask her to explain how she went about doing it because she couldn't explain how she managed to make James' broom fly like that without exposing herself.

She knew the rest of the team wouldn't question it, they were far younger than the three seventh years and would just put it to them knowing more spells than themselves and not that Octavia can harness different magic to affect the magic of a broom.

"He's going to want payback, you know that right?" Lily pointed out and Octavia shrugged, going back to her book.

Both Octavia and Lily happily sat there in silence before Octavia looked up at Lily, "you called him James, for years you've been calling him Potter, you called him James." Octavia pointed out and Lily refused to look up. "Evans?"

"We've been getting along, he's different when he isn't constantly asking me out on a date, whether it be to Hogsmeade or some part of the Castle that you all know about."

"That's because he's finally realised that in order to get a girlfriend it requires more than badgering the poor girl about dates," Octavia responded, knowing James was a little disgruntled about the fact that Sirius, Peter and Remus all had girlfriends while he didn't because he couldn't realise it took more than asking a girl to Hogsmeade to get a girlfriend.

"I suppose it helps that all his friends are in relationships, how is that you and Lilith never rubbed off on him on how to treat a girl properly?"

Octavia shrugged before placing her book on the bedside table, "I think it's more because we've been friends for so long, long before they started realising that girls existed. As Lilith and I have gotten older they haven't treated us any different, even now that I'm dating Sirius things are still exactly the same, we still fight and argue."

"I suppose that makes sense, Severus was always the same before what happened in fifth year." Lily spoke but Octavia shook her head, not seeing the point in telling her that her best friend for years was secretly in love with her.

Octavia hadn't heard anything from Snape himself but she had seen the way he looked at her, overheard the conversations between the Slytherins over the years when she was under James' invisibility cloak. But if he felt that way, she didn't understand how he so easily called her a 'Mudblood'.

"James might have a bit of an ego and be way over confident but once you push that aside or learn how to knock him down a peg or two he is the most trustworthy and loyal friend that anyone can have. I wouldn't change anything about him," Octavia spoke up and gave Lily a smile when she just nodded

Octavia was now certain that James and Lily will get married one day, it was the only way it made sense for Lily to be in that dream of the future and now with Lily being a bit more acceptable of the Marauders it was allowing Lily to see what type of person that James was aside from the arrogant person she always believed him to be.

.oOo.

"Honestly Snow, you're going to have to stop setting Snivellus' robes on fire, I'm sick of being dragged down with you." Sirius complained as the two of them headed back to the Gryffindor common room after another detention, this time Professor Sprout had caught them laughing at the sight of Snape's robes on fire once again, although this time only Octavia was to blame while Sirius was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Yes but you and Prongs can happily hung him upside down by his feet, honestly ever since fifth year when you two used that spell against him, everyone and I mean everyone," Octavia shot him a look and he just grinned at her. "is using that spell in the corridors, it's getting rather annoying Padfoot."

"Why are you complaining about this as well, I've seen you use that spell against Avery."

"Yes but if I have to catch you and Prongs duelling Regulus one more time-" Octavia was cut off by a growl and Octavia shook her head.

"He's a Death Eater Snow."

"No you don't know that Padfoot, just because the rest of the family is doesn't mean he will be as well. I get that he's interested in the Dark Arts, I'm not saying he is completely innocent but until we have proof that he is a Death Eater please just stop. You pushing him away is going to push him closer to them." Octavia stopped walked and Sirius turned around and looked at her, not happy with the look on her face.

"Snow…"

"Regardless of the lack of relationship between the two of you I know you still care for him and you wish to protect him because he is your baby brother but honestly, you pushing him away with all the pranks and duels you've now insisted on is only pushing him closer to them, to being a Death Eater. Please stop, you don't know what may happen come his own graduation, what if he pulls away from the families?"

Sirius ran a hand up and down his face, "forget it Snow, you obviously don't understand."

"I don't understand? I don't understand what it's like to have people look down on me and assume the worst of me because of my two Death Eater siblings? Or the rest of our families that are associating themselves with him?" Octavia yelled at him and his face fell before he stepped closer to her.

"Look, there's a Hogsmeade weekend this weekend, how about we sneak off and go into London and spend the day together, just you and me. We'll blend in with the Muggles and for the day forget about the mess our lives have become?" Sirius questioned softly and she nodded before stepping into his arms. "I know its hard baby but we will get through it, we will get through our last year at Hogwarts and then we can work out what's next?"

"I just wish you and Regulus would get along better," she mumbled against his chest and she felt the rumble of a laughter in his chest.

"It won't happen, come on lets head back to the common room." Sirius pulled on her hand and she followed him up to the seventh floor.

"You know we probably shouldn't go to London for the day, if we get caught we may not be able to play next week and Prongs will kill us because we're playing Slytherin." Octavia pointed out and Sirius looked at her for a moment.

"I'll think of something else for our date," Sirius lifted their joined hands and softly kissed the back of her hand.

The two of them entered the Gryffindor common room and it was unusually quiet, they shared a look before walking over to where Remus and Lilith were sitting who both looked a little shocked.

"What did we miss?" Octavia questioned as her and Sirius joined them on the couch.

"Lily agreed to a date with Prongs," Lilith spoke and Sirius' jaw dropped and Octavia shrugged.

"Is that all?" Octavia spoke and Sirius looked at her.

"What do you mean is that all?"

"I mean it was only time before she was worn down and plus, she started calling him James, it was bound to happen."

"You've seen something haven't you?" Remus questioned and a smirk appeared on her face.

"Boo!" James yelled out, scaring the four of them before Octavia managed to make a comment about the future to annoy them.

"Damn it Prongs," Octavia cursed but James shrugged before walking around and making himself comfortable.

"What about the future?" James questioned

"Oh just that we share a child Prongs," Octavia grinned at him, only to be tickled by Sirius.

"Delightful, it's that little girl yeah?" James spoke and Octavia's smirk fell, James was the only person she's mentioned her daughter to since her and Sirius pulled away from their families but it was also before her and Sirius started dating.

There was a part of Octavia that believed that maybe her and Sirius were always destined to be together, that maybe her and Sirius were always destined to leave their families but she didn't know how to tell Sirius that.

She looked over at Sirius could tell he was deep in thought before looking back at James.

"I'm just going to go, somewhere, somewhere else." James spoke before getting up and rushing through the common room, Remus and Lilith following not long after leaving Sirius and Octavia alone.

"A girl, you've always made jokes about a boy." Sirius spoke and she gave him a timid smile before nodding.

"So I've seen a girl, what's the big deal? After the way my parents raised me I don't want children and do you honestly want to help continue the Black name? I've heard you mention that a couple of times before. We're changing our future because of Prongs and Wormtail, who's to say I won't have this daughter, who's to say we've already changed enough." Octavia explained softly and Sirius nodded, still unsure about the whole daughter thing himself.

Sirius has mentioned a couple of times in the past he doesn't want children but Octavia has had a couple of dreams regarding this daughter and still can't bring herself to tell Sirius about her, she might have slipped to James about the daughter but he didn't really ask many questions, just made jokes and wanted to be the honoury uncle.

"Are you alright Padfoot? We've already decided we're going to change the future, I've seen so much we don't want to come true." She questioned, noticing that he was still eerily silent.

"Huh?" Sirius spoke, looking at her and noticing the concern on her face. "Sorry baby, just a little shocked that Prongs made that comment." He leaned over and kissed her.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, you've always come to me about your dreams but yet you told Prongs about the daughter is all." Sirius shrugged before standing up and holding a hand out for her, "come on, let's go find the others, make sure Prongs isn't cowering in a corner somewhere."

"He probably thinks I'm going to hang him above the Black Lake for letting that slip, but I suppose it can't be any worse than you telling our friends that not all of them live." She narrowed her eyes at him and he laughed before smiling at her.

"Honest mistake baby and plus you told Amycus that he dies." Sirius threw out as the two of them walked down the corridor, knowing exactly where their friends were.

"No, he worked it out, he was unsure as to why I made the parchment that allowed us to continue to communicate."

Sirius turned and looked at his girlfriend, noticing the very familiar look on her face the morning after she had the dream that revealed Amycus' death, it was something he never wanted to see again.

"We'll do everything we can to make sure he makes it out alive baby," he responded softly and she nodded before falling silent.

.oOo.

"I thought we were meant to be having a date Pads," Octavia hissed at Sirius and he just shrugged, refusing to turn and look at his annoyed girlfriend, instead he continued to look through the window where they could see James and Lily in Tomes and Scrolls, looking at books.

"Forgive me if I'm convinced that Prongs is going to mess this up, four years he's been waiting for a date with Evans and now he's got it."

"Are you kidding me? You promised me a date and you're bailing on plans because you're convinced Prongs is going to mess it up?" She snapped and Sirius finally turned and looked at her.

"We've been on a total of three dates baby, do you honestly care that I changed our plans?" Sirius challenged her knowing full well she didn't care, she was more likely annoyed that she had spent the day following Lily around.

Octavia let out a sigh, "no," she muttered and Sirius had a smug look on his face before turning back and looking through the window. "Can we please go to Spintwitches instead and then maybe Honeydukes and Zonko's?" she questioned and Sirius' shoulders slumped before turning and facing her.

"But Prongs," he retorted and she laughed, finding this whole thing funny.

"Will be fine, Evans has a smile on her face and is obviously having a good time. Why do you care if Prongs stuffs it up or not?" she questioned but Sirius had no response. "Exactly, please Pads?"

Sirius pulled away from the window and made a grab for Octavia's hand as he led her down the path towards Honeydukes.

"He'll be fine Pads, he's really changed in these last few months."

Sirius turned and looked at her, realising they all have after the summer, "We all have Snow."

"Exactly and I don't think Prongs is going to fuck it up, remember when I had that dream all those years ago about the argument between Moony and I?" he nodded, lowering his gaze still hating that he may potentially lose two of his best mates. "It's the way he said Prongs and Lily that I think they end up together, I know we're trying to change the future for a number of reasons but what if Prongs and Lily are destined to be together but it just took our summer for him to change?"

Sirius looked at her for a moment before screwing his face up at her, "you called her 'Lily'."

Octavia laughed in response, "you will too one day, now about we get some sweets before going back to the castle? Everyone else is on a date and the dorm will be empty." she suggested pressing her body closer to his.

"You're killing me baby," he groaned, narrowing his eyes when she pulled away and winked at him before heading into Honeydukes.

.oOo.

Remus and Lilith entered the Gryffindor common room and found Sirius and Octavia curled up together in front of the fire, enjoying the heat coming from it.

"When did you two get back?" Remus questioned, suddenly worried by the look on Sirius' face.

"Long enough to defile all your beds," he teased but the fact that he got hit by Octavia made Remus realise it was a joke.

"Come on Moony, if they've defiled your bed, let's go do his." Lilith responded with her own remark and Sirius' face dropped.

"Wait a minute," Sirius wagged a finger at the two of them and they shared a look. "You two have shagged!" he exclaimed, earning some odd looks from the other Gryffindors and Remus shook his head in annoyance.

"I know how to not get caught unlike Snow," Lilith teased ignoring the look she was receiving from the other girl.

"It's not my problem that Prongs was awake way earlier than he usually is, I still to this day do not understand why he was up as early as he was." Octavia complained but Sirius just wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Let it go Snow, it happened and there is nothing we can do about it."

Octavia turned and looked at Sirius, "But," she started but he shook his head.

"Anyone know how Prongs' date went?" Lilith questioned hoping to change the subject, unsure as to how an argument between Sirius and Octavia would go. She was worried that they weren't completely passed what happened during the summer despite how they seem to be acting at this point in time.

"Haven't seen him yet," Sirius responded but they all caught sight of James entering the common room, walking past them, not even noticing them with a dreamy look on his face.

"I guess that answers that," Octavia responded as they all twisted around and followed James with their eyes as he walked up the boys' staircase.

"I take it that the date went well considering he completely missed us," Remus added in all they nodded, wondering if they should head upstairs and badger James about the date or leave him for the time being.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**


	80. A Nightmare of a Night

Chapter 79: A Nightmare of a Night

"You are such a prat!" Octavia yelled out when she walked into the secluded room that her and her friends still hide out in to this day.

They all looked up to find a fuming Octavia standing there, glaring at Sirius, the rest of them looked down going back to what they were previously doing noting that she wasn't angry with them.

"What have I done now Snow?" Sirius questioned, flashing her a smile hoping to remove some of the anger she was directing towards him.

"Don't look at me like that Padfoot, you know exactly what you've done! You threatening Toby the other week in the Great Hall has convinced everyone else that taking me to that bloody ball is a ridicules idea because they don't want to end up on your bad side!" Octavia continued to yell at him, didn't even budge when his eyes narrowed.

"You're my girlfriend, why would you think I would let someone else take you to that ball, I should be the one taking you." Sirius stood up and walked over to her and placed his hands on her neck, cupping her face.

"But you heard Dumbledore, we have to take someone from another house as our dates."

"No, Dumbledore said if we were to take dates they had to be from another house, there is no way in hell I am letting someone else take you to that ball just so they can place their hands all over you."

"You are such an idiot Padfoot! Why couldn't you be more like Moony? Him and Lilith are perfectly fine with going with other people, why do you have to be so infuriating?" Octavia hit him over the arm before pulling away and heading for the door.

"Where the hell do you think you're going Snow?"

"To ask your goddamn brother to that bloody ball because I know he will be the only one that will stand up to you!" Octavia yelled over her shoulder and the rest of their friends finally looked up at their confrontation, watching to see what Sirius does next.

"Like bloody hell you are!" Sirius took off after Octavia.

"Should we follow them?" Lilith questioned and James grinned.

"And watch Padfoot kill a Death Eater, of course." His statement caused them to laugh, but they did get up and follow the angry couple yelling things at each other as they walked down the corridors.

"Who has the map Moony?" Lilith questioned and when a look appeared on his face she knew the answer, "Snow has the map doesn't she?" Remus nodded.

Octavia knew where Regulus was, she had seen him on the map before she had confronted Sirius. There was a part of her that knew how it was going to go and wanted to know where he was so she didn't have to stop and risk Sirius catching her.

Lilith, James, Remus and Peter didn't end up following the couple outside, much to James' disappointment since none of them had their winter cloaks to keep them warm while out in the snow.

"Jeez O, what are you doing out here without a cloak and all." Regulus spoke, shocked at seeing her standing in the Quidditch Pitch shivering.

"Go to the ball with me." she spoke quickly, her teeth chattering from the cold.

"Don't even think about it." Sirius growled while putting an arm tightly around Octavia's waist preventing her from walking away from him.

"But you heard Dumbledore at the beginning of the year brother, he wants to promote house unity, it's why he did this whole ball in the first place."

"She's only doing this to spite me, you know that right. She slapped you two years ago because you kissed her, what makes you think she actually wants this now?"

"And I have a feeling that if I kiss her this time I will get something from your direction, O I would love to go to the ball with you. Now if you excuse me I have practise and I don't think the rest of the team will appreciate two lions spying on us, regardless of who they used to be." Regulus spoke with a smirk on his face.

"Come on Pads, I'm cold." Octavia spoke, attempting to pull Sirius away from Regulus and preventing him from doing something stupid and reckless.

"Seriously Regulus, one hand on her and you're dead."

"And you're forgetting who had her first brother, now leave."

"She may have been technically yours first, but I was the one that had the first kiss." Sirius hissed at Regulus and Octavia was shocked, the two of them haven't spoken about the kisses that had occurred between them before they started dating. Neither of them saw the point since it was never an issue between the two of them.

Regulus narrowed his eyes, but his face softened slightly at the sight of Octavia shivering, badly.

"Get her inside before she gets sick, or are you that cold hearted to her as well." Regulus spoke quietly before turning and heading towards the Slytherin change rooms while Sirius turned and faced his girlfriend.

"Can we go inside now?" Octavia questioned and he nodded in response. "Why did you have to bring up that kiss? I get along with Regulus perfectly fine, just because you don't."

"He's a Death Eater Snow."

"No you don't know that, just because he hangs out with those people."

"Fine but you slapped him, he threatened you in fifth year."

"And he apologised for that, you've never apologised for half the shit you've pulled on me, the only time you've apologised was when you accidently hit me last year." Octavia snapped at him.

"If I apologise for everything will you not go with him?" he spoke softly, wrapping an arm around her, grateful when she began warming them both up.

"Nice try Pads," she spoke with a smirk and he leaned over and softly kissed the top of her head.

"Why didn't you warm yourself up before now?" Sirius questioned.

"Because I came out without a cloak, it would have looked suspicious if I wasn't cold." Octavia explained.

"I still can't believe you are going to the ball with him as your date," Sirius grumbled but Octavia just gave him a small smile.

"It'll be fine Pads, do you honestly believe that he will do anything that will put me in harm's way after all these years?" she questioned and he reluctantly shook his head.

"I still don't trust him, he kissed you in fifth year when you didn't want him too."

Octavia looked up at him with a smirk on her face, "I seem to recall you cornering me in your dorm and kissing me."

A squeal came from her as he spun her around and pulled her flush against his body, "I seem to recall you didn't have problem with me kissing you back then, if I recall correctly you enjoyed kissing me and happily kissed me back baby." He spoke, his voice low and husky and Octavia grinned at him.

"You're delusional Padfoot," she teased, pulling away from him and headed towards the Castle doors to head inside to the warmth of the Castle.

.oOo.

James stood in the doorway to the Prefects room, watching as Lily worked on the latest essay she was working on. He always thought she was beautiful, but this right here seeing her look focused and frustrated at the same time was what he thought was delightful.

McGonagall had told him just the other day after Transfiguration that Dumbledore had requested that he and Lily attend the ball together since they were Head Boy and Girl, despite the fact that they were from the same house, he wanted to show unity amongst the two of them, showing that you can push aside previous disagreements.

McGonagall had left it to him to inform Lily, but he was so unsure as to how she would react to that.

James worried that Lily wouldn't want to attend the ball with him, he thought they had a good time on their date to Hogsmeade a few weeks back and even managed to get a kiss from her before she parted but he worried that it would just be one date between them.

"Hi Lily," James spoke as he walked over and joined her at the table, she quickly looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi James, how are you?"

"Good, good. Listen, do you happen to have a date to the ball yet?" James questioned and Lily's brows furrowed for a moment before she shook her head.

"No but you and I both know that Dumbledore requested that all dates must be from different house." Lily responded, looking back down at her essay.

"McGonagall requested me to stay behind after Transfiguration today."

Lily looked up at him and nodded, "Yes I know, I was there remember and I just assumed it had to do with Quidditch since I also wasn't requested to stay behind."

"It wasn't to do with Quidditch, apparently Dumbledore wishes that we attend the ball together, as each other's dates."

"Oh…" Lily's mouth made an 'o' shape and James couldn't help but smile at her.

"If you don't want too it's fine, I'll probably just spend the night with my friends but McGonagall was saying that it would look good on our part to go together considering of how we have been in the past. But again, if you don't want to."

Lily shook her head, "No it's fine, it makes sense for us to go together as Head Boy and Girl, it all makes sense. We're getting along this year and I'm glad we are because I had fun on our date."

James' heart skipped a beat at the smile Lily gave him, he was also happy that she had agreed to them going to the ball together.

.oOo.

Octavia, Lilith and Lily were currently walking down main street of Hogsmeade, it was a couple of weeks before the ball still the Hodsmeade weekend gave everyone the chance to buy their dress robes for the ball so you could see groups of girls and guys separately, instead of the usual couples of dates.

"I don't mean to pry into your relationship but why is Black annoyed with you?" Lily questioned and Octavia looked at her before at Lilith.

"Hey don't look at me, it's your relationship." Lilith held her hands up and Octavia narrowed her eyes.

"Honestly Carrow, it's your relationship, I just wanted to know why he seemed so annoyed, you know since we're trying this whole friends thing." Lily spoke and Octavia took a deep breath.

"You're right and you should call me Octavia if we are going to try and be friends, as for Sirius, well he's annoyed that I'm going to the ball with his brother. Sirius doesn't appreciate me going with someone that isn't him." Octavia explained.

"But Dumbledore requested that everyone attend the ball with dates from other houses, well except James and I but that's different, we're Head Boy and Girl." Lily threw in and Octavia nodded

Lilith rolled her eyes, "come on O, we both know Sirius just doesn't want you to attend the ball with anyone else because of how he is. Lily, Sirius is the overly jealous type, in fact they both are but Sirius is also annoyed because it's his brother she's going with."

"Is James?" Lily questioned and both girls looked at her in shock.

"Why?" Octavia questioned with a large grin on her face but Lilith nudged her.

"Ignore her, she's gotten on this whole match making thing lately. As for James, we're unsure, he hasn't had a girlfriend but I don't believe it's in his nature. Sirius and Octavia are both protective of each other, it's the way they've always been so of course it transpired into them both having jealous streaks." Lilith explained, ignoring the look that Octavia gave her.

"Very well, thank you again for coming shopping with me, Dorcas and Mary ordered their robes the day we heard about the dance, a seamstress already having their measurements and they didn't feel like coming shopping with me."

"Ah yes the days when I could just send off an owl requesting a certain colour and a week later a robe would appear in the mail," Octavia spoke, sounding a little upset and Lilith looked at her. "Don't, I just miss some of the advantages I had being in the family. For one, I never had to shop for my robes and two, I never had to worry about the gold for them."

"What if we get dresses, muggle clothing is generally cheaper. It may be worse quality and not as nice as what you two are used to but if money is the issue for you Octavia," Lily added in and the other girls looked at her, for a moment considering whether this would be an option or not for them.

"You know what, let's do it. I'm going to this ball with a Slytherin and will probably end up spending time with a bunch of Slytherins, why not make the whole thing even better by wearing a muggle dress."

"O should you really do that?" Lilith spoke, noticing the look on the other girl's face, worried that the Octavia was planning something.

"Don't start Lilith, Regulus won't let anything happen to me. Come on, let's go shopping." Octavia grinned at them before walking ahead towards the one shop they knew that also sold muggle clothing, hoping they can find dresses that they would like.

.oOo.

"Again?"

Octavia jumped at the sound of Lilith's voice and she wearily looked over at the other girl standing in the doorway to the bathroom of their dorm room.

She didn't say anything as she leaned over and rinsed out the taste of vomit from her mouth, she was sick of the vomiting and sick of the constant nausea she was feeling.

"Don't start Lilith, we have a couple of days until we go home, can't you just let it go?"

"What if something is wrong?"

"Then Dromeda will be the one to tell me _over_ Christmas break, I'm not seeing Pomfrey. Just let it go," Octavia growled out the last part but Lilith didn't budge.

"At least tell Padfoot, he deserves to know something is wrong, he's worried you know."

"He's been talking about me behind my back hasn't he?" Octavia questioned as she walked over, hoping she could enter the dorm and get dressed for classes.

"Only because he's worried, tell him you've just been throwing up, that's its probably a stomach bug and you will see Dromeda the moment you get home." Octavia nodded as she pulled out her uniform and headed back to the bathroom to shower but Lilith placed an arm up, preventing the other girl from entering the bathroom. "Now."

Octavia turned around and threw her uniform on her bed, muttering a few words to herself in Italian before leaving the dorm and heading towards the boys' hoping Sirius was still in his bed.

She entered the dorm and like usual, they were all still asleep except Remus.

"Morning Snow," Remus spoke and she gave him a smile before pulling back the curtains of Sirius' bed and climbing in beside him.

"Morning baby," Sirius spoke as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"Morning Pads," her voice wavered and Sirius opened his eyes to look at her, worry filling him at the look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he questioned and she closed her eyes, snuggling in closer to him.

"I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days, I've thrown up a couple of times. Lilith wanted me to tell you but I was going to wait until we were home and I was going to see Dromeda to make sure everything was okay."

Sirius pulled away and sat up so he could have a better look at her but the previous look on her face was gone and was replaced with her mask, hiding everything from her.

"Baby why couldn't you tell me something was wrong?" he questioned and she shook her head.

"I just wanted us to get through this last week and the ball before throwing this at you, you've been in such a mood ever since I asked Regulus to the ball and the closer it gets, the worse you get."

"You didn't have to ask him, you did it to spite me because I wouldn't let you go with anyone."

"Don't start Padfoot, I just didn't want to make things worse between us. I'm fine aside from throwing up a couple of times." Octavia tried to reassure Sirius but she could tell it wasn't working, she could see that he was thinking through everything.

"You were afraid that I would force you to see Pomfrey and it wouldn't be something simple, that it would be something worse, something that was because you were a Dreamer?" he questioned and she nodded in response. "Baby, we'll wait to Christmas break and we'll see Dromeda if that's what you want." She nodded once again and Sirius wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

.oOo.

Sirius stood at the bottom on of the girls' staircase in the Gryffindor common room waiting for Octavia to arrive, the rest of the Marauders had already headed down to the Great Hall in search of their own dates, sans James and Lily since they were going together as Head Boy and Girl. Remus and Lilith had managed to find a couple in Ravenclaw that agreed to switch dates for the night, it was a couple that they shared Ancient Runes with and got along incredibly well with and Peter was attending with Dorcas, probably one of the small few couples that were allowed to attend together since they were in different houses.

He was worried about what was taking her so long, both Lilith and Lily stated she was ready but stalling to get dressed, neither of them said anything about what she was wearing, but the longer he waited, the more worried he became.

Sirius looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching him and he was in awe at the sight of Octavia standing there in front of him dressed like she was. Her and Lilith had decided to wear muggle style formal dresses instead of the typical formal robes they were used to wearing curtesy of Lily.

"What, is something wrong?" she questioned softly, now wary of what she was wearing.

The most she normally wore of Muggle clothing was jeans and tops, the rare occasion summer dresses, otherwise still wearing robes but Lily had managed to convince her and Lilith to go with these dresses since Dumbledore hadn't exactly made a dress code that consisted of only dress robes.

Sirius stepped forward and placed his hands on her neck and smiled at her, "you look absolutely beautiful and I hate that I have to hand you over to my brother for the night. I honestly thought with us away from our parents ruling I would never have to worry about sharing you with him again, when you agreed to be my girlfriend I thought I would never have to share you with anyone again but yet here I am having to hand you over to him for the night."

"It's not like I'm going back to his dorm with him, I will come back here with you, I can still have a dance with you. It's not like it was before I agreed to be your girlfriend, he knows I'm yours and he won't do anything."

"How are you so sure? He kissed you in front of everyone in fifth year, why won't he do again it?"

"Because he knows you will kill if he does, now come on we should head downstairs."

"Do we have to?" Sirius grumbled and Octavia smiled at him before leaning up and softly kissing him, hoping to make him feel better about the situation for their night.

"Are you feeling better at least?" Sirius questioned as they left the common room.

"I am, you don't need to worry about it." She laced her fingers with his.

The two of them walked down to the Entrance Hall, talking about their plans for Christmas break, Octavia hoped she could ease his concerns make it so he wouldn't do anything to Regulus tonight to make it worse than it may already be.

"I believe you are touching my date," they both heard Regulus speak but Sirius didn't say anything, he just pulled Octavia close before kissing her.

Octavia pulled away and pushed against his chest, "go find your own date Pads." He flashed her a cocky grin before he turned and entered the Great Hall in search of Fiona Collins from Ravenclaw who was his date for the night.

Octavia had managed to convince him to find a date for the ball, she wasn't even surprised it didn't take him all that long to find a date but she was glad it was Fiona of all people, the two girls got along and Octavia trusted her with Sirius, knew that she wouldn't do anything to risk the friendship between them.

"Are you still that annoyed with him that you are willingly pissing him off by coming to this ball with me?" Regulus questioned as he held out his arm waiting for her to loop hers through his.

"Are you saying that you aren't thrilled with me being on your arm instead of his tonight?" Octavia smiled at him, earning one in response.

"You know the answer to that," Octavia looped her arm through his and allowed him to lead her inside.

She knew what Regulus felt towards her, it was partly why she knew he would agree to be his date to the ball the other part was because she knew he would want to piss Sirius off.

"I'm sorry if me asking you puts you in a tight spot and I don't mean with Sirius, I mean with how you feel."

"I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't want to be in this position, by the way you looking absolutely beautiful tonight O." Regulus gave her an easy smile and she stepped closer to him, knowing the gap between them would be seen as odd.

"Thank you Reg, now how do you think everyone is going to react with the two of us entering the Great Hall?"

"I believe us going together will help Dumbledore prove just how easily it can be for the houses to unite."

"Yes but only Slytherin and my friends know just how long we've known each other."

"Regardless O, Sirius and I don't talk but yet the two of us do."

They both stood at the doors to the Great Hall, Regulus turned and looked at Octavia, "ready?" he questioned and she nodded as she placed her hands on the door to push it open.

Everyone turned and looked at Regulus and Octavia as they entered the Great Hall, they both knew what was going to happen if they went to the ball together, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin attending together, the biggest rivalry in Hogwarts.

Murmurs started amongst the students as they made their way towards a table.

"At least we were raised to keep our composer," Octavia whispered to Regulus and he nodded, before pulling his arm away and holding a chair out for her. "Thank you," she gave him a smile as he took a seat beside her.

"My, my, aren't you two the talk of the night." Octavia looked up at the sight of the strange girl taking a seat at the table with them. This girl looked awfully familiar, it was the same girl with dirty blonde hair that was around Regulus in the halls.

"Imogen be nice," Regulus warned and her mouth fell open as she placed a hand over it.

"I'm always nice Regulus, don't suggest otherwise. I'm offended." She pretended to be shocked before giving Octavia a smile.

"I'm Imogen Conta, it's nice to meet you." Imogen held a hand out and Octavia shook it.

"Octavia Carrow," she returned the greeting. "Do you have a date as well?" Octavia questioned and Imogen scoffed, earning a look from Regulus.

"What?" she questioned innocently but Regulus didn't say anything. "I believe Regulus may be the only one with a date within Slytherin, there may be one or two younger ones that have dates but most of the older students stay away from us."

Octavia nodded, knowing what Imogen was getting at, most of the students assumed that the Slytherins were Death Eaters and tended to avoid them.

"Are the others joining us as well?" Regulus questioned and Imogen nodded.

"You may want to keep Cortez and Nixon under control though," Imogen warned him and Octavia looked over at him.

"Why would you have to control Selwyn and Tavers?" Octavia questioned and Regulus was silent for a moment.

"They're pigs O, let's just leave it at that. Those two will behave if they want to continue playing Quidditch."

"Which means you already threatened them," Imogen responded and Octavia couldn't help but laugh at the statement.

"Hartley and Camari will also keep them entertained for the night."

"Why those two insist on always going back to those pigs is beyond me, I don't even know what they see in those two boys." Imogen responded before standing up and looking at Octavia, "I'm getting a drink, would you like to join me Carrow?"

Octavia nodded before standing up and following Imogen towards where the drinks were set up, "what's the bet someone has slipped some alcohol into the drinks?" she questioned and Imogen laughed.

"Doubtful, the Professors may have placed charms on the bowls but one would think the older students would wait until the curfew sets in for the younger students." Imogen responded and Octavia nodded, realising it was true.

Octavia grabbed the offered drink before looking over at where Sirius and the rest of her friends were sitting at a table.

"One would think things aren't easy between you and Black if you are here with Regulus."

Octavia shrugged before turning back around, "promoting house unity, what's wrong with that?" she questioned before walking back over to Regulus.

"You alright?" he questioned, noticing something was wrong but she just gave him a smile.

"Fine, your friends can be rather noisy."

"She's nicest of them as well," Regulus responded with a smirk as Imogen returned to the table with a group of other people that Octavia suspected were the rest of their group.

.oOo.

"It feels like that bloody Young Ladies ball all over again," Sirius complained as he sat there watching Octavia laugh at something Regulus was saying.

He was feeling incredibly jealous towards his brother but yet Octavia was _his_ girlfriend. He knew what Regulus was doing though, by him constantly having an arm wrapped around her waist it was protecting her from the other Slytherins since their family name still held some authority amongst them.

"It's different this time though, you're allowed to ask her to dance. Regulus can't have her all night," James explained, grateful that it seemed to have perked Sirius up a bit at the idea.

"What's so wrong with Octavia spending time with the Slytherins? I thought this was what Dumbledore wanted?" Lily questioned, completely unaware of what was truly going on.

"Don't worry about it Lily, this is something that is a bit harder to explain regardless of what O may have let slip at the beginning of term."

Lily looked at James before looking back over at where Sirius was walking over to the table where Octavia and Sirius were sitting with some of the other Slytherins.

"Seriously James, what's so wrong with it?" Lily questioned but James shook his head, refusing to answer.

Sirius walked over and the conversation that was going on between the Slytherins instantly stopped as they noticed him arrive, he ignored it and tapped Octavia on the shoulder.

"Hi," she flashed him a large smile.

"Come dance with me?" she nodded and stood up, taking his out stretched hand.

Octavia waited until they were far enough away from the table before looking up at him, "thank you, I needed to be saved. Selwyn and Tavers like to say inappropriate things and before you go rushing over there to defend my honour, don't. Regulus is handling them just fine, I just thought you should know."

Sirius' jaw was locked as he took in what she was saying, not enjoying the fact that there was two guys hitting on his girlfriend but he relaxed when she placed a hand on his cheek, giving him a smile and he remembered that he had her, not someone else.

"Let's just dance and enjoy this night before we go home tomorrow," Sirius spoke softly as he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.

"Remember I'm yours Padfoot," she spoke softly and he nodded before grabbing her hand and spinning her around, earning a bubble of laughter from her.

.oOo.

Peter looked down at where Dorcas was sitting, rubbing her toes and he instantly felt guilty. "I'm really sorry love."

Dorcas looked up at Peter and smiled softly, "don't be, so you can't dance, you and your friends can't be the best at everything."

"But I kept stepping on your toes, you're obviously in pain because of it."

Dorcas stood up and stepped closer to him, showing that she was able to walk perfectly fine. "You're worrying for no reason, I am perfectly fine. I just think that our dancing for the night is over."

"Do you mind if we go somewhere else then love?" Peter questioned with a grin on his face and Dorcas looked a little worried.

"If you say your dorm or an empty classroom I will go back to my dorm alone," Dorcas threatened and Peter laughed.

"Nope, somewhere better, trust me?" Peter questioned, holding his out for her.

It took a moment but Dorcas eventually placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her from the Great Hall.

"Maybe I should have added my dorm to the list of places," Dorcas commented as Peter pulled her along the corridor near the Hufflepuff common room.

"We aren't going to your dorm, I promise love. I thought you trusted me?" Peter looked over his shoulder at his girlfriend, slightly pouting and she couldn't help but shake her head while slightly laughing at the look, she thought he looked absolutely adorable.

"I do trust you, I just don't like surprises and sometimes when it concerns you they aren't always good Pete."

Peter stopped walking and let go of Dorcas' hand, "what?" he squeaked.

"You and your friends pull pranks all over Hogwarts, have for almost seven years. A lot of them I have enjoyed over the years but others have been concerning, I also remember you talking with James one day about how you had a surprise planned for Snape and that afternoon his robe catches fire." Dorcas explained herself.

"I won't ever set your robes on fire, why would you think such a thing?" Peter responded with a grin on his face and Dorcas laughed.

"I know that," Dorcas took a deep breath. "What is this surprise?"

His face brightened up before he picked up her hand and lead her back down the corridor again, standing in front of the portrait that led towards the kitchens.

"How does that not surprise me you know where the kitchen is?" Dorcas mused and Peter's excitement fell.

"You know?"

"Most Hufflepuff students do, it's a rite of passage." She responded with a shrug, stepping forward and softly kissing him. "Surely there was a reason as to why you were bringing me here aside from the surprise of showing me the kitchen and the elves inside?"

Peter grinned at her before he tickled the pear and opened the portrait leading her inside, it only took moments before Ellie appeared before them.

"Mister Peter, Miss Dorcas, I figured you would be in the Great Hall with the rest of the students." Ellie spoke with a smile.

"Turns out I can't dance but I was hoping we could have a little dessert in here?" Peter questioned.

"You brought me here for dessert? There are plenty of sweets laid out on the tables in the Great Hall," Dorcas interjected but Peter ignored her continued to look at the elf before her.

"Of course, right away." Ellie chirped before disappearing.

"Come on love," Peter spoke with a smile as he walked over and sat down at the closest table waiting until Dorcas sat beside him.

"Honestly what are we doing in here for dessert?" Dorcas questioned once more, hoping he would answer her.

"You know you look absolutely beautiful tonight, I'm in awe and incredibly lucky to have you as my girlfriend," Peter spoke quietly, the affection causing Dorcas' cheeks to go pink.

"You look very dashing in your dress robes and I am very lucky myself, you are incredibly doting on me, I couldn't have asked for a better boyfriend." Dorcas spoke pleased with herself for making Peter happy.

Dorcas knew that there were times where Peter felt insubordinate when compared to his friends, or even some of their classmates but she always did her best to prove otherwise. She didn't care that Peter wasn't the smartest or most athletic person, she liked Peter for who he was.

Ellie took that moment to arrive and place the chocolate pizza on the table in front of them and Dorcas' mouth fell open at the sight and smell of it.

"What is that?" she questioned, pointing at it.

"Heaven on earth, it's a chocolate pizza. Octavia got us hooked onto them, try some," Peter picked up a slice and held it towards her, hoping she would take a bite.

Dorcas leaned over and tentatively took a bite of the slice, still unsure as to what a pizza was or how it was mixed with chocolate but the word chocolate got her intrigued.

"This is divine, amazing, brilliant, I don't know how else to explain this." Dorcas spoke with a pleased smile on her face, quickly picking up another slice and eating it.

"I'm glad you are enjoying it, I thought it would be the perfect end to the night, I didn't realise my dancing was that bad, that I was going to continuously step on your toes."

"I've enjoyed the whole night Peter, you don't need to worry."

Peter put the slice back down on the place and shifted around to face Dorcas properly, placing a hand on her neck, "I do worry, because I care so much about you. I love you Dorcas."

Dorcas choked on the piece of food she had in her mouth at what he said, she looked up at him with wide eyes, staying silent for a moment.

"I love you too Peter," Dorcas finally responded, removing the fear that had filled Peter when she stayed silent at his words.

Peter didn't say anything else, just leaned forward and kissed her.

.oOo.

"Where's Padfoot?" Octavia questioned as she took a seat at the table her friends were sitting at, she had been looking for him all over but couldn't find him as yet.

Octavia couldn't help but notice the look her friends shared, something was going on and it had to have happened while she was in the bathroom. "Where?" it came out as a low growl, they pointed towards the doors of the Great Hall.

It wasn't until she was out of the Great Hall and in the Entrance Hall that she finally heard the raised voices belonging to Sirius and Regulus, she took a deep breathing before following the voices.

"You're in love with her, my girlfriend. You're in love with my bloody girlfriend!" Sirius had yelled and Octavia's steps haltered for a moment.

"If you let me finish speaking for once in your life." Regulus responded.

"What is going on with you two?" Octavia questioned as she rounded the corridor and found the two of them sizing each other up.

They both ignored her and continued to glare at each other, "you're both bloody hopeless," she muttered before turning on her heel and heading back to the common room.

Except Octavia didn't get too far until she felt a spell hit her in the back and everything went black.

.oOo.

Sirius had enough of arguing with Regulus over Octavia, he had her, he didn't understand why he was arguing with his brother about his own girlfriend in the first place.

He entered the Great Hall and saw Remus and Lilith sitting at the table alone, smiles on their faces as they laughed about something but Sirius couldn't find Octavia amongst the string of students, even her scent wasn't sticking out for him.

"Didn't Snow find you?" Remus questioned as he noticed Sirius join them at the table.

"Yeah, she didn't come back here?" Sirius questioned and they shook their heads.

"What happened Padfoot?" Lilith spoke noticing the look on his face.

"I was arguing with Regulus and she came over to try and interrupt us but it didn't work and she left, leaving us. I figured she came back here." He explained and watched as they both looked over the number of students in search of Octavia, also unable to find her.

"She would have told us what she was doing, she wouldn't just leave when any one of the Slytherins could get her, we aren't stupid enough to think that they aren't Death Eaters." Remus spoke and Sirius stood up.

"Doesn't sit right with me."

"At least go and check the map first Padfoot."

"It's in our dorm, I can check hers at the same time Moony." Sirius snapped before turning and leaving.

Sirius was confused, according to the map Octavia was with their current Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Loralie Briggs may be overly nice towards the Gryffindor students but it wouldn't make sense as to why Octavia would pay her a visit on the night before they return home for Christmas Break, to leave the dance without letting her friends know she was going back to the Gryffindor common room.

Sirius left the Gryffindor common room with the idea of going and checking on Octavia but instead he ran into his friends outside the Fat Lady portrait.

"Did you find her?" James questioned and he nodded.

"Apparently she's in with Briggs."

"That doesn't make any sense," Remus added in.

"I know, it's why I'm going down there." Sirius pushed past them and ran down the corridor, not caring about any school rules that he was breaking in the process.

He had this horrible feeling that something had happened, he's had this feeling all night but thought it would be because she was going to be spending her time with Slytherins but this was different.

When he made it to Brigg's office the door was locked and he quickly pulled his wand out to blow the door open allowing him to enter, not even caring of the consequences if Octavia was fine.

His steps froze for a moment as he caught sight of Octavia laying on the ground unconscious, blood on her forehead from a cut and he instantly put his gaze on his Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, now wondering what she wanted with his girlfriend.

"What did you do to her?" Sirius yelled.

"You mean the monster bleeding on my floor?" Briggs responded and Sirius held up his wand but she was faster, disarming him before he could think of doing anything.

"You attacked her because she's a Dreamer and you thought she was a monster because of it?" Sirius snapped, furious with what was happening.

He always thought they were safe within Hogwarts, it didn't matter if they had been attacked by students in the past, it was different. This was an adult attacking a student because of something she wasn't able to control.

Briggs didn't say anything, just raised her wand and threw a hex at Sirius and threw him against the wall, landing beside Octavia.

Sirius managed to push himself up to rest on his elbows as Dumbledore entered the room with Aurors trailing behind him.

Now knowing they were safe, Sirius crawled his way over to Octavia and placed a hand on her face. "Please wake up baby, I can't lose you. I almost lost you during the summer and that was hell, please don't let this be a repeat." Sirius pleaded with her unconscious body, hoping that she would be just fine.

"Can you stand Black?" Sirius turned his head at the strangely familiar voice and furrowed his brows as he tried to recognise the person standing in front of him.

"Prewitt?" he questioned and the other man nodded.

"Fabian, can you stand or do you need help up to the Hospital Wing?"

Sirius turned back and looked at Octavia, letting out a sigh of relief when he noticed that she was breathing. He slowly stood up and rested against the wall, watching as Fabian knelt beside Octavia.

"What are you doing?" Sirius questioned.

"Basic Healing spells are taught in the Auror program, we are taught to run diagnostic spells to be able to tell who is and isn't alive, or badly injured before the Healers turn up." Fabian responded before sliding his arms under Octavia's body and carefully lifting her up.

"Is she alright?"

"She will be fine, just a large bump to the head but Pomfrey will take a better look at her, and you as well."

Sirius looked back over his shoulder at where the other Prewitt brother was arresting Briggs before he turned and followed Fabian out of the room.

He half expected his friends to be in the corridor outside the room but all he found was more Professor's and Aurors.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Raven who flies at night, Ginny10702 and the Guest who reviewed Chapter 78.**

 **Ginny10702, that sucks having no wifi, a new chapter is always existing isn't it? Aw I'm glad you like Remus and Lilith. I've taken your complaint about Dorcas and Peter into consideration and put a little bit into this already long chapter and will work on putting more of them in the chapters I have already written.**


	81. Learning Basics

Chapter 80: Learning Basics

"You're hovering," Octavia complained as she opened her eyes and found Sirius leaning against the wall in her room.

"You were attacked by our Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor who turned out to be a Death Eater and was sent to Hogwarts on a mission from Voldemort himself."

Octavia waved her hand as she sat up in the bed, "fine, you're being overly dramatic. I'm perfectly fine, you saved me Padfoot, you realised something was amiss when I went missing." Octavia refused to tell him that she was heading back to the common room when Briggs got her, knowing it would launch him into this speech about wandering around the Castle alone.

"He really wants you dead, after what happened during the summer and then this, I almost lost you baby."

"Come here Pads," Octavia patted the spot beside her and waited until Sirius came and climbed in beside her and she shifted so she was sitting on his lap. "We're in the middle of a war Padfoot where the leader of the other side wants me dead, things are going to happen."

"But we're still students, at Hogwarts which is apparently the safest place on earth. If you can get attacked, how safe is it?"

Octavia shook her head before she kissed Sirius, wrapping her arms around his neck and weaved her fingers through his hair.

She pulled away and rested her forehead against his, "I'm fine Padfoot, you need to stop hovering so much, let me live my life."

A clearing of a throat pulled them from their own little world and they turned their heads to find James standing in the doorway.

"Yes?" Sirius questioned.

"Dumbledore's downstairs, wants to have a word with us." James explained before turning and leaving the couple alone, letting Octavia get dressed.

"He probably just wants to make sure you're okay, you spent the night in the Hospital Wing before we flooed home since we didn't want you to be on the train all day." Sirius explained, seeing the worry in her eyes as she climbed out of her bed and headed towards her wardrobe to get dressed.

"Still feels weird having Dumbledore come all this way to check on me though," Octavia muttered grabbing a robe before pulling it on and quickly throwing her hair up into a messy bun, turning and facing Sirius.

"Come on baby."

"Remember we had plans today as well, I've got my Apparition test booked in today and then we were going back to Gringotts to finally go through that box that my mother left in my vault." Octavia pointed out and Sirius nodded.

"I remember, I still wish you had changed the date of your test and continued to rest for a couple more days."

"I'm perfectly fine," Octavia snapped before leaving her room and going downstairs to where she finally found everyone sitting in the formal dining room, she stopped noticing that Dumbledore was joined by the Prewitt brothers, Fabien and Gideon.

"Hello everyone," she greeted as she walked over and took a seat at the table, they responded with their own greeting while they waited for Sirius to join them, only seconds behind Octavia.

"How are you feeling Octavia?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Fine, much better. Pomfrey said I just took a hard knock to my head and I would be fine, which I am." Octavia spoke, more so reassuring Sirius than anyone.

"Good, that is very good. Now I believe after everything you've been through in the last couple of months you might need some defensive training, it's why I've asked Fabien and Gideon here today, they will spending some of your Christmas break with you here to protect you in case anything happens again but they will also be helping you improve your duelling skills and work out ways to use your wandless magic defensively."

Octavia didn't say anything in response, it was the same argument she's had with Sirius a number of times, she doesn't know how Charms can be used defensively and she was unsure as to how Fabien and Gideon could actually be of any help.

"Excellent, since there is no objects Gid and I have to get back to checking the wards surrounding the property." Fabien spoke as he and Gideon stood up and quickly left the room.

"Octavia I was hoping we could have a word in private."

"Yes of course, let's go outside I am curious as to what Fabien and Gideon are doing to the wards." Octavia stood up and lead Dumbledore outside, knowing it was the only way to prevent Sirius from eavesdropping.

"What did you wish to speak about Professor?" Octavia questioned once they were outside.

"I suppose you have several questions for me about what happened."

"Just one, was she really a Death Eater?" Octavia questioned and Dumbledore nodded.

"I do apologise, she was the only one that applied to the posting for this year and I should have done more extensive research of the new appointment."

"Not your fault, Sirius has been going on all term about wandering the corridors on my own and I should have known better."

"Yes but I believe Black's concern may be because of the potential threat amongst the students and not the Professors?"

"That is correct, do you believe that Voldemort could have Death Eaters amongst the students?" Octavia questioned as her and Dumbledore stopped walking, they were able to watch Fabien and Gideon from a distance and the brothers were unable to hear their conversations.

"Death Eaters, no. But sympathisers is a different story, I believe many of the Slytherin students may agree with some of what Voldemort is speaking for, there may even be students amongst the other houses but they may not also go about it all the same way. Remember Voldemort isn't only trying to claim that we come out of hiding from the Muggles because we are above them, he's only trying to establish the privileges that come with being a Pureblood and some students may agree with that aspect."

"I believe that Purebloods have too many privileges as it is," Octavia muttered, lowering her gaze to the ground.

"That is because you grew up amongst a family that abuses that privilege, they use their connections to make sure they have the best, associate with the best and stay out of trouble. It's been that way for a long time now."

"Aside from my questions, what did you wish to speak off?" Octavia looked up at her Headmaster.

"A couple of things but first, when were you going to tell me you came across Voldemort during the summer, that there is possibility that the Prophecy came true."

"I was embarrassed of my stupidity, I knew it was the Full Moon, the same one being a Blue Moon but I still left the house, not giving a second thought to what may happen."

"Prophecies always have a way of coming about, it may not have been that one but it could have been the next one which may have been once you graduated and left the safety of Hogwarts. You can never know when it's going to happen, even your dreams, you never know when they will come to the light of day, you can only guess by taking a guess at what age they are in your dream."

Octavia nodded, "What do you think is going to happen now that the Prophecy has happened, what do you think is going to happen between Voldemort and myself?" she questioned, hoping he could give her the answer that scared her the most.

"That I do not fully know, it could be a number of things but we won't know for sure until the next Blue Moon. Now what are your plans for when you graduate in June?"

"Haven't really given it much though I suppose, I've always wanted to work with Magical Creatures but this war is getting worse and I don't know if I could just up and leave at a time like this, I want to be able to help and if Voldemort really does want me I will be dragged into this war without an option."

"I have a group of people who are actively working with me to help bring down Voldemort, doing things differently to what the Ministry wishes. Tailing known Death Eaters, appearing at the scenes of their crimes and helping fix the situation or preventing it from getting worse."

"I want to help," Octavia spoke up, her face lighting up at the idea of helping.

"That is what I like to hear, but first spend the break practising and working with the Prewitts, we will talk more after your graduation. Have a good Christmas Octavia." Octavia nodded and watched as Dumbledore walked away from her, leaving the wards and Disapparating from the property.

Octavia walked over to stand beside Fabien and Gideon, curious as to what they were doing. "What are you doing to the wards? It feels odd."

"Can you feel the wards?" Fabien questioned and she nodded.

"I can feel the wards but I can't distinguish between the different types, Hogwarts for example I know has ample wards but it just feels like one ward to me." Octavia explained and the brothers shared a look.

"Perhaps that is something we can also work on with you, we can distinguish between them as we put them up and checking the strength of the previous ones, I'm sure over time and with practise you will be able to tell which wards are in place." Gideon spoke, turning his back to her to face the wards once more.

"Gideon is right but I believe our focus right now is getting your duelling up to scratch, why don't you head inside why we finish up and then we can begin this afternoon?"

"What about tomorrow? I have my Apparition test booked and a meeting with the Goblins at Gringotts."

"Very well, we will see you tomorrow."

Octavia gave them a smile as she turned to leave, not without catching their conversation.

"Black is a very lucky bloke."

"I know right, have you seen how little Carrow grew up?"

She shook her head as she entered the house, knowing things may get a little interesting around here with the brothers around.

.oOo.

Octavia slid into the booth across from Sirius with a rather large smile on her face.

"I take it you passed it?" he questioned and she nodded. "Congratulations Snow."

"Let's get some food before we have to go to Gringotts, I'm starving." Octavia spoke but Sirius didn't believe her, just watched her as she took a sip of the water in front of her.

"You aren't hungry and we don't have time, you know that." Sirius pointed out and she nodded, reluctantly standing from the table, waiting for Sirius to follow her. "Remember you were the one that wanted the meeting with the Goblins, to find out what was in that box your mother left and when she did leave it."

"I don't even want to know what's in the box, it's from my mother, the same person who let my father do all those things to me, let my grandparents convince her to send me to that stupid school."

A frown appeared on Sirius' face as she spoke, her voice sounded so calm but when he made a grab for her arm and pulled her back towards him, it was then when she looked up at him that he could see it in her eyes.

"Nothing is going to happen to you, for all we know it's a bunch of crap that Dinky didn't collect up and put in a box for you."

"Or for all we know it's trap and we're going to die the minute we open it," Octavia muttered.

Sirius stayed silent knowing it was no use arguing with her at the moment, it could just end badly. The only thing he could do was continue along to Gringotts and hope that he was right, that it wasn't anything dangerous in the box and that Octavia calmed down a little bit.

Between the war and the cold weather rarely anyone was venturing outside these days, Diagon Alley was the quietest they had ever seen it and they feared it was only going to get worse since it didn't look like it was going to improve any time soon. Even some of the shops were boarded up.

Gringotts for a change was empty when they entered and were taken straight down to Octavia's vault to retrieve the box before heading up to the goblins office to go through the box.

Octavia had even asked Amycus last year when she first saw the box but he said he knew nothing about it and he couldn't go and ask Ophelia about it since they assumed that no one knew about it.

"So you're sure that the box has been checked, that there is nothing bad in here?" Octavia questioned Goknog, the goblin that was now in charge of both hers and Sirius' vaults.

"Yes, I was informed that she brought the box in with her when you were disowned. The Curse Breakers and goblins they work with spent a week checking over the box and it's contents as it is procedure to do so when someone requests something to be placed in a vault they do not have access too." Goknog explained and Octavia nodded as she moved to stand by the desk in the room and open the box.

Sirius leaned there against the wall and watched as Octavia went through the box, he wanted to help her but also knew she needed to do this on her own.

He noticed the frown appear on her face and he pushed off the wall and walked over towards her, "what is it?"

"It's all stuff I would have gotten once I turned 17 and became a legal adult, the jewellery, the property in the country that we use for Christmas." She looked up at him, "I was disowned, why am I getting this stuff?"

"I do not know," Sirius turned and faced Goknog, hoping he would know the answer.

"The jewellery and gold that are in the box have no owner as such, they are just passed down but the property has to be signed over to the next owner. Your mother was the one who left the box, it is possible that she was the previous owner of the house." Goknog explained and Octavia nodded, going through the box again, pulling out the gold that was resting in the bottom and putting it aside, unsure as to if she would take it home with her or have it placed in her vault.

"Pads," Octavia looked up at him, her voice wavering as she pulled it out. "It's my grandmother's Will."

"Well as long as there isn't some secret baby somewhere waiting for you, I'm sure it will be fine." Sirius joked, glad when Octavia finally gave him a smile.

Octavia fell silent as she quickly read through it, knowing it would be better for Ted to go through this Will with her once again but she quickly noticed a couple of things, she was getting _everything_ that was previously in her grandmother's name.

"I'm getting everything," she looked up at him in shock. "That's why I'm getting the property, it was in her name and not my parents. I'm getting what is in her vault, what is contained in the property if my parents haven't emptied it, everything Pads."

"And you were so worried about what is going to happen come the moment we graduate," Sirius placed a hand on her neck and softly ran his thumb along her cheek. "I'm not suggesting we move into that place, but we could sell it and use that money to live elsewhere. I didn't tell you this but Uncle Alphard passed away last year and he left me a decent chunk of gold, I was going to wait until we graduated and surprise you, after I found somewhere for us to live."

"Why didn't you tell me he passed away, you really fond of him, much like Dromeda and I was of my grandmother."

"It was just easier," Sirius shrugged. "I honestly thought he didn't care. He would have heard we were disowned, like everyone in both of our families would have but no one said anything to us except for Dromeda."

"As you've said a number of times, we've made our own family now. We don't need them, right?" Octavia spoke and Sirius nodded.

Octavia packed everything back up except the Will that was her grandmother's and requested to have Goknog place it back in her vault before her and Sirius left, heading back to the Potter's.

.oOo.

Octavia took a seat on the floor and made a grab for the water bottle sitting there.

She was currently in the empty Ballroom of Potter Manor with Fabien and Gideon, she has spent the last couple of days duelling them with her wand so they can determine where she is at and go from there since they were also completely unsure as to how they could help her with her wandless magic and capabilities.

"You doing very well O," Fabien spoke and she looked up at them with a large grin on her face.

"Much better than we expected," Gideon added in.

"Despite what Briggs did to me, she did well in teaching us how to respond in duels. It's pretty much all we did, learning which spells are better suited in which environments or to counteract other spells. That and both James and Sirius are still unsure as to if they want to be Aurors or just help in the war without becoming Aurors." Octavia spoke and was instantly unsure about the look the two brothers shared, she had quickly learnt that despite the two of them being not being twins they are incredibly close and can communicate much like twins can.

"At this point we don't see the point, the training program used to be long, intense and quite extensive but now, it's cut short to rush Aurors out and they aren't trained properly."

"We know Dumbledore extended an invitation to you to join up once you graduate and can only assume that it will follow to the rest of your friends. We're here anyway and are more than happy to duel with them to help them improve before they graduate and even then in the group there are plenty of Aurors and we help train each other."

"Don't tell them about the Order, wait until Dumbledore extends an invitation to them but offer to train them, all my friends. I know they're all worried about going out into the war not being properly trained. My friends are all Blood Traitors, by either association, because who their family is and then there is Sirius and I, we turned our backs on our family." Octavia requested and they both nodded.

"We can deal with that, now how about you return your wand to its hiding spot and you go wandless and see what we can work with."

Octavia went skidding around the corner towards the Ballroom and let out a squeal when an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her flush against a body, sending both of them tumbling to the ground sending both of them into fits of laughter.

"What'd you do that for Padfoot?" she scolded but he just laughed before standing up, pulling her with him.

"I didn't expect us to go falling to the ground, you had so much momentum when I grabbed you." Sirius explained, giving her a smile. "Now why can't I hear anything in the room?"

Octavia laughed before patting his cheek, "because there are silencing charms up, now be a good boy and go back to playing with Prongs." She teased before pulling away and running back to the Ballroom.

"Sorry, Sirius stopped me in the hall." Octavia apologised as she walked over and stood beside the two of them in the middle of the room.

"All good."

"Now show us, what you can do without a wand and we can do from there."

"Most of it is all Charms based, I've had a shield a couple of times but I can't get it to appear when I want it too." Octavia explained and they both nodded, hoping she would show them what she can do.

Octavia stood there and went through all the Charms that she can perform on command, going through the ones she first got control of, fire, water and air before showing how she can move things and people.

"Hang on, I've got an idea." Fabien spoke as Gideon rubbed his shoulder, having been dropped after struggling against Octavia while she lifted him up. "You said you can move Bludgers and Broomsticks, which have their own type of magic and in theory magic performed with a wand cannot affect them unless it's Dark Magic, what if you can grab onto the magic of a wand?"

Octavia fell silent as she thought about it, she never tried it. "What do you mean?" she questioned.

"Expelliarmus is essentially a Defensive spell, you haven't managed to preform it whether on command or not without a wand but Accio is a Charm and by the looks of it you can perform it on command by bringing objects towards you. If you can manipulate the magic of a Bludger and Broom, why not a wand, why not pull it from our hands to your own? Change the way you perform Expelliarums?" Gideon explained and Octavia perked up, liking the sound of that.

She stood there and closed her eyes, hoping she can feel the pull of their wands in the room. She knew it would take time before she could do this without focusing, as long as it was possible.

The two brothers shared a looked as they were wondering what Octavia was doing.

"Do you think she's alright Fab?" Gideon questioned.

Fabien shrugged before looking at his brother, "who knows, remember we aren't Dreamers like her, we have no idea how she goes about her magic. By the sounds of it, she's never tried to do this, maybe she has to focus before she can perform it?"

Gideon didn't get the chance to respond as his wand was pulled from his hand and when he looked at Octavia she was holding it up with a massive smile on her face.

"Okay so that was pretty cool," she responded before pulling Fabien's from his hand, her smile becoming larger.

"Alright hand them back over, now that we have one thing sorted how about we work on that shield of yours," Gideon spoke holding his hand but Octavia just waved the two wands, laughing at their sour looks before throwing them at the brothers.

"So what's the plan?" she questioned, unsure as to what they had planned.

"We throw simple hexes at you, Jelly Legs, Stinging Hex, simple ones that either cause minimal pain when hit or prevent you from running and dodging. You just have to try and produce your shield to block the spells." Fabien spoke and Octavia took a deep breath, she still to this day she doesn't know if she managed to produce her shield when she went against Voldemort.

She worried that if she couldn't produce her shield against Voldemort when her life depended on it, how would she be able to produce it when she didn't need it because she knew that Fabien and Gideon wouldn't kill her or purposely hurt her because they were here to help protect her, to help her learn to duel better.

It was why the room had wards placed around it preventing the others from entering, they were unsure as how they would react if they saw Octavia in pain, or getting hurt, if they would put a stop to Fabien and Gideon or would they sit by and watch, could they sit by and watch Octavia in pain?

"Sounds simple enough," Octavia muttered before she started laughing, glaring at the brothers when it stopped realising it was a Tickling Charm she was hit with. "This is going to suck," she complained before dodging the jet of light Fabien sent her way.

.oOo.

Sirius looked over at where Octavia had fallen asleep laying on the cushions that they had placed in the Ballroom, Fabien and Gideon had been transforming them into large rocks for Octavia to jump and hide behind when she was duelling them, he couldn't help but laugh at her.

He still had no idea what they were doing in the room, he couldn't hear anything from the room or even enter the room when the three of them were in there. All he knew was that they were duelling, non-stop bringing her to exhaustion and she was using wandless magic, also taking a lot out of her.

The days when Fabien and Gideon weren't working with Octavia in the Ballroom they were working with James and Sirius on their duelling skills, the rest of their friends when they were present for the day as well.

"Honestly what are you two doing with my girlfriend, she's always exhausted." Sirius complained, removing his gaze from where Octavia was asleep.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Gideon winked at him while Fabien and James burst out laughing, Sirius not appreciating the comment stalked towards him with his wand pointed out.

"Calm down Sirius, I was just teasing."

"All you two have done since the start of break was make comments and I'm sick of it." Sirius snapped.

"Dude your girlfriend is hot, don't you agree James?" Fabien added it and Sirius' gaze turned to his best friend.

James held his hands up innocently, "I'm staying out of this, she's your girlfriend and I've got Lily."

"Do you or do you not want to learn the Patronus Charm, that's what we are doing today? Remus, Lilith and Peter are all coming by today, you will all be learning the charm." Gideon spoke and Sirius turned to look back at his girlfriend, he really was sick of all the comments from the Prewitt brothers.

Since the break began they had been flirting with Octavia and it bugged Sirius, he was protective over her and jealous that it was happening. Octavia didn't even buy into the flirting, she would just roll her eyes before walking away.

She had tried telling him that they were only doing it because he always reacted, but he couldn't stop, he hated seeing someone flirt with what was his.

"The books say no Dreamer on record has performed a Patronus," Sirius spoke, still looking at where Octavia was asleep.

"We know, she told us. She's been very informative about Dreamers for us, there is talk that Voldemort has control over the Dementors but as of yet there is no proof. If in the future they leave Azkaban and begin wreaking havoc, you need to know how to cast the spell but you don't get taught it at Hogwarts." Fabien spoke and Sirius finally turned around and looked at the brothers.

"Fine, let's get started the others can catch up when they get here." Sirius stated, he wanted to do this so he could protect Octavia in the future if it turns out the book was true.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**


	82. I'm What?

Chapter 81: I'm What?

"Okay seriously, this isn't fair," Octavia complained before sitting down on the ground like an annoyed toddler and Sirius couldn't but laugh at her actions.

"The books stated that Dreamers can't perform the Patronus charm, I don't know why you keep trying." Sirius explained before walking over and sitting down behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Octavia was a little annoyed that Fabien and Gideon had begun practising with the rest of her friends when it came to the Patronus Charm but not her, when she did join in she wasn't even able to produce a silvery mist.

"Yes but Dumbledore also stated it was odd I got my dreams so early, I was hoping," she snapped.

Sirius softly kissed the back of her neck before pulling her wand out of her hands, "try without your wand, you know how the spell should be done and technically it's a charm."

"Godric you're annoying," she pulled away from him and snatched back her wand. "Where are Fabien and Gideon, they're more helpful than you."

"No they're not, you're just frustrated and taking it out on me. Now try without your wand, have you even tried without your wand?" the look on her face said it all and a smug look appeared on his. "Exactly, now hand your wand back over." He held his hand out and she hesitantly placed her wand in his hand.

Sirius sat there in silence and watched as Octavia stood there in the middle of the empty room attempting to produce a Patronus.

Fabien and Gideon had taught the boys how to produce one, Sirius, Remus and James had all succeeded in producing a corporeal Patronus after a few attempts while Peter was still only producing a silver mist, but he was still doing better than Octavia and that's what frustrated her the most, that her special magical ability was limiting her.

"What's going on in here?" James questioned as he walked over and sat down beside Sirius.

"Snow's trying to produce a wandless Patronus."

"Funny, to me it looks like she might blow something up."

"Isn't that why we are in here, in this empty room?" Both boys teased her and seconds later they were sent flying across the floor by a gust of wind that Octavia had created.

"Go on, say something again, I dare you." She called out.

From the corner of her eye she watched as James pulled out his wand and she quickly pulled it from his hands and caught it before he could do anything with it.

"Is that what she's been doing with Fabien and Gideon?" James questioned, shocked that his wand was gone.

"Yeah she's been duelling with them without her wand, she can't seem to manage to perform Expelliarmus but she can pull the wands from your hand, they've been helping her use her wandless magic to her advantage, it may be slightly different but as a core it's still the same. She technically used Accio for your wand but for her she just has to focus on the object and it will come to her."

"That's brilliant!" James exclaimed and a sour look appeared on Sirius' face.

"Except Sirius isn't happy because it was their idea, now if I can cast this stupid Patronus I will be happy." Octavia threw James his wand back, knowing he wouldn't use it against her now.

"What do you think she will produce?" James questioned as he and Sirius returned to their original spots on the floor before she had separated them.

"Who knows, you produced yours first and it was a stag which is your Animagus form, but then I produced mine and it's a wolf because of my love for Snow…"

"Or you're secretly in love with Moony," Octavia teased from her spot in the room.

"Actually love, there is something I've been meaning to tell you. I want to break up with you so I can confess my love to Moony." Sirius spoke and she rolled her eyes, knowing full well that the moment he called her love, it was a joke.

"I think I'm going to turn around, leave the room and re-enter hoping I hear something completely different," Remus sputtered and the others burst out in a fit of laughter.

"We were talking about Snow's Patronus and it snowballed," James explained, Remus took the answer and walked over to join the boys on the floor, making sure he sat beside James and not Sirius.

"Oh what, I'm not good enough for you Moony?" Sirius pouted and James sniggered.

"You'll have to fight Lilith."

"I can take her."

"Really Pads, or do you not remember that best friend trumps boyfriend, I may just help her out? Maybe we'll ditch both of you for each other?" she spoke suggestively, not even looking at the boys.

"Can we watch?" Sirius suggested and once again he was sent flying across the floor. "Was that necessary?" he complained.

"Depends are you going to continue to be a perve?"

"Depends do I still get sex later?"

His question never received a response, instead Octavia turned around and faced him fully, and levitated him in the room while James and Remus just started laughing, this not being the first time it was seen now that Octavia had gotten better at controlling her magic. They all trusted her completely and knew she would never hurt one of them.

"Put me down Snow," he warned her.

"Or what Pads?"

"I love you Snow," he spoke softly and she shook her head before slowly lowering him to the ground.

Octavia turned back around so she had her back to the boys and Sirius returned to his spot with James and Remus, starting a conversation with the two.

The three boys looked up at the sound of the shriek that came from Octavia, before they could question anything she spun around and faced them with a massive smile on her face.

"I did it," she spoke happily before closing her eyes and doing it again.

They were all shocked when a corporeal Patronus appeared in front of them, especially considering it was a dragon of all things.

Octavia opened her eyes, she was shocked at the sight.

"That's a Greek Opaleye, they're incredibly rare dragons that are almost extinct because wizard have become obsessed with hunting them for their hide. It's why the New Zealand and Australian Ministries produced a law that made it illegal to hunt the Antipodean Opaleye that resides in their countries." She explained, noticing the corners of the wings and the end of the tail that looked a trident.

"I've never heard of either," Sirius spoke and Octavia rolled her eyes before looking back at the dragon Patronus wondering how long it would last.

"Antipodean Opaleye dragons reside in New Zealand where they first originated from but in recent years they have been spotted in Australia. Much like with the Greek Opaleye witches and wizards like to hunt them for their hide, or eyes if they can remain intact. Their hide is said to be a magnificent pearl like colour and their eyes are multi-coloured, something that collectors absolutely love but the difference between the two are the tips of their wings and their tails. It's the trident like aspects of their tails and wings that make the differences between the Antipodean and the Greek." Remus explained and Octavia smiled, pleased with the explanation.

Octavia turned around and moved her hands around wondering how she could get the dragon to move, despite the fact that this was a corporeal Patronus she knew it would be different to one that her friends would create because hers was wandless and they were under the assumption that she wouldn't be able to produce one.

"What about their personalities? Why would Snow produce one? We all produced either our Animagus forms or the ones of our loved ones." James questioned and they all looked at Octavia, hoping she could answer the question knowing she understand the animals better but they were shocked as Octavia stood there with her hand out and the dragon had its head bent to be under her hand.

"Greek Opaleye have a large sense of family values, they are incredibly protective of the ones they love. It's one of their downfalls as to why they are almost extinct, when one gets taken down the rest charge in. They aren't necessarily the smartest dragons when out in battle because their need to protect their loved ones over comes them and their battle strategies." Octavia explained and the dragon disappeared and her body sagged with exhaustion. "Okay I need to sit now." She walked over and sat down, leaning against Sirius.

"What were you thinking of that caused you to finally get it?" Remus questioned and she looked up at them with a smile on her face.

"How much I love my friends, it wasn't happiness that produced my Patronus, it was love." Sirius leaned down and pressed his lips into her hair.

"Maybe that's what makes it different for Dreamers, they have to think of love instead of happiness."

"Maybe, but a dragon seems weird is all. If it's my personality, why not a wolf or if its love why not a dog?" she questioned and none of them had an answer.

"I think maybe it's the fact that you've changed in the three years since you all first completed the transformation. Back then you much more private, kept so many secrets from the rest of us and only shared them with Padfoot. Wolves are known to be secretive and have a need to be alone and deal with things on their own. Yes you still don't enjoy having your personal life out in the public and sometimes it shows with your relationship with Padfoot but you have relaxed a little and don't panic as much when you embarrass yourself in public anymore." Remus explained and she nodded closing her eyes, getting some rest against Sirius.

Remus looked over at Sirius and noticed the annoyed look on his face, "what's wrong Padfoot?"

"My Patronus resembled a wolf for my love for Snow but yet hers is a bloody dragon," he grumbled, Octavia stirring against him.

"What she explained about the dragon does resemble her, the way she came about producing her Patronus is different to ours. Her magic is different Padfoot, don't be like this, you know she loves you." James piped in but Sirius didn't look up, just continued to look at Octavia and he softly stroked her hair.

"But yet she went to the ball with Regulus just to spite me, if that hadn't have happened then Regulus and I wouldn't have been arguing about some stupid pointless thing and she wouldn't have gone off on her own because she was once again annoyed with the fact that we were arguing and that wretched Loralie Briggs wouldn't have taken her."

James and Remus shared a look at the end of Sirius' rant, they hadn't heard as such but they had a feeling that Sirius was feeling guilty about what happened to Octavia at the ball because he was the reason she went and asked Regulus to the ball and he was the reason she left the Great Hall alone because she was annoyed with him.

"You know she doesn't blame you mate," James spoke and Sirius finally looked up.

"She should, if I had have been a normal boyfriend for once and let her go with Cameron Thomas and I had gone with Rory Reynolds like she first suggested, like what Moony and Lilith did with another couple then this wouldn't have happened. Instead I turned into a jealous lunatic."

"She can be exactly the same, she can be incredibly jealous as well. It's the animals in you coming out, your dog and her wolf both sense their mate in each of you and become territorial when someone comes close to what is theirs. I've even seen Snow get jealous when you hug Lilith, just like I've seen you get jealous when she hugs one of us." Remus explained, fully understand the jealous that comes from his animal side, he felt all the time with Lilith but he didn't act on it nearly as much as Octavia and Sirius did.

"You saved her Padfoot and she is incredibly grateful to have you and she loves you, don't ever questioned that." James added in before standing up and heading towards the doors, "I have a date with Lily, I will be home later. Don't blow up my house." James teased over his shoulder before leaving the room.

"I also have a date planned with Lilith and do as he says Padfoot," Remus warned before standing up and leaving as well.

Sirius looked down at Octavia, he still felt incredibly guilty. He blamed himself for what happened to her and he hated himself for letting something happen to her. He promised her that after getting her out of her parent's house he would never let anything happen to her again.

Sirius softly brushed the hair out of her hair, his actions freezing when she stirred in his lap.

"It's not your fault, please stop blaming yourself," Octavia spoke softly, not looking up at him.

"If I hadn't have been arguing with Regulus," Sirius started but stopped when Octavia sat up and looked at him.

"Don't, you're always arguing with Regulus. I don't blame you Pads," Octavia placed her hands on his face and gave him a small smile. "You saved me, once again and I am perfectly fine. You honestly need to let this go because we have bigger things to worry about."

"Yes, like my brother being in love with my girlfriend," Sirius growled and Octavia rolled her eyes before pushing herself up onto her feet.

"Let him be, it's probably the only reason the two of us have had a friendship in the past, why he's protecting our secrets."

"But he's in love with you Snow," Sirius repeated but Octavia having had enough of the topic of conversation threw a gust of wind at him to send him soaring across the floor before she turned and left the Ballroom, running into Fabien in the hall.

"I heard you produced a Patronus," Fabien spoke and Octavia nodded with a grin on her face.

"I did, it's produced by love not happiness."

"Come show me before I have to head off, I was just checking in with Fleamont when James informed me of the accomplishment." Fabien entered the Ballroom with Octavia not far behind him and she walked over to stand in the middle off the room.

Octavia closed her eyes and held her hands out as she focused on her love for Sirius to produce her Patronus.

"Snow," Octavia opened her eyes at the sound of Sirius' voice, something was wrong.

She was confused when she saw a dog standing there, very much looking like the shaggy black dog that Sirius transforms into. "That's not right," she scratched her head and looked at Fabien. "It was a dragon before."

"Fucked if I know," Fabien responded causing Octavia and Sirius to laugh. "The fact that yours is love and not happiness shows it will be different. Were you thinking of something different?"

"Yeah, the first time I was thinking of my friends in general and that time I was thinking of Pads." Octavia explained and Fabien went silent as he walked towards the corporeal dog that was sitting in the middle of the room.

"Maybe it's who you think of, maybe depending on who you think of depends on what you produce, again the differences in your magic compared to ours shows." Fabien explained, still unsure himself of how it all worked when it came to Octavia and her wandless magic because she was a Dreamer.

.oOo.

"My, my, aren't you looking as lovely as ever," Octavia looked up as she heard the voice and found Fabien and Gideon standing in front of her.

She shook her head, knowing they were just flirting with her and meant nothing behind it as they knew she was with Sirius and had no plans to break them up, they mainly did it because they were flirts but they also enjoying winding Sirius up.

"What are you two doing here? It's Christmas." She questioned, not liking the look that was shared between them.

"Doesn't matter, as long as Fleamont doesn't kick us out we are spending Christmas here with you lot."

"Sirius might kick you out," Octavia warned but the two of them just smirked.

"He can try," was all Gideon said and she laughed.

"Right, well you two have fun, don't bruise my boyfriend's ego too much because honestly having to deal with him sulking on Christmas before we go to Dromeda's won't be fun." Octavia warned them before she stood up and headed upstairs with the idea of having a shower before they all had lunch together.

Both Lilith and Remus would be joining them for lunch before having dinner with their own families, Peter was asked to join as well but they were unsure as to if he was joining them as well since he just said he would work on it and James had invited Lily since the two of them had been getting closer in the last few weeks.

When Octavia walked out of the bathroom that was attached to the room she was using as her own, she found Sirius standing out on the balcony, leaning over the railing with a glass in his hand.

She went out and joined him on the balcony, he didn't say anything, just wrapped his arms around her and she noticed he was cold so warmed him up.

"Thank you," his voice was soft and he pressed his lips against the side of her neck.

"Are you alright?"

"Don't really plan on spending Christmas watching those two flirt with you." Octavia turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck, massaging the back of his skull with her fingers.

"It's Christmas, maybe they'll behave for the day."

"It's Christmas, maybe they should spend it with their own family," he grumbled in response.

"You know Dumbledore asked them to watch over us…"

"No Snow, they're watching over you and I'm thankful for that but why can't we be the ones who watch over you?"

"They've had Auror training, they've fought against the Death Eaters and we haven't. They're here as a precaution Pads, they all know that we are both living here, that we have been. Even if we leave to be safe, we're putting Prongs and Fleamont in danger. Remember they are also duelling with us, to help improve our own duelling skills."

"I know, I just hate that they flirt with you, you're mine," Sirius growled and Octavia knew it was his possessive side coming out in him, it always did when it came to her. It also didn't help that both of their Animagus forms saw their mate in each other, it increased both of their possessive sides.

"I know, I'm yours, only yours." She spoke softly before leaning up on her toes so their faces were more level, he leaned down and placed his forehead against hers. "I love you Padfoot, only you."

"I love you too Snow," Sirius kissed her softly, smiling into it when she gripped his hair in her fingers.

"Come on, lets head downstairs for lunch. You don't have anything to worry about."

Sirius didn't say anything, just wrapped his arms tighter around her and held her close for a moment before pulling away and linking his fingers with hers, softly kissing the back of her hand.

"To think Pads, this is still only our fourth Christmas," Octavia spoke as the two of them entered the living room, taking sight of the large Christmas tree set up in the corner, smiling at the sight of it.

They heard a choking sound behind them and they both turned to find Lily standing there looking a little shocked at the comment.

"Christmas is a Muggle holiday, the types of Pureblood families we grew up with don't celebrate it. We spent one Christmas at Hogwarts and then the ones following after we left our families," Sirius explained and Lily nodded.

"Merry Christmas," she spoke, giving them a smile before leaving, most likely in search of James.

"I wonder why she is here," Sirius spoke and Octavia shrugged.

"It's not like I can see the future," she dead panned and Sirius laughed. "Not by will anyway, come on I'm hungry and lunch should be served soon enough." Sirius went to walk away but Octavia pulled on his arm, pulling him back towards her.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her, unsure as to what she was planning but she grinned at him before leaning up and pressing her lips against his.

He instantly fell into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"Get a room," Gideon spoke, causing the two to pull apart, a growl coming from Sirius in the process.

"I love you," Octavia spoke, giving him a smile before heading into the dining room where everyone else was seated.

She walked over and took a seat beside Lilith, knowing full well that Sirius would sit on the other side preventing one of the Prewitt brothers from sitting there to spend all of lunch flirting with her.

"He still in a mood?" Lilith questioned and Octavia nodded.

"Yours?" Octavia responded and Lilith looked at where Remus was talking with Lily about Muggle literature.

"Yes, but worries for another day." Lilith grimly responded, causing Octavia reach other and grab her hand.

Once everyone was seated the elves served the first course and they all began eating, making small talk about what their plans were for dinner since some of them were going to separate places.

It was in between the first and second course that Peter arrived, rushing into the dining room muttering his apologies before sitting down in the empty seat.

"You're here, that's all that matters Wormtail," Sirius spoke loudly, giving the boy a smile.

"So why aren't you spending Christmas with your family?" James questioned, unsure as to why Fabien and Gideon were choosing to spend their Christmas with a bunch of people they had only known a few days, also pulling the focus from Peter.

"Our older sister is pregnant, this is her fourth pregnancy now and she gets a little irritable."

"Not only that Fab, it's worse because Molly's pregnant with twins."

Octavia's attention snapped over to where Fabien and Gideon were sitting and stared at them, Molly and twins, were they the same ones she in her dream of her daughter a few years ago.

"Did you say your sister's name was Molly?" Octavia questioned.

"Yeah why what about it, I doubt you would know her she's a few years older than us."

"And she's pregnant with twins?"

"We just said that, are you alright?" Fabien questioned but Octavia didn't say anything, just nodded before pushing away from the table.

"Snow are you alright?" Sirius questioned, catching up with her in the hall.

"I'm fine, just need to use the bathroom." She gave him a forced smile and softly kissed him before continuing along to the bathroom.

Octavia looked up at the door as someone knocked on it, "just a minute," she responded.

"Snow?" Lilith's voice came from the other side.

"You can come in," Octavia replied and the slowly opened, revealing her best friend who looked a little worried.

"What's the matter?" Lilith questioned, noticing the look on Octavia's face.

"I think I'm pregnant," Octavia stated and Lilith fell silent as she slid down the wall to sit beside Octavia on the floor.

"Shit…" Lilith muttered as they both fell silent.

.oOo.

"We need to talk," Octavia whispered in Andromeda's ear when they were hugging.

Octavia and Sirius had only just arrived at Andromeda and Ted's house to have Christmas dinner with them.

Once Octavia expressed her fears to Lilith they only sat on the floor in silence for a couple of minutes before returning the dining room and continuing on with lunch.

Octavia tried to avoid Sirius' gaze knowing that he would be able to see through her act, know that something was bothering her but she kept herself busy talking with everyone else, barely giving the chance to pull her away so they were alone.

She was worried how the walk to Andromeda's was going to go but Sirius didn't question her, having caught on that she didn't want to speak about what was bothering her, knowing she will in time open up about it.

Andromeda nodded and led Octavia upstairs, hoping Sirius wouldn't notice too much.

"What's going on?" Andromeda questioned once the two of them were in the bedroom.

"I think I'm pregnant." Octavia spat out and Andromeda was shocked for a moment.

"What do you mean you think you are pregnant?" Andromeda questioned and Octavia laid back on the bed and put her arm over her face.

"I had a dream years ago about my future daughter, I always thought it was with Regulus but then I had that dream about Sirius betraying us and his daughter, they had the same name so then I thought I had the daughter with Sirius. I know you both said that Sirius wouldn't betray us but still there's that and in that first dream I saw her with a set of twins and I assumed they were friends. Fabien and Gideon just said that their sister Molly was pregnant with twins and it's all starting to connect and if she gives birth to them soon, wouldn't I have to be pregnant and give birth soon?" Octavia spoke quickly, it all rushing together.

Andromeda took a deep breath, trying to keep calm and not yell at the barely 17 year old for maybe getting pregnant before she graduates from Hogwarts. Andromeda took a seat on the bed and removed Octavia's arm.

"So because of two dreams, one of which we all believe won't come true, you think you are pregnant? What if things have changed? What if you and Sirius leaving home when you did changed so much?"

"But what if I am?"

"Have you even had any symptoms to make you believe you are pregnant?" She questioned softly and Octavia grimly nodded. "I can perform the spell if you really want too."

"Please Dromeda," Octavia begged and Andromeda nodded before standing up.

"So you were right, you are pregnant." Andromeda spoke once the spell was finished and Octavia sat there in shock to begin with.

Octavia jumped up from the bed and stared at her, "Dromeda you have to be wrong, there is no way I'm pregnant!" Octavia hissed before she began pacing the room, Andromeda just sat there on the bed watching her.

"You said yourself you thought you could be pregnant, its why you came to me instead of going to Pomfrey or St Mungo's."

"I was hoping you could tell me I'm crazy, that I'm just stressed with NEWTs, that we did manage to change the future or anything else but me being pregnant." She finally collapsed onto the bed beside Andromeda.

"You will be fine…"

"No I won't, Sirius is going to kill me…" Octavia complained and put her face in her hands while a small laugh left Andromeda's mouth before she placed a hand on her back.

"He won't kill you, he loves you."

"But I'm pregnant and still at Hogwarts Dromeda."

"Calm down Octavia, you will be fine. You aren't due until the summer, you will be fine and Sirius won't leave you because if he does, I will kill him."

"You heard Sirius two years ago, he will never have kids and now I'm pregnant." Octavia's eyes welled and Andromeda's heart broke for her.

"He loves you O, do you really think he will leave because of something like this?"

"I can't lose him," she spoke softly, her eyes welling up with tears.

"He loves you, let's just get through Christmas and then you can work out how you are going to tell him because if you don't I will because you need to tell Dumbledore and Pomfrey about your pregnancy because you need to continue to being checked throughout your pregnancy and I can't do it while you are at Hogwarts, let's not forget that you are a Dreamer, wouldn't that also have some effect on the baby and pregnancy?" Andromeda questioned and that was when it finally clicked in her head.

"No, the books stated that no Dreamer has ever had children, I can't be pregnant." Octavia shook her head, hoping Andromeda was lying, that the spell didn't work properly that none of it was true.

"I can perform the spell countless times and every time it will give the same result, you are pregnant. Now the bathroom is through that door, go clean yourself up and we will go back downstairs to celebrate Christmas before Sirius comes looking for us." Andromeda spoke and Octavia looked at her for a moment, wondering if that was a suggestion or an order. It was answered when Andromeda held up her hand and pointed at the bathroom door.

.oOo.

"You know you can't hide out in here forever," Lilith spoke and Octavia shrugged.

The two girls were currently in Octavia's bedroom, sitting on her bed while they painted their toenails.

Lilith's statement had some degree of truth to it but she wasn't actively avoiding the boys, she would leave her room when the Prewitt brother's turned up for more duelling practise, although they were disappearing more than they were before Christmas.

"Padfoot has been bugging me as well you know," Lilith spoke again but Octavia didn't speak. "Damn it Snow, you are pregnant and he is the father, wait he _is_ the father isn't he?" Lilith questioned and Octavia finally looked at her.

"Yes he's the bloody father, how could you think otherwise?" Octavia snapped.

"And as the father he has the right to know."

"He's stated on a number of occasions that he doesn't want children."

"So have you if I recall correctly," Lilith pointed out and Octavia let out a groan before picking up the nail polish bottle and throwing it at the wall across from her bed, smashing it in the process. "Was that necessary? I wasn't quite finished with that colour." Lilith complained, unsure as to what to say when Octavia buried her face in her knees as her body began to shake due to her sobs.

Neither of them looked up as the door opened, "Hey Snow have you seen-" Sirius started to speak but stopped when he looked up from the Daily Prophet in his hands. "Hey Lilith."

"Padfoot," Lilith greeted in return before looking back at Octavia, "I have to head home anyway, I will see you on the train tomorrow?" Octavia nodded but didn't look up.

Lilith let out a sigh before climbing off the bed and headed for the door, leaving Sirius and Octavia alone.

Sirius walked over and took a seat on the bed beside his girlfriend, a little worried about what was wrong with her. Ever since Christmas day she had been acting strangely and he couldn't get out of her what it is that was bothering her, he would question her and she would just put on a smile and say nothing, that he was becoming delusional.

"What did the nail polish do to you? Turn out to be the wrong shade?" Sirius teased, frowning when she didn't even budge. "Alright this has gone on long enough, what the hell has been going on with you and don't you dare say nothing this time." Sirius snapped, finally having had of the secrecy between them, they have never had secrets before and he doesn't understand why they have started now.

Sirius had enough of her silence while waiting for her to speak up or even more, stood up and walked around the side of the bed and pulled on her arms to force her to stand in front of him.

"Talk to me," he demanded but she shook her head, "fine you leave me no choice." He gritted through his teeth before he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and walked through the house, going outside into the freshly fallen snow.

Sirius placed his hands on her face and forced her to look at him, "baby what's wrong, please don't shut me out, we can't have a repeat of the summer."

Tears started brimming in Octavia's eyes, "I'm pregnant," she spat out and Sirius' hands dropped from her face before he passed out.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Ginny10702, Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, they all mean so much to me.**

 **Ginny10702 – I will always try to respond to a review. You don't always have to say something, something as simple as love the chapter always makes me happy, you don't understand how much receiving a review as a writer means.**

 **Revathi – I'm glad you enjoy my story so much and that you think it is that good**


	83. Not Possible

Chapter 82: Not Possible

Sirius opened his eyes and found Octavia sitting in the bed beside him, he gave her a smile before shifting closer to her, "I had the weirdest dream, you'll find it hilarious." When Octavia turned and looked at him, he saw the expression on her face. "It wasn't a dream was it?"

Octavia stayed silent as she laid down beside him, "am I to expect you to pass out again any time soon? You're bloody heavy."

"Baby," he spoke softly as he placed a hand on her cheek but she grabbed it and removed it, placing it on her stomach. "You're actually pregnant and not messing with me?"

Octavia nodded, "I'm actually pregnant, Dromeda performed the spell and checked me out."

"You can see the future but you couldn't see this one coming." Sirius responded and Octavia shook her head.

"I did, I've seen her a couple of times. I just never knew it would be this early, it wasn't until Fabien and Gideon spoke of their older sister, Molly, being pregnant with twins that it all clicked in my head because of a conversation that took place in a dream. So when I wasn't feeling well towards the end of term, it was morning sickness."

Sirius took a deep breath before moving his hand and wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her close and he softly kissed her forehead. "How did Prongs know about the baby then?" he questioned.

"I let her slip once, she was the only thing I was hiding from everyone, the only time I've seen dreams about her we weren't dating."

"But yet you keep saying she, her, girl. Why are you so sure it's still going to be a girl, we could have changed something?"

"It is possible but I've seen three dreams regarding this daughter over the years, one of them I was seeing her off to Hogwarts, Molly was mentioned along with twins and I saw her standing there with a set of twins, obviously friendly."

"What about the other two?" Sirius questioned unsure as to why she wasn't explaining the other two.

Octavia's eyes welled up with tears again as she remembered the dream where she had to there and watched as Willa screamed out in pain from being tortured. "Remember that Quidditch match where I was put to bed afterwards because I was up the night before with Moony for the Full Moon?" Sirius nodded, vaguely remembering her crying in his dorm after seeing something. "It was her, I saw her being tortured. I had to stand there and watch as she screamed out in pain from being tortured, she looked exactly the same as she did in the first dream, so nothing had changed between second and fourth year."

"And the last one," he urged her on.

"Was the one where I found out that you supposably betray us and you have a daughter in the future, it was the same name, the same daughter." She spoke carefully, watching his face, unsure as to how he would react.

"That was third year, so you've known for years that we could possibly have a daughter together one day?" he spoke through gritted teeth and Octavia nodded.

Sirius pulled away and climbed off the bed, running a hand through his hair. "Fucking hell Snow, I just… I just need air."

Octavia sat up and watched as Sirius headed for the door, tears silently running down her cheeks. "I never once thought it would happen like this, us still in Hogwarts and in the middle of the war." She spoke but Sirius didn't turn around, he just left her alone in the room crying.

.oOo.

Octavia looked down fondly at where Nymphadora had fallen asleep in her arms, looking up when she caught the scent of Andromeda and saw her standing there watching her.

"Have you told Sirius yet?" Andromeda questioned as she walked over and sat beside Octavia on the couch.

"This morning, he didn't take it too well, first he passed out and then he left me. I would have stayed at home, try and corner him but you wanted me to come here for a check-up before I go back to Hogwarts tomorrow."

"He'll come around, I'm pretty sure it's a big shock finding out you are going to be a father at 18 and with everything going on in our lives. Remember what I said at Christmas, he loves you and that much is evident, but he just needs time."

Octavia nodded as she leaned her head back against the couch.

"How are you coping anyway, still having morning sickness?"

"Some days, not all."

"Pomfrey will be able to acquire a potion for you that will help, once you get further along you won't be able to Apparate but since you will be at Hogwarts for the next couple of months it won't make a difference, just come the summer. Oh, also no more Quidditch."

Octavia's head snapped up so fast at that comment and she stared at Andromeda, unsure as to if she heard her correctly. "I'm sorry but did you just say no more Quidditch?"

"I did, you can't risk playing and taking a Bludger to the stomach. You could lose the baby, something tells me you want to keep the baby, chances are already having seen the future regarding it?" Andromeda spoke and Octavia nodded.

"A couple of dreams, I already love her and don't want to risk losing her."

"Then no more Quidditch O, it's better for you. I know how much you love playing Quidditch but it's too great of a risk if you do." Andromeda responded, placing a hand over Octavia's. "Now let's wake up Nymphadora so I can run some diagnostic spells and make sure your pregnancy is still going along smoothly."

Octavia shifted slightly and nudged the sleeping child in her arms to wake her up, Octavia couldn't help but laugh as Nymphadora's hair flashed red in annoyance of being woken up but groggily climbed off her lap and went in search of Ted.

"Everything still seems to perfectly fine O," Andromeda spoke once she finished doing her diagnostic spells and Octavia nodded, bringing her knees up to her chin. "Sirius will come around and if he doesn't, send me an owl and I will give him a piece of my mind."

"I can't do this alone if he doesn't come round, how am I meant to raise a daughter alone in this war?" Octavia complained.

"You won't be alone, I will help you, we have a guest room that you are more than welcome to come the summer if you are alone. But you need to graduate, you need to finish your year at Hogwarts. Graduate for your baby."

"I promise."

"Good now you should head off, I'm pretty sure you still have some packing to do and a boyfriend to confront."

Octavia leaned over and hugged Andromeda, "thank you for everything," she whispered but Andromeda only nodded in response.

.oOo.

Remus stepped off the stairs that lead towards the boys' dorm and wasn't entirely surprised to see Octavia sitting there in front of the fire place with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders since she had pretty much slept the whole train ride to Hogwarts.

He was planning on just sitting on the couch, getting ahead of his reading. The Full Moon was to close for his body's liking and he was unable to sleep but Peter's snoring in the dorm was also bothering him.

He walked over and took a seat beside Octavia, "what's going on between you and Padfoot?" Remus questioned, not happy when she shrugged. "Prongs said things have been tense between you two since Christmas day and today, you slept against the window instead of him, he barely looked your way all day."

Octavia rested her head on her knees, twisting her head to face Remus. She knew it was only a matter of time until the truth was out and she had to tell her friends before they heard it on the rumour mill, she had to be the one to tell them because she knew if she didn't, they wouldn't be happy.

"I'm pregnant," she stated, shock clearly written on his face. "He wasn't happy with the news, I only told him yesterday but he hasn't spoken to me since. I'm giving him his space."

"He loves you Snow and that much is evident after everything you two have been through. You made it through after his mistake with Snape, you both made it through after everything you went through during the summer and you can make it through this. You've had some idea for years that you will one day become a mother, he's known for 24 hours he will be a father."

"Not true, remember that slip he made about not all of us making it through the war?" she questioned and he nodded, unsure as to where it was going. "That dream also revealed that he had a daughter, for a while I've assumed they were the same daughter, that Sirius and I were going to have a daughter together. I told him that and that was when he left Moony, he left because I didn't tell him that I've thought for a while we will come to have children together despite us both saying we didn't want them, I just didn't think for a second that it will happen now. Despite that dream revealing not all of us made it through the war, I had convinced myself that the daughter was a baby." Octavia closed her eyes as her throat started to constrict in fear, she couldn't lose Sirius, not now that she was pregnant, she couldn't do it alone.

"It could still happen, we don't know what's going to happen once we graduate and leave the safety that is Hogwarts. Come on, if you're pregnant you should be asleep like a normal person, I have an excuse while you don't." Remus pointed out and Octavia nodded before making her way up to her dorm, hoping that come morning Sirius will come around.

.oOo.

Sirius entered the Great Hall with James and Peter, James telling a joke and Peter finding it hilarious but he didn't have it in him to laugh, or even fake a laugh to show that he wasn't paying attention because he couldn't get off his mind that his girlfriend was pregnant, at 17, that he was going to be a father at 18.

He knew he hurt her by leaving her after she told him but he needed air, needed to process everything and when he came back she was gone and panic set in him and he didn't see her again until breakfast before they were due to get on the train and then she proceeded to spend the whole time asleep.

He couldn't even believe himself when his thoughts went to his parents and what they would think at the news of the two of them having children, giving them grandchildren, the ones they wanted, the ones that came from the merging of the Black and Carrow families.

"You alright mate?" James questioned, noticing Sirius' unusually strange demeanour but he waved him off.

Sirius walked over to where Octavia and Lilith were sitting, the look he received from Lilith indicated that she knew everything and it didn't surprise him. What did surprise him was the look from Remus he received this morning.

"Snow?" Sirius spoke and his heart broke at the sight of Octavia's face when she looked up and faced him, her eyes were red and puffy, obvious that she had been crying and he hated that it was most likely because of him. "Come with me?" he questioned while holding his hand out, glad that she took it, a sign that she wasn't mad at him.

James took a seat at the table beside Lilith as he watched Sirius and Octavia leave the Great Hall, "what's going on with those two?" he questioned and Lilith raised an eyebrow.

"You mean, you don't know? You live with them and you don't know what's going on?" Lilith spoke, a shake of James' head caused her to laugh. "Oh this is brilliant."

The three of them began eating breakfast while they waited for Remus to catch up, having been running late due to over sleeping after he finally managed to fall asleep late into the night.

"Morning love," Remus spoke as he sat beside Lilith. "Where's Snow?"

"With Padfoot."

"Good, those two need to talk."

"Meaning you know?" Lilith questioned and Remus nodded in response before reaching for the eggs sitting in the middle.

"Talk about what?" James questioned, looking entirely confused about what was going on.

"I don't think they are going to tell us," Peter responded but James just narrowed his eyes at the couple.

"Things are about to change Prongs and Snow will really need us," Lilith spoke, hoping both Peter and James take it as it is.

"Exactly and if Lily continues to be your girlfriend, she's going to have to decide where her loyalties lie."

"Woah, back up a minute," Lilith cut in and Remus turned to look at her. "When did those two become a couple?" She questioned, looking over at James and noticing a very large grin on his face.

"That New Year's party at Marlene's that you and Snow opted out of, which didn't impress Marlene in the slightest." James explained and Lilith nodded, quickly looking up and down the table, wondering where Lily was.

"Or me," Remus added in giving his girlfriend a look.

Lilith shrugged, "You know why she wouldn't have attended, and plus she was my midnight kiss not you, regardless as to if we had attended or not." Lilith teased, hoping to get a reaction out of Remus but he didn't seem phased, not having the slightest jealousy streak in him like Sirius and Octavia do for each other.

"What's going on?" Peter questioned once more.

"Its not our place, they will tell you with due time, but everything will change and Snow will need us now more than ever." Lilith spoke and both boys nodded.

.oOo.

"Where did you go after you told me? I went back to my room and you were gone," Sirius questioned once the two of them had breakfast in front of them in the kitchen, knowing they could both use food as an excuse to stay silent for a moment in needed.

"Ted and Dromeda's, she wanted to do one more check-up before I returned to Hogwarts. If you hadn't have left I would have told you and asked you to come with me." Octavia explained pushing the oatmeal around her bowl.

"I just needed air and a minute alone to think Snow, this is huge. What did you think was going to happen once you told me?"

"Everything except you leaving me," Octavia's voice broke and she lowered her gaze, looking at her bowl no longer feeling hungry despite knowing she should eat.

Sirius frowned noticing the action and he quickly climbed over the table to sit beside her, ignoring the look the elves were giving him.

"Baby look at me," he pleaded with her and when she didn't look at him, he placed a hand on her chin and forced her too. "Baby I love you, more than anything but you telling me you were pregnant was a big shock, not to mention you knowing we will have children one day despite our conversation a few weeks ago about not having children? I couldn't lose it at you, I couldn't take my anger towards our situation out on you. I didn't leave you, I left to calm down and think, but when I had returned you were gone."

Octavia nodded and reached up to wipe away the tear that escaped.

"Godric baby, I hate that you've been crying because of me. I'm not thrilled with the situation we now have ourselves in, but it is our mistake and we will deal with it together because I love you and I can't lose you, too many times I've come close and I hate that feeling."

"I'm sorry for worrying you and disappearing on you, I couldn't see Lilith and Dromeda was the only other person that knew."

Sirius pulled a face at her, remembering what happened not long ago. "Something tells me Moony knows though, I got the dirtiest look from him this morning."

Octavia nodded, "I couldn't sleep last night and he found me in the common room, I know we have to tell our friends eventually and last night I just needed someone to talk to and he was there."

Sirius wrapped his arms around her and held her close, "I will always be there baby, I'm not going anywhere. We will tell Prongs and Wormtail together and take it one day at a time because once everyone finds out, all hell will break loose within Hogwarts."

"Our parents will be thrilled," Octavia spoke bitterly and Sirius laughed.

"Merlin after everything, everything I've done to oppose them and I fall in love with a Pureblood princess like they wanted and give them a Pureblood grandchild."

"Not to mention it's the one from a Black and a Carrow, something they wanted from Regulus and I."

"Too bad they'll never lay eyes onto our child," Sirius spoke with a deathly tone and Octavia pulled away and looked at him. Sirius cupped her face, "we will protect our child, we will protect them from the fears that it is growing up in those households and we will give them the childhood we always dreamed off, it's what we are now fighting for." Octavia nodded and Sirius softly kissed her.

"You and me against the world," Octavia whispered when she pulled away.

"Always, now please eat baby," Sirius responded, softly running his thumb along her jaw but she just nodded before picking up the spoon in her bowl as he reached over and grabbed his plate.

.oOo.

The seventh years entered their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, confused about the change of decorations. They were well used to the change that came every September due to the change in Professor but for them to have a change of Professor over Christmas break was a first for them.

There was only a small number of students that knew the truth as to what happened, and that was the Marauders and that was because the previous one was after Octavia for Voldemort.

"Alright, in you go, yes it's different, in you go." A voice spoke behind them and when Octavia turned around, she was shocked. Fabien Prewitt was standing there.

"No way," Octavia exclaimed and Fabien winked at her causing her friends to laugh as Sirius scowled and wrapped an arm around her to drag her inside.

"Kill me now," Sirius muttered noticing Gideon coming out of the office door at the other side of the room. Octavia laughed before softly kissing his cheek.

"Technically they're Professors, they can't do anything without getting in trouble." Remus spoke beside the couple, noticing what was happening.

"They spent all Christmas Break flirting with Snow," he complained and there was a chuckle behind them.

"Can you blame us, she's hot." Fabien grinned and the sour look did not budge on Sirius' face.

"Come on Pads," Octavia pulled on his arm attempting to pull him towards their seats. "Are you seriously going to be like this for the rest of the year?"

"You're my girlfriend and those two prats need to realise it." He muttered and she just smiled at him, slightly shaking her head.

"They spend Christmas break with us instead of their own family because of what happened, they were protecting me and helping me control my magic better. They're doing everything to protect me, I'm yours or are you seriously going to question that after what we found out?" she spoke, glad when the sour look his face and he smiled at her.

"Good now if the couple have finished their lovers spat, I would like to begin." Gideon spoke causing the rest of the class to laugh at them as they took their seats.

Both Fabien and Gideon stood at the front of the room and watched all the students in silence as they walked around and slowly took their seats, taking in the features that the Prewitt brothers have added to the room.

Fabien and Gideon didn't seem to mind the slowness that was the students finding their seats, in fact it almost seemed like they were impressed with the fact that the seventh years were intrigued by the Dark Magic finders and trinkets they had placed in the room.

"We both understand that a change in Professors during the year is rather annoying and unfortunate, especially during your final year."

"Exactly and what we plan to do today is talk amongst you all to actually see where you stand in terms of where you should be in regards to your NEWTs course."

Fabien and Gideon finally spoke once everyone was seated, no one looked terribly annoyed at the lack of work being planned for this lesson, it was bitter sweet. They weren't having to take any notes or read anything from a book but they also weren't performing any magic.

.oOo.

"Wait, what?" James exclaimed and Octavia shared a look with Sirius.

Classes were finished for the day and the group of friends had escaped to their hidden room and Sirius pointed out that this was the perfect time to inform James and Peter that Octavia was pregnant.

"I'm pregnant Prongs, you didn't understand that the first time?" Octavia spoke, a bit harsher then she attended and she took a deep breath.

"Snow," Sirius spoke, warning her about losing it at this point in time.

Over the years, both James and Octavia had butted head over various things and they were also the quickest to anger when it came to each other and neither of them had a problem with yelling at each other. The rest of the group knew that they would always be fine since Octavia rarely became physical with them and yes despite them having being lifted into the air in the past she rarely did it in anger, usually slid them across the floor. They also knew that James would never hurt her, never raise his wand or become physical with her but if they were left unattended for too long, things were usually said.

"Sorry, sorry," she muttered as she placed her face in her hands and Sirius placed a hand on her back, softly rubbing her back.

"Okay, so you're pregnant what's the big deal?" James questioned, looking at Sirius before turning and looking at Lilith.

James growing up he didn't learn anywhere near to the same extant of the Pureblood families that Sirius and Octavia did, having their whole childhood submerged within those families, but even Lilith had some form of knowledge growing up and associating with some of the lighter Pureblood families, but James had nothing, his parents wanting nothing to do with that world after the way one of their own was treated, Dorea Potter nee Black.

"Besides the fact that Snow is pregnant, her barely being 17, still a student at Hogwarts and the war we will be thrown into come our own graduation?" Lilith spoke, pointing out all the issues that the two girls had spoken of over Christmas break, the same things that were pressing on Octavia's mind at this point in time.

Octavia lifted her head and looked at the two boys who only just found out the truth, Lilith partially understood what her concerns were for this pregnancy while Remus understand partially as well, although different concerns to what his girlfriend pointed out.

Remus being the one who had known about the abuse longer than the rest had also in turn been the only one to some of the earlier insight before they left home knew that she had concerns as to what will happen once her family receives word of the pregnancy, knowing that this child is the one that they wanted from her and Regulus.

"I guess it doesn't matter, we've never cared what the other students have said or thought about us before, why start now that I'm pregnant even though things are going to become particularly nasty." Octavia quickly spoke before James could, now realising that she didn't care what the other students thought of her.

"Why?" Peter questioned while James nodded, at least understanding why things will become nasty for Octavia.

"A lot of people will look down on me because I'm pregnant before marriage, pregnant before graduating and everyone knows where I come from because of my last name, this isn't common practise among those families, if it wasn't common knowledge about me being disowned, it will be now and everyone will assume it is because of this." Octavia explained and Peter nodded, only partially understand.

"Speaking of families, what are you going to tell Anna, I remember her being disappointed that she couldn't spend Christmas with us?" Sirius pointed out and Octavia let out a groan.

"I haven't even thought of telling Anna."

"You should Snow, just like with us, she would rather hear it from you. She doesn't understand the world she has been thrown into." Remus spoke up and Octavia nodded.

"What about Lily?" James questioned.

"You can tell her, I honestly don't think it will make a difference whether it comes from me or you, we might be getting along now because of you Prongs but, I don't know if we will be friends any time soon." Octavia explained and James nodded before rummaging through his bag, Octavia quickly noticing the map he pulled out. "Can you find Anna?" James nodded in response but didn't look up from the map.

"You want me to come with you?" Sirius spoke softly before he pressed his lips against her temple.

"Please," she whispered back, hoping she wasn't showing any fear on her face or in her voice.

"It'll be alright baby," Sirius reassured her and she nodded running her hands up and down her thighs.

"Anna is in the Library," James spoke, having had found Avianna sitting in the library.

Octavia nodded, unable to move. She was terrified of informing Avianna that she was pregnant, she had no idea how the younger girl was raised and what beliefs she had in regards to sex, marriage and pregnancy.

James quickly got up and left, leaving the map with Remus while he went in search of Lily and Lilith began working on one of the essays that was due in a couple of days' time with Peter but Sirius just sat there next to Octavia, worried about his girlfriend.

"Come on," Octavia muttered as she stood up and left the room, knowing Sirius would be following behind her shortly.

She entered the library and her eyes began roaming over the tables in search of the young blonde headed girl that was her cousin, James didn't state where exactly she was in the library and Octavia hoped she wouldn't be too hard to find.

It wasn't until Octavia decided to search the only table she hadn't yet, her favourite one buried in the back between the stacks of books that she found Avianna, bent over a table her hand quickly moving over her parchment taking down notes as she read.

Sirius looked over at Octavia and noticed the small smile on her face as she watched Avianna study like she was, it wasn't until he noticed her hand resting on her stomach that he smiled as well, surprised at how easily he was coming around to being a father but he supposed it was because he loved her and didn't want to lose her, or risk losing her.

Avianna sat up straight with the idea of stretching out her body and a gasp left her lips at the sight of Octavia and Sirius watching her, "hi," she gave them a smile before clearing some of the books and allowing them to sit at the table with her. "You're the only person I've seen study at this table but I love how it's secluded from everyone else, the library has to be quiet but in the main section there is still some level of noise."

Octavia nodded, walking over and taking a seat at the table. "It's why I enjoy this table, I was able to study in peace." She looked over at the books and noticed the topic, the same topic that Muggleborns, or Muggle raised, normally struggled with in History of Magic, the Battle of Elect.

Avianna noticing what Octavia was doing, frowned before looking at them both. "I don't get it," she complained and Sirius laughed before walking over and joining the two girls at the table.

"It's simple enough, what don't you understand?" Sirius questioned.

"Why don't you see the point of electricity?" she questioned bluntly knowing it was Purebloods who didn't use it.

"I see the point of electricity and can see the wonders it can accomplish but regardless of some Purebloods, ones like our families don't, it doesn't work around magic anyway. You can't all of a sudden run the cables necessary to make electricity to work." Sirius explained and Octavia watched the two of them with a fond smile.

"Why is that?" Avianna questioned and Sirius couldn't understand how innocent the girl looked, the poor girl was going to get thrown into the disaster that is their world.

There was a reason why the Battle of Elect was studied in first year, it was one of the simpler parts of the Magical History and if the Muggle Raised couldn't understand it, well it sets the stone for the future of their education but most first years are also able to understand it seemingly well once explained properly and it helped them progress into future topics since most Muggle Raised students had Magically raised students who helped them understand the topic whether they be fellow first years or older students in their house. After the essay was written and handed in Professor Binns generally went over the topic as well.

Sirius scratched his head, he knew it was to do with the wards surrounding properties and the large number of witches and wizards performing magic in one location but he didn't know how to understand it simply enough to the Muggle raised girl.

"No one really understands why electricity doesn't work well around magic, places like Hogwarts and other heavily warded properties don't even need witches and wizards performing magic for it to cancel out since the wards are magical in themselves and prevent the electricity to work." Octavia cut in, knowing Sirius was lost for words.

"Like Hogwarts?" Avianna questioned and both Sirius and Octavia nodded. "What about family homes? I've heard some of the other students mention Pureblood homes."

"Yes some family homes have wards on them, the Black family home for example has wards placed around it to prevent the muggles from noticing it since it is located in Central London." Sirius explained, noticing the sparkle in Avianna's eyes at learning something about the families she should have grown up with.

"What about the Carrows?" she questioned, looking over at Octavia.

"Yes the Carrow family home has many wards surrounding the property, but it isn't the home you would have grown up in had your parents not put you up for adoption. I grew up in that house, most of the wards are just protective ones, not letting anyone past with ill intent towards the habitants of the home, they also can work like a doorbell to signal someone's arrival." Octavia explained, noticing that the younger girl was just trying to learn about her family.

It was hard for Octavia, talking about a family that she was terrified of, the same family that spent fifteen years abusing her before she managed to get away. She thought maybe Avianna would take the news of Octavia's pregnancy well because she was looking for a family.

"There is a reason we came looking for you Anna," Octavia spoke softly and the younger girl tilted her head to the side, causing Sirius to laugh at seeing things in the younger girl that he saw in his girlfriend. "I'm pregnant," she stated and Avianna's mouth fell open.

Avianna scratched her head, taking in the information. Before she left for Hogwarts her parents had embarrassed her by giving her an impromptu sex talk, unsure as to what would exactly happen while she was away at a 'boarding school' for ten months of the year. She knew where babies came, understood the concept that came to be when a boy and girl loved each other, despite her wanting nothing to do with the boys in Gryffindor as she found them annoying and disgusting.

But when Avianna looked at Octavia and Sirius together, in the small moments when they thought no one was looking she could tell they were in love, the same love she saw within her parents.

"You two will make wonderful parents," Avianna gave them a smile.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Guest, Raven that flies at night, revathi and Ginny702 for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	84. What's For the Best?

Chapter 83: What's For the Best?

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you," James spoke as he entered the common room and found Octavia hiding away in the corner with a book in her lap.

Octavia looked up and faced James, unsure as to what was so important that he was searching high and low for her.

"Yes Prongs?" she plastered a smile on her face, word had spread amongst the Gryffindor students that she was pregnant but yet the gossip hadn't left the house. She doesn't know how it reached the other Gryffindors but it did.

She was even surprised by the sixth years, they lived on gossip but yet this one piece of it had stayed within the confines of the house. She guessed that house loyalty really showed in a moment like this, they may be giving her looks in the common room and whispering amongst themselves but the fact that no one had breathed a word of her pregnancy, she was shocked and also pleased.

"I've been looking for you, Quidditch practise starts next week." James spoke and the smile fell from her face as she shook her head.

"I'm not allowed to play, Dromeda said its poses too much of a risk." She spoke softly and James' jaw tensed.

"You're not allowed to play?" he repeated in she nodded. "Bugger," he responded as he sat down beside her.

"Convince Moony to play, he will be a good Chaser and you can be a decent Seeker when you put your mind to it. We've had our hardest match against Slytherin and we won." Octavia suggested and James grimly nodded.

"When you told us, I didn't understand the complications of you being pregnant at the time, it made sense when you all explained it and I get it but I never once thought of Quidditch, you know." James looked at her and she nodded, she didn't think of Quidditch when she first found out she was pregnant either, it slipped her mind. "I think maybe I automatically assumed that you would be able place protective charms to protect the baby, but I guess not."

"I was the same Prongs, maybe normally they can place protective charms and Dromeda is worried because I'm different or maybe because Bludgers have their own magic the protective charms won't work against them. Dromeda said I shouldn't risk getting hit with a bludger in the stomach and risk losing her, Dromeda said if I played and was so against the pregnancy then I should have ended the pregnancy when she offered," Octavia explained, letting him in on a secret that only her and Sirius knew, the one thing she hadn't told Lilith about the pregnancy when she was fretting over it.

"You had the option to get rid of it?" His question only received a nod and he fell silent for a moment. "Why didn't you?" he questioned, highly curious considering her fears regarding the whole thing.

"Regardless of everything that will come with me being pregnant at 17, I already love her. I've seen her grown up and she is beautiful, I want to get to know this daughter and watch her grow up, I can't even fathom not seeing her grow up."

James shifted and put an arm around her as her voice broke, despite the two regularly arguing he loved Octavia, he saw her as the sister he never had and he wanted to do everything to help protect her and right now he knew her only fears were this war and them all getting out alive, her unborn child included.

"We'll get through it, we'll get through it all together, the war and you raising a baby still a teenager yourself," James reassured her and she nodded.

Octavia smiled at the rest of her friends as they walked towards them, having noticed them hiding away in the corner.

"What's going on here? Should I be worried?" Sirius teased, taking a seat on the other side of her and she automatically pulled away from James and leaned into him.

"So Moony, how do you feeling about playing Quidditch this year mate?" James questioned and Remus went wide eyed before looking at Octavia.

"Please Moony, if Prongs doesn't have to hold try outs then no one will suspect why." Octavia pleaded and Remus hung his hand, causing Lilith to softly place a hand on his thigh.

"You love playing Quidditch with them during the breaks, why not play at Hogwarts in a team with your friends." Lilith spoke, hoping to convince her stubborn boyfriend.

"I don't even play Seeker," he pointed out and James grinned.

"You won't be, I will be playing Seeker and you will be playing Chaser. I enjoy playing both but Octavia is a better Seeker than I am."

"That and you didn't attend try outs," Octavia teased but James ignored her and continued to grin at Remus.

"What about-" Remus started but James waved his hand to cut him off.

"Got it all sorted, did last year hoping you would stop being stubborn and try out. All the staff know about your problem and may agree to shifting the games around if needed, I'm Captain and will know why you aren't at practise and if anyone questions it, I'll just threaten to kick them off and I'm pretty sure McGonagall will be on my side."

"How about this, you get McGonagall to agree to allowing you to kick people off the team that question me missing practise too much then I will agree to play."

"Done," James stated before he jumped up and left the common room.

"You do realise that he is Head Boy for a reason, despite him landing in detention, us all in detention on occasion, he is widely popular. Chances are he won't even need McGonagall's permission because the boys will most likely just ask once and take Prongs' 'I'm Captain and don't question me' speech." Lilith spoke and Remus looked at her for a moment before at where Sirius and Octavia were sitting.

"Oh fuck," he muttered and Peter laughed.

"I'll get the girls all to myself," Peter spoke with a grin on his face.

"That's alright Worms, I prefer you to this prat anyway," Octavia leaned in closer to Peter so she could whisper in his ear, "the prat has a habit of knocking girls up anyway." She spoke, pulling away and winking at him.

"I heard that," he growled playfully, as he gripped her waist to pull her down on his lap.

Octavia looked up at him and smiled at him, "I love you."

"I'm going to find Dorcas," Peter spoke, wanting to be around his own girlfriend.

"And since your dorm is empty, how about we go upstairs and I convince you to play Quidditch," Lilith spoke quietly to Remus but she knew that by the smirks on Sirius and Octavia's faces that they heard her anyway.

"Go ahead," Sirius urged them, "we'll stop Prongs and Wormtail if they come back."

Lilith didn't say anything, just stood up and held her hand out for Remus who just watched the other couple with curious eyes, unsure as to if they were being generous or setting them up.

"Just go," Octavia rolled her eyes and Remus eventually stood up and grabbed Lilith's hand, the two of them disappearing upstairs.

"They grow up so quickly," Sirius mocked as he pretended to wipe away a tear and Octavia shook her head.

"Just wait, one day that will be our daughter," she looked up at him with a smile and his eyes narrowed.

"No way, we are having a boy, boys are so much easier." Octavia scoffed in response.

"We're having a girl Pads, you just don't want to think about a girl and them potentially having sex."

"No I don't want to think about some asshole potentially hurting her, a boy is easier."

"Whatever you say Padfoot," Octavia responded knowing there was no point in them arguing about this, she just curled into his side and picked up her book again.

.oOo.

"You wanted to see me father?" Peter questioned.

His father had requested he attempt to sneak off the grounds and come home immediately so they could talk, Peter had told his father about them finding the secret passage ways early on in their education when they first found them.

"Yes, I seem to recall asking you over Christmas break as to what your relationship was with the Meadows girl you attended that dance with before Christmas break began but rumours have been circling. Seems as though things are more serious than what you previously told me."

"This couldn't wait until a Hogsmeade weekend or even the summer after I've graduated?" Peter questioned his father and it was then his father finally looked up from the Daily Prophet and faced his son.

"No, I do not wish to be lied to. You are the one that is still insisting on following through with this task you were given despite how hard it has become due to who was sorted into Gryffindor with you, you were given an out, a way to be yourself but yet you continue to lie to me along the way."

"I never lied to you father, my relationship with Meadows may seem serious to everyone else at Hogwarts because I want them to believe so. It's bad enough other students are constantly comparing me to them, how smart Lupin is, how popular Potter is, how good looking and funny Black is. I couldn't continue being the fourth boy, the one who couldn't get a girlfriend, so yes I jumped on the first one to show interest. I need it to be serious so she won't end it, me getting a girlfriend before Potter has changed some of the views of the other students, them being more forth coming towards me but remember this, I do not care for Meadows despite what I say or how I seem to act." Peter explained, hoping his father would be understanding as to what he was planning, what he was hoping to achieve.

"What about after you graduate? What are you planning on doing with her then?"

"That I do not know father, I do not know what my plans are for after I graduate I still haven't decided if I am going to follow the Dark Lord or if I am going to stay hiding on this side but if I decide to stay on this side I will need the girlfriend as a cover. Black and Carrow have a child on the way while Potter is getting serious with that Mudblood and let's not forget the werewolf and Longbottom." Peter spoke.

"I suppose that is fair, at least she comes from a somewhat respectable family and isn't a Mudblood."

"No, never father. I would never think of tarnishing our family's blood with something as filthy as that, I also wouldn't make the mistake of mixing my blood with the Meadow's. When the Dark Lord is in power and Dumbledore's silly followers finally bow down, I know then that we can step out from behind the shadows, then I will be able to set about finding a suitable wife to continue the respectable Pettigrew name."

"Very good, you may head back to Hogwarts," his father waved his hand, lowering his gaze back to the Daily Prophet and Peter took his leave.

Peter left his father's office and walked down the hallway, stopping around the corner and he leaned against the wall scrubbing his face with his hands.

He just needed the final months of his time at Hogwarts to come to an end before he can work out what he was going to do with his time, he was still undecided as to if he wanted to become a spy or if he wanted to be a loyal follower, to be given the grace of becoming a Death Eater.

He just needed to graduate and then he can work everything out properly.

Almost seven years at Hogwarts and he was still hoping to make his father proud.

.oOo.

"Hey Padfoot," Remus' voice rang as he entered the bathroom, Octavia frowned as Sirius placed a hand over her mouth.

"Yes Moony, you know I'm a little busy in here." Octavia laughed quietly while Sirius just smiled at her.

The two of them were currently in the shower together, hoping to get a moment of peace for a change but it seems as though it won't happen.

"Lilith was looking for Snow, but Prongs is off with the map, have you seen her?" Moony questioned and Octavia couldn't help but laugh quietly again at how he clueless he seemed to be and not realising what was happening in the shower, again.

"Yes I have but is this really that important?" Sirius spoke, gritting his teeth hoping Remus would just leave and leave them alone.

"Can you just tell me where she is and I will leave, please." Sirius placed his forehead against the wall in annoyance at Remus not giving up and leaving.

"Hi Moony," Octavia called out, wishing she had stuck her head out of the shower instead to see the look on his face.

"Right, of course she is…" they heard him mutter before the bathroom door opened and closed.

"About bloody time," Sirius muttered before leaning down and kissing her.

Sirius pulled away and growled at the sound of the bathroom door opening again and Octavia let out a laugh, not seeing the point in hiding anymore.

"What now?" Sirius snapped and Octavia hit him across the arm for being rude.

"Snow…"

Octavia stuck her head out of the shower at the sound of Lilith's unusually quiet voice, frowning at the sight of her almost in tears.

"Go back to our dorm and I'll follow in a second, just let me dry off and get dressed." She spoke earning a nod from the other girl and when she looked at Sirius she could tell he wasn't happy.

"You were the one that wanted to do this Snow," Sirius complained.

"Yes but crying best friend trumps naked boyfriend."

"What if I start crying?" Sirius spoke with a smirk, following her out of the shower.

"I would pay to see you cry Pads, it doesn't happen. Just let me deal with Lilith, I think her and Moony have been having problems."

"Okay, but what am I meant to do?"

"Don't cold showers help?" She questioned with a soft smile on her face before slipping out of the room.

"Sorry, I didn't realise you would have been in there with him," Octavia looked over at Remus, noting the guilty look on his face and instantly realised something happened between him and Lilith.

"Its fine, you honestly didn't know. I will handle it."

Octavia gave Remus one last look before she turned and left the dorm, heading towards her own hoping Lilith did what she had suggested, that hiding out in the dorm where in theory that the boys' can't reach them but they all knew the trick to get up the girls' staircase.

She entered her dorm and found both Lilith and Lily sitting on Lilith's bed talking about something but she could tell by the look Lilith's face, it was really helping.

"Lilith?" Octavia questioned and they both looked at her.

"Seen James?" Lily questioned, knowing it was best to leave the two girls alone.

"No, sorry," Octavia spoke, moving over to the bed and took the vacant seat that Lily just gave up before leaving the dorm.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you and Padfoot," Lilith spoke as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Its fine he understands, mostly." Octavia shrugged, Sirius didn't say so but if he really had a problem with her leaving he would have put up more of a fight for her to stay. "What happened?"

"I'm being so stupid, I honestly don't know why I'm reacting like this again, it's honestly repeating what happened last year." Lilith laughed as she wiped away the tears and Octavia tilted her head to the side if trying to work out what was going on.

"I have no idea what's going on, Moony didn't say anything as I left the dorm, he just looked incredibly guilty. Talk to me, please," Octavia urged best friend on, hoping she would open up about what happened because she knew Remus wouldn't open up about what happened anytime soon.

"I told him I loved him and he just stood there before he shook his head before he turned and left, I sat here in our dorm for hours waiting for you turn up but Prongs was off with the map and I couldn't take it, waiting. So I went to him and asked if he knew where you were, despite not wanting to see him."

Octavia didn't know what to say, she didn't know how to help her best friend with something this, all she did was hug her best friend and allowed her to cry against her.

.oOo.

"What made you realise you were in love with Snow?" Remus questioned and watched as the hand holding Sirius' quill froze.

"Why…what…why are you asking that?" Sirius stuttered out.

"Does it matter? If you don't want to respond, that's fine."

"Does this have anything to do with the lack of talking between you and Lilith?" Remus nodded in response and Sirius took a deep breath before leaning back on the couch. "I don't need to know what happened between the two of you since it's between the two of you but surely you know that Snow will know and she may or may not tell me?"

"I do, it's why I asked you, I wasn't sure if you knew what happened or just had a feeling."

"My whole life I was always told Snow was off limits, she belonged to my brother while I had my own future wife, for years I had to remind myself that I couldn't view her like that, that it wouldn't be allowed because regardless of the small moments of affection between the two of us word reaching our parents about a relationship would have ended badly but yet I fell for her. I fell for her against everything I told myself, it went against everything, against promise, against peace, against hope, against all discouragement that could be. Even seeing her go out on dates with other boys, I was incredibly jealous but yet the moments where I could make her smile or laugh meant everything. I love Snow for everything that is her, the good, the bad, the ugly, nothing turns me away from her. It wasn't until we were both out from underneath our parents ruling that I thought hopefully I would have a chance but I had no idea if she viewed me as a brother or something more."

"And now?" Remus questioned, raising an eyebrow towards the other boy.

"And now what? She's pregnant with my child and I love her either way, after everything we've been through I don't want to lose her and not accepting the fact that she was pregnant would have pushed her away, she's seen our child in her dreams and already loves them."

"You can't accept that you're having a girl can you?" Remus teased.

"We're talking about you and Lilith and not this dreaded idea that Snow has stuck in her head that we are having a girl. You have Lilith now, can you picture your life without her? We graduate in a few months and can you see your life after Hogwarts without her?" Sirius questioned and Remus hung his head, placing his face in his hands. "If you don't want to lose her then fix things, I'm not saying tell her you love her if you don't, I'm just saying talk to her. Figure out if you love her because she doesn't deserve to be strung along." Sirius spoke and Remus nodded.

"Snow's seen this daughter, you know that right?"

"We're trying to change so much, I'm going to stick with the whole 'we've changed that future as well'."

Remus shook his head as he looked back down at his essay, "she's as stubborn as you mate."

"Like you can talk, go fix things with your girlfriend," Sirius threw out and it was a couple of moments later that Remus got up and left.

"About bloody time," Sirius muttered to himself.

.oOo.

Lilith was sitting in the Astronomy Tower looking out across the grounds, she knew she should be studying since her NEWT exams are getting closer and she was panicking. She knew her parents expect the best of her, she needed the best results in hopes of being accepted into the Healer program St Mungo's.

She was startled as she noticed Remus sit down beside her, there was a part of her that wished she had been involved in the Animagus process like the rest of them so she could have some animal traits. They were all a pack and were in tune with each other whether or not if they had the heightened sense of smell and hearing that some of them had.

She wasn't exactly jealous because she didn't want to be down there every Full Moon, she hated being a Gryffindor and admitting that, especially considering said werewolf was her boyfriend and she loved him, wanted to do anything to help make the transformations easier for him but she couldn't do that, she didn't have the same reckless bravery that they all seemed to have.

"Sorry," Remus apologised and a frown appeared on her face.

"For scaring me or for walking away," she muttered before turning her head and look back out across the grounds, she shifted forward and rested her arms on the bar allowing her to rest her chin on her arms.

"Both," Remus responded quietly as he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her towards him, glad that she didn't fight him. "I am completely and utterly in love with you Lil and that scares me, I'm scared that I am subjecting you to a horrible future with me and that I won't be able to provide for you, give you the life you deserve."

Lilith turned around so she could face him properly and blinked a couple of times, as if she was trying to register what he actually said. A smile appeared on her face as she quickly shook her head, "I just want you, we can figure everything else as we go along. Remember what I said last year, I'm not asking you to marry me?" she placed a hand on his face. "We're graduating Hogwarts and getting thrown into the war."

"I don't deserve you, you deserve so much better, someone who isn't a monster."

"You aren't a monster," Lilith gritted through her teeth. "I'm happy with you, that's all that matters. I don't care what you think I deserve because I just want you. I just want you to make me happy, keep me happy, that's all I could ever ask from you."

Remus finally gave her a smile, "I think I can do that."

"Thank you," she spoke softly before pressing her lips against his, grinning when he tightly gripped her waist and pulled her onto his lap.

.oOo.

"This is bloody annoying," Octavia complained as she took a seat on one of the desks in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

With Fabien and Gideon being Professors at Hogwarts she was able to continue her lessons with the brothers and she was making some good progress, except for her shield, she was still unable to produce it on command.

"There must be something to it, how does everything else work?" Fabien questioned as he walked over and joined her at the desk, it was just the two of them this afternoon since Gideon was hosting detention for some second years.

"It's hard to explain, after a while some of it becomes a part of me like I'm sure it would for you with your wand. There are probably some spells where you can just pick your wand up and there it's done, it's the same for me. Despite me being able to use a wand as well some things come easier to me without my wand, except this bloody shield." She complained again but Fabien just laughed.

"Maybe it's time to bring Sirius into this, maybe he is the key to getting it. You said your Patronus is love, maybe your shield will come out on command when your loved ones are in danger." Fabien suggested and Octavia sat up and looked at him, wondering if that was the key, it was certainly something she's never thought of before.

But before she could speak the door to the classroom opened and they both turned their heads and found Lily standing there. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was hoping to get your help on the essay you assigned Professor Prewitt."

"All good," Fabien gave Lily a smile. "No matter how many times I tell them to call me Fabien, it won't work." He winked at Octavia who just shook her head before climbing off the table and heading for the door, "see you round Professor Prewitt," she teased, ignoring the scowl on his face as she left the classroom.

When Octavia was standing in the hallway she didn't know what to do with herself since the boys were at Quidditch Practise, Lilith was in a study group while Peter was most likely with Dorcas.

For the first time in her life she had no friends to spend her time with and was unsure as to what to do with her time, she knew she could go down to the Quidditch Pitch and watch them practise and go for a fly with Sirius once they were finished but she didn't want to sit there and witness what she was missing.

She only stood there for a moment, completely confused before she shifted her bag on her shoulder and headed towards the library knowing she should study, NEWTs weren't that far away and if she wanted some sort of a future after the war was over with, she needed to do well. She needed to graduate with decent grades so come the end of the war she can find a decent job to care for her daughter.

Octavia didn't know how long she was in the library for but she looked up and smiled when she noticed Sirius was heading towards her.

"Why are you studying?" Sirius questioned as he walked towards her, slightly mocking her.

"Because exams are in," Octavia lifted her hands up and counted on her fingers how many months until exams before holding them at him, "this long."

Sirius couldn't help but laugh at how adorable she looked doing that, she seemed completely innocent and carefree. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head before sitting beside her.

"How was practise?" she questioned looking back down at her notes.

"Fine, but you don't want to know that. How did your session go with Fabien?" he questioned, watching as she half-heartedly lifted one of her shoulders, a scowl appearing on her face when he pulled the book away from her. "Snow?" he questioned.

Octavia let out a sigh before leaning back on the chair, stretching her arms above her head. "I still can't produce my shield, Fabien thought maybe having you in the room and I have to protect you instead will help."

"Well if it beats you being in a duel against them I'm all for it," Sirius muttered darkly and Octavia rolled her eyes.

She knew he wasn't happy she was still duelling with them, still annoyed that he saw a jet of light hitting her squarely in the stomach. Instantly hitting Gideon with Stupify, knocking him off his feet.

Sirius didn't know that Octavia had already informed them that she was pregnant, requesting they keep silent while she had still not said anything to Dumbledore, McGonagall or Pomfrey but she knew she had to at some stage.

Sirius didn't know that the brother's already knew she was pregnant and in turn were hitting her with Tickling Charms, only causing her to laugh instead of minimal pain and risk her losing the baby.

"They won't go easy on you, you know that right?" she questioned and he looked at her for a moment shifting his chair closer to hers.

"Wouldn't expect them too, I want a challenge and if it means you don't get hurt, I'm all for it." Sirius spoke, his voice low as he leaned his head closer to hers, smirking when she quickly swallowed. "I love you baby, anything to help you with your magic and they won't do any physical harm, I will still look this good once they're finished." His smirk stayed in place, even as she laughed at him.

"Honestly, I need to find out what that spell was that was used on Aubrey to shrink his head, I need to deflate your ego." She pushed against his chest, smirking at him as he scowled, not liking the comment.

Sirius placed a hand over his heart, "that hurts baby," he pouted at her and she continued to laugh at him.

"You'll live from having your ego knocked down a peg or two," she picked up her books and placed them in her bag. "I wonder if Lilith is finished with her study group," she muttered to herself.

Sirius wrapped a hand around her wrist as she attempted to walk past him, she looked down at him with a soft smile on her face before she placed a hand on his face before softly kissing him. "Honestly, one would think by now you would have learnt when I was messing with you. I love you, remember that Padfoot."

"One would think you would stop messing with me."

"Never Padfoot, it's not us. You mess with me and I mess with you."

Sirius stood up straight so he was towering over her with a smirk on his face, "if that's the way you want it, so be it baby." He quickly kissed her before turning and leaving her standing there shocked, unsure as to what she just got herself into.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as a writer.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	85. It All Gets Revealed

Chapter 84: It All Gets Revealed

"Oh come on, don't be like this," Sirius spoke, more like laughing but Octavia continued to sit at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall with her arms crossed across her chest in annoyance.

"You turned my hair blonde, blonde Padfoot!" she snapped at him but he just grinned in response.

"You're pretty hot as a blonde," Sirius responded.

"Wasn't Marlene blonde as well?" Peter pointed out and Octavia nodded before narrowing her eyes at Sirius.

"So was Katie Summerton, maybe Padfoot has a thing for blondes," Octavia responded and Sirius took a deep breath before turning and having a conversation with James, knowing it was pointless to even try and talk to her.

After their conversation in the library about messing with each other Sirius had snuck up to the girls' dorm and placed a hair colour changing potion in Octavia's shampoo, since he had seen what she's done in the past with similar attempts and since he was taking NEWT level Potions and she wasn't, he also knew what ingredients to add so she wasn't able to charm her hair to change colour.

Octavia wasn't annoyed that he had done it, she was annoyed that she was unable to change her hair back to normal, she quite loved her vivid bright red hair that was a rarity amongst the magical community. She only knew two people with the same shade of hair, Lily and Alecto but Lily's wasn't as vivid as what Octavia and Alecto had.

"I'm probably going to end up on some rant of Lilith's but Padfoot is right, you're still beautiful with blonde hair." Remus added in and the anger slipped from Octavia's face for a moment.

"I'm going for a fly," Octavia spoke as she reached over and grabbed one of the muffins sitting in the middle of the table.

"Snow you need a better breakfast than that," Sirius spoke up, noticing that she was leaving, without eating breakfast.

"What for Padfoot? You had no problem with me eating muffins for breakfast previously," She challenged him and he stayed silent. "Exactly," she snapped, turning and leaving the Great Hall.

"Miss Carrow," McGonagall called out and Octavia stopped and looked at her, unsure as to why she was being stopped.

"Professor," Octavia gave her a smile.

"I received an interesting letter from Andromeda Tonks last night," Octavia's smile fell.

Andromeda had stated in her previous letter that if Octavia and Sirius didn't gather up the courage to tell the Professors at Hogwarts about the pregnancy that she would, Octavia couldn't keep going on in her pregnancy without check-ups to make sure nothing goes wrong for the baby. Octavia was in her seventh and final year at Hogwarts which can be stressful on it's own, there was a war going on outside of the walls of Hogwarts and add her pregnancy to all of that, it couldn't be good for her or the baby.

"She ratted me out," Octavia muttered and McGonagall nodded.

"Come, I believe you need to see Madam Pomfrey and then we can discuss what will be of the next couple months."

Octavia followed McGonagall towards the Hospital Wing, picking at the muffin in her hands, no longer having an appetite.

"Now why did I have to hear from Andromeda instead of you and why haven't you seen Madam Pomfrey before now?" McGonagall questioned and Octavia shrugged, shoving a piece of muffin in her. "I get what it's like to be in fear of what could happen when you find out you are pregnant."

Octavia looked up at her Transfiguration Professor, pretty sure that she didn't have children of her own, even remembering the conversation they had the previous year when she received a new wand.

"I thought you said you weren't a mother?" Octavia questioned but there was something in McGonagall's eyes that explained everything, "I'm sorry," she apologised.

"It's fine, it happened many years." McGonagall gave Octavia a rare but reassuring smile. "Now would this also explain as to why you are no longer on the Quidditch roster and why Mr Potter came asked if he had my permission to kick anyone of the team who questions Mr Lupin's disappearances?"

"Yes, I was the one that suggested the switch. We have been convincing Remus to try out for a couple of years but he has always believed his condition will limit his ability to play and practise amongst the team."

"I will tell you what I told Mr Potter, I believe all students should be given the same advantages despite what life has thrown them."

Octavia nodded and followed in behind McGonagall into the Hospital Wing, now incredibly nervous as to what will happen.

"Miss Carrow what have you gone and gotten yourself into this time?" Pomfrey spoke, slightly teasing the younger girl since she and her friends had a knack of landing themselves in the Hospital Wing with strange and unusual injuries.

Octavia fidgeted under the gaze of Hospital Matron and lowered her own gaze, "I'm pregnant," she muttered and Pomfrey let out a gasp.

"Oh dear," Pomfrey spoke and Octavia finally looked up at her. "Come on then, let's run some spells and make sure everything is okay with you and the baby."

Octavia nodded and walked over towards the bed, wishing that despite her anger that Sirius was here, he deserved to be here.

"I have to ask, what happened to your hair?" McGonagall questioned and Octavia was surprised when she laughed.

"Sirius put a potion in my shampoo, it'll wear off in time." Octavia explained and they both nodded and fell into silence while Pomfrey worked.

.oOo.

Octavia was sitting in the common room with a Charms book in front of her, she was looking for a spell that the group wanted for a prank they were planning. They had been good most of the year but wanted to leave Hogwarts on high and were slowly convincing James that this was the way to go.

"Carrow?" Octavia looked up and noticed one of the fifth years standing there, looking a little nervous.

"You alright St Cloud?" Octavia questioned.

"My friend Sam is in Hufflepuff and she was telling me that one of the fourth years caught sight of Pomfrey reading books on Pregnancy spells. She then determined that it was one of the seventh years that were pregnant, there's a rumour going around that one of the seventh years are pregnant." St Cloud responded.

Octavia took a deep breathe, "and it won't take long until they realise it's someone in Gryffindor and quickly catch on that it is me, come our match against Hufflepuff next week because I won't be playing."

"I just thought you should know," St Cloud spoke, giving Octavia a small smile.

"Thank you."

Once St Cloud was gone, Octavia looked back down at her book, not able to focus on the information in front of her since she was too busy panicking about what could happen and was waiting for Sirius to return from Quidditch Practise to inform him of what St Cloud had just told her.

.oOo.

"Are you honestly that mad at me you can't even come and watch me play Quidditch?" Sirius questioned as he walked over and squeezed in beside Octavia on the armchair she was curled up in in front of the fire place.

Today was the match against Hufflepuff, it was also Remus' first match but Octavia doesn't know if could handle sitting out there watching the game while everyone realises that she is the seventh year that is pregnant, she doesn't know if she's ready for everyone to know it's her.

"I can't, I can't go out there and watch as they all work it out, I can't go out there and watch you all play Quidditch knowing that if we had been more careful I would still be able to play."

Sirius wrapped an arm around her and softly kissed her temple, "okay, so you're not mad at me?"

Octavia turned around and just looked at him for a moment, "my hair is going pink Padfoot, you know most of the colouring-changing spells and potions all of a sudden disappear, but why is yours wearing off?"

Sirius grinned at her before leaning down and softly kissing her, against protest. "I must have done something wrong, I apologise. Now I have to head down, you sure you don't want to come watch?"

"Positive, I've got a Care of Magical Creatures essay that needs writing anyway." Octavia turned and looked back at the fire, deep in thought.

Sirius sat there for a moment and watched his girlfriend, he was worried but was unsure what could be bothering her as there is too many things going on at the moment.

"Padfoot!" James yelled and they both looked over at him, "You coming?"

"Go, I will be fine. I love you," Octavia gave Sirius a smile and he nodded before quickly kissing her.

"I love you too." Sirius got up and went over to where James was waiting for him, but he took a moment to look back at Octavia. "You look hot either way Snow, red, blonde, pink hair, it's all the same to me." Sirius grinned at her but she just shook her head before waving her hand, convincing him to go already.

.oOo.

Octavia let out a sigh and removed her gaze from the window where she could see the Quidditch Pitch where the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match was currently taking place.

Octavia turned and returned to her table in the library where she was attempting to complete some research on Dreamers from the books Dumbledore had given her, she wanted to know how different her baby will be, if at all. She lied when she told Sirius has a Care of Magical Creatures essay, she just didn't want to worry him with this research because so far no Dreamer mentioned in the books have had children.

"Why aren't you playing?"

Octavia quickly slammed the book shut at the sound of Regulus' voice and looked up at him with a timid smile.

"Didn't get much sleep last night and James refused to put me on," she responded.

Regulus narrowed his eyes at her before taking a seat at the table, "I don't believe it, Potter will do anything to win and you're obsessed with Quidditch, making sure you get a good night's sleep the night before."

Octavia closed her eyes and took a deep breath placing a hand over her mouth, feeling the familiar feeling that always came before her morning sickness. She was sick of this morning sickness, it shouldn't even be called morning sickness since she was having it at all times of the day, Pomfrey tried putting her on potions to help with the nauseas feeling but they didn't help and in the end she just stopped taking them.

Regulus' face softened, noticing the action. "You could have just said you were sick and weren't playing because of that."

Octavia couldn't help but laugh, "you honestly think I wouldn't play because I wasn't feeling well?"

"O…" Regulus spoke softly, not wanting to believe the rumours that had slowly started circulating.

"Don't make me say it," she spoke, tears clouding her vision.

"Damn it, how could you two be so stupid." Regulus spoke, his voice harsh and cold.

Octavia lowered her gaze as the tears escaped.

Regulus quickly noticed the action and he instantly felt guilty for his reaction, "I'm sorry but honestly, what you two did was incredibly stupid."

"I know, we know." She muttered, reaching up and wiping away her tears. She looked up and looked at him. "You won't tell them?"

"O, surely you know they will find out. Someone will send word home and they will ask me to confirm it. I won't actively tell them but I can't lie to them either."

"They wanted an heir Reg, an heir from the two of us and I fell pregnant to Sirius. I'm terrified that they are going to try and take my baby, I don't want them to know I'm pregnant."

"What does Sirius say about it?" Regulus spoke, feeling unsettled by the fear he could see in her eyes. He knew their parents wanted the heir for the company, to merge the Black and Carrow families so the company wasn't owned by two families anymore, they wanted to merge the assets. It's why his parents were so hung up on him fixing his relationship with her, but he wasn't keeping the friendship with her for his parents, he was doing it because he wanted too, he cared for Octavia.

"He says we will protect the baby, won't let our parents get a hold of them."

Regulus reached out and wiped away the stray tears, "then trust him, despite my concerns when I first heard that you two were dating I now believe he truly cares for you, not leaving you now that you are pregnant, being there for you for all those years when you were getting abused by your parents. Trust him to continue to protect you and your unborn child, he is a Black after all. My parents may be cold hearted and did disown him but they protect their own, as long as they haven't deceived the ones protecting them."

"Thank you Reg," she gave him a small.

"You're welcome O, but why aren't you out there watching the game. You love Quidditch and you've never been one to let what others think of you affect you." Regulus spoke was as a sad smile appeared on her face.

"Because I want to be playing Reg, it will be so hard being out there and not being able to play alongside the players that were my teammates only weeks ago. I couldn't even go down and watch their practises, or help James practise to be the Seeker."

A smirk appeared on Regulus' face, "who knows, with Potter as Seeker Gryffindor may finally lose the Quidditch Cup, giving it back to Slytherin."

"In your dreams Reg, not until next year after we've all graduated. I'm going to head back to my common room, I should probably be studying, NEWTs and all."

Regulus nodded in response and watched as Octavia stood up from the table and headed down the aisle away from him. "O wait," he called out and she looked back at him. "You will make a great mother O."

"Thank you, nothing kind for your brother?" she questioned.

"You're pushing it, I believe I've said more than enough kind words about him today."

"True, see you around Reg." Octavia gave him a smile before turning and disappearing down another aisle in the library.

"You feeling alright, saying kind words about your brother." Regulus turned his head and found the blonde Ravenclaw that has been holding his attention for the last few weeks standing there.

Bridgette Cooper, a low ranking Pureblood that had been sorted into Ravenclaw was someone he had shared classes with since first year, they barely said two words to each other but it wasn't until Ancient Runes earlier this year when they were forced to pair up for their weekly translation assignments.

Regulus was completely shocked when the loud mouthed girl had grasped his attention considering how different she was to Octavia.

Bridgette had blonde hair and tanned skin, to add to the equation along with legs that seemed like they went on for miles when he caught her wearing skirts during their study sessions. Aside from her looks and personality that drew him in, it was her eyes.

Her eyes were something he had never seen before, they were a dark blue on the outside that blended into a light blue on the inside of her eyes. They sounded completely strange when explained but Regulus thought they were stunning.

"You stalking me again Bridgette?" Regulus mused and she grinned at him, walking over and taking a seat at the table across from him.

"I don't know, you aren't much to look at Black," she teased, a scowl appearing on his face. "You make it way too easy, what were you and Carrow talking about anyway that caused you to say such nice things about your brother?"

"You know exactly what we were talking about since you know I said nice things," Regulus pointed out and Bridgette shrugged in response before she leaned forward, placing her chin in her hand while she batted her eyelashes at him. "What is your aim here Bridgette?"

"Don't tell me you're still in love with the girl that views you as a brother? I thought you were past that?" she mocked.

"Don't start Bridgette," Regulus growled before standing up from the table and walking away from her.

Regulus didn't manage to get too far until a hand was placed on his arm and he turned around, pushing Bridgette up against the shelves.

"What the hell do you want Bridgette?" he spoke, his voice low but Bridgette didn't seem phased by his attitude.

"What do I want? What I want is for you to suck it up and kiss me but maybe I was wrong, maybe I was wrong to believe you when you said that maybe you were wrong about how you felt about her, that I was changing that for you." Bridgette snapped and Regulus lowered his head towards her, giving her the idea that he was finally going to kiss her.

"I can't," he breathed out and her shoulders shagged for a moment before she straightened up.

"Why because you're too busy shagging Conta? Or you have your hopes up that maybe Carrow will leave your brother for you despite them now going to have a child together."

"You don't understand Bridgette," he responded, his voice becoming harsh but Bridgette didn't budge, just kept her stance and glare on her face.

"Understand what, that mummy and daddy won't approve of me?" she snapped and she instantly noticed that his jaw became tense. "You know what forget it," she shoved at his arm hoping to walk away from him.

"Bridge…" Regulus spoke, his voice soft and Bridgette's steps haltered before she turned back around and look at him.

He quickly stepped towards her and wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her close and preventing her from walking away from him once more.

"You won't fit in my world, no one in my world will approve of you. You may be a Pureblood but your family are worse than the Weasleys, you're parents are the only ones who haven't mixed your blood with the ones my family classify as lower class."

"Again you think I care, although I do wonder why you seem to care?" she questioned.

"You have no idea what you are trying to get yourself into."

"You talk too much." Bridgette rolled her eyes before leaned over and pressed her lips against Regulus' having got sick of waiting for him to kiss her first.

She took his moment of shock to pull away and walk away from him, "see you round Black," she winked at him with a laugh before heading back to her friends.

Bridgette wasn't even sitting with her friends for five minutes before Regulus appeared at the table, he may have a mask up hiding his emotions but she knew he wouldn't be impressed with her kissing him and then walking off.

A lot of the students were uncomfortable around the Slytherin students because of their nature and the rumours floating around the Castle about them being in line to become Death Eaters come their own graduation.

"You leaving again Bridgette?" Marissa questioned and Bridgette grinned at her best friend.

"You're just jealous," Bridgette teased and Alex laughed.

"Black is sexy," Alex spoke, eyeing the boy.

Marissa hit Alex over the arm, "think of Ryan, your poor boyfriend."

"There is no harm in looking."

"How about you two argue over the logistics surrounding what you can and can't do in a relationship and I will see you all later." Bridgette spoke as she picked up her books and followed Regulus back down an aisle.

"After more already?" she teased, a grin appearing on her face when she watched as the muscles in his back tensed at her comment.

"You're a very confusing girl."

"So I've been told, why did you pull me from my friends?" she questioned softly and he finally turned to look at her, she gave him a sad smile before placing her books on the ground allowing her to step forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. "What's wrong?"

"You know its Octavia."

Bridgette nodded, "Yes I figured Carrow was the one since you said she'll be a good mother, I'm guessing you don't want me to tell anyone?"

"Please Bridge."

"Only if I get another kiss," she flashed him a smile and he shook his head, pulling her arms away from his neck.

"You're impossible." Regulus spoke as he stepped closer to her, causing her to press her back against the wall and his hands went to either side of her face.

"You're talking like I don't know these things, now are you going to keep talking or are you going to kiss me?" Bridgette placed her arms around his neck again and stepped in closer to his body, shivering when his hands ran down the sides of her body.

"Why are you so fascinated with me? Why won't you leave me alone, I'm not good for you?"

Bridgette's brows furrowed at that comment, why was he convinced he wasn't good for her? "I don't know Reg, there is just something about you that draws me in. You try and convince everyone that you have this tough guy persona, you run Slytherin house because of who your family is but I don't think that is you." She spoke softly, leaning her face closer to his.

"You think you have me all worked out." He stated but she shook her head.

"Far from it, I'm trying to work you out. You claim you aren't good for me, why?" she questioned and his whole body tensed as he pulled away from her. She quickly reached out and grabbed his left arm, quickly noticing how his mask dropped and she saw fear written across his face for a moment. "That's why? You're one of them."

"Bridge, stop trying to convince yourself I'm different than what I am." Regulus attempted to pull away from her but she tightened her grip.

"What did you have to do, why do they want _you_?" she questioned, wanting to know what the answers are before she admitted she was too far gone with him.

She might have known who he was since first year but they barely spoke before the beginning of the year and she couldn't believe how easy it was for her to open up to him and it seemed as though he felt the same despite the barriers he was attempting to put up.

"Tell me!" she demanded and he was shocked at the tone.

All year, regardless of the teasing and snarky comments that came from her mouth she was never one to raise her voice, she was hard to anger but now it was obvious she was annoyed and he couldn't believe it was because she worked out that he was a Death Eater.

Regulus took a deep breath before placing a hand on her neck and stroked her cheek, "they want me because of my family, who they are. My parents are hoping with me signing up I can fix what my brother ruined, I was wanted specifically because of my duelling skills. I didn't have to kill anyone Bridge."

"I honestly don't believe you have it in you to kill anyone, as I said, you put up this persona that isn't you, it's who everyone wants you to be."

Regulus didn't say anything in response, just leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. He will never voice it but he was incredibly he found someone who knew the truth and didn't hold it against him.

.oOo.

Octavia was happy when she saw her friends enter the Gryffindor common room with massive smiles on their faces, it means they won their match against Hufflepuff. She hated that she wasn't out there with them when they won but she was happy for them, a bitter sweet feeling.

"We won Snow," Sirius spoke as he picked her up and spun her around, the noise in the common room increasing as the rest of the house began piling in, ready to spend the day celebrating.

"I'm glad Pads," she leaned up to kiss him, she decided that her conversation with Regulus can wait, she didn't want to ruin his mood from their win against Hufflepuff.

"And now we get to celebrate baby," Sirius spoke as he nuzzled her neck, grinning when she laughed.

"Snow!" James exclaimed as he walked in with his arm around Lily, the girl laughing at something that was previously said.

"Congratulations Prongs, heard we won. Where's Moony?" Octavia questioned and Sirius coughed while a smirk appeared on James' face.

"Passed Lilith on the way out of the change rooms," he suggested.

"I'll congratulate him later then, come dance with me Pads," Octavia pulled on his hand as someone turned the wireless on to let music float through the common room.

"You aren't going to congratulate me?" he whispered in her ear but she just smirked at him before wrapping her arms around his neck as she began dancing against him, hoping he will shortly follow.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night, Ginny702 and revathi for reviewing, it means so much to me.**


	86. You Set Me Up?

Chapter 85: You Set Me Up?

"Come on Snow, please make him stop, you can do this." Sirius pleaded with Octavia who was sitting across the room from. "Please baby, I've had enough," Sirius pleaded once more with tears running down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry but this is too good," Octavia laughed, hers matching that of Sirius' as he was being hit with the tickling charm from Gideon.

They were in the Defence Against the Dark Arts room still trying to get Octavia's shield up, Fabien's idea of using Sirius wasn't helping her since it wasn't working. The tickling charm, she just found funny and the two Professors can't exactly go causing serious harm to students.

Sirius who was previously resting his hands on his knees in attempts to catch his breath quickly stood up and sent a wordless spell directly towards Gideon, who was distracted by having a conversation with Fabien.

Gideon was pushed back on to the floor and Fabien quickly rounded on Sirius, sending his own spell back towards the younger boy. "That was a cowards move Black, aiming for someone who has their back turned."

It all happened so fast that Octavia couldn't even comprehend what just happened, one minute Sirius was complaining about being struck with the tickling charm for too long and the next minute the three of them are duelling and it didn't look like the friendly instructional ones they had previously had.

"Stop it!" she yelled out but none of them acknowledge her, they all ignored her and kept going on with the duel.

There were jets of lights going everywhere and Sirius was seriously underhand, not only was it two against one but Fabien and Gideon were both accomplished Aurors who had duelled against Dark Wizards for a few years now, they knew things that Sirius didn't, could cast spells that Sirius hadn't even thought of attempting.

It was when Sirius had been knocked over and knocked over once more as he was half way through standing back up that she had enough.

"Stop it! You'll hurt him," she cried out watching as the orange jet of light sent towards Sirius hit an invisible shield.

The brothers looked at Sirius but he quickly held his hands up, "I didn't do it," Sirius claimed and they all looked at where Octavia was standing on the verge of tears. "Snow, I'm fine." He stated as he walked towards her, hoping she wouldn't be mad once she worked out what they did.

"They could have seriously hurt you," Octavia placed a hand on his neck as her eyes quickly roamed over his body, hoping there was no signs of an injury.

Sirius took a deep breath before cupping her face, he knew she would be angry when she finds out the truth. "Baby I'm fine, my back may be a little sore from being knocked over but you've caused worse as a wolf, I promise you. You protected me, you managed to produce your shield." He couldn't help but laugh as a massive grin appeared on her face.

"I really did do it, I just hope it will allow me to cast it on command now." Octavia responded before Sirius leaned over and softly kissed her. She pulled away and spun around, quickly looking at where the brothers were standing, "you!" she yelled at them while pointing a finger at them. "You could have seriously hurt him!" she continued to yell and they shared a look.

"His idea," they both claimed together while pointing a finger at Sirius, not wanting to get on Octavia's bad side.

"Traitors," Sirius snapped as Octavia spun back around to face him, anger burning in her eyes. He stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "please don't be mad, we thought maybe what was partly your problem was that on a subconscious level you knew that they would never hurt you or me. I suggested us mock fighting, increasing the difficulty of the duel in hopes of increasing your fear and that way you may be able to produce your shield. They were never really going to hurt me, why do you think the duel was wordless on their part?" he spoke calmly but knew his attempts at calming her down were failing.

Octavia narrowed her eyes at him and let out a huff of annoyance as the door to the classroom opened, revealing once more Lily.

Octavia grabbed her bag and stormed out of the classroom, not wanting to deal with Lily today while in a bad mood because of Sirius.

Lily had been randomly turning up more and more during Octavia's lessons with Fabien and Gideon and she was beginning to wonder if Lily was curious as to what was going on. James hadn't said anything to her to make her think that Lily hadn't questioned it to him and Lily also hadn't said anything in their dorm at nights.

"Baby, please stop and hear me out." Sirius called out as he chased her down the corridor but she just continued to storm away from him.

Sirius managed to catch her and he grabbed her wrist, pulling on her arm and spinning her around to face him.

Octavia was still furious at what happened, she raised a hand and slapped him across his face.

Sirius tensed his jaw as he stared down at his girlfriend, he gripped both her arms and directed her back towards to the wall, pushing her up against it. "Was that really necessary?" he snapped.

"I was terrified that they were going to hurt you, they looked severely pissed at you for attacking Gideon with his back turned. They're Aurors and have duelled Dark Wizards, I was terrified they were going to badly hurt you and I was going to lose you. I was going to lose you and have to raise her on my own, but then I found out it was a set-up, how the fuck do you think I felt then?" she spoke, all her anger disappearing and instead tears welled up.

Sirius let go of her arms and scrubbed his face before leaning down and resting his forehead against hers, "I'm sorry, I thought it was for the best. You've been trying so hard to manage to cast your shield and I thought this was the only way. I'm sorry I caused something to terrify you that bad baby."

Octavia nodded and pulled away, continuing on down the corridor. She heard his footsteps behind her and she waved her hand, putting up the invisible wall she had perfected casting.

"That's not fair Snow!" Sirius called out but Octavia didn't stop, she just continued on, wiping away her tears as she came across other students.

.oOo.

"Where are we going Pete?" Dorcas questioned as Peter held her hand and led her around the Castle.

"I have something to show you," Peter turned and looked at her with a smile, "trust me?" he questioned and she nodded.

"So Mary and I were talking about getting a place together once we graduate from here, she's still talking about how she wants to be an Unspeakable."

"That's a rather large ambition she has there," Peter commented, nodding along as Dorcas continued to speak.

"I've seen this statue a million times Pete, it's not special," Dorcas spoke when Peter stopped leading her through the Castle, stopping in front of the entrance to the tunnel towards Honeydukes Sweet Shop.

Peter didn't say anything in response, he just turned and looked at his girlfriend with a smirk on his face before he tapped the statue with his ward and spoke of the password to open it.

When Peter looked at Dorcas one more time her mouth was opened, "you'll catch flies like that," Peter teased and she clamped her mouth shut, he let out a laugh letting her know he was just teasing but truth was he hated the way she reacted and stood there with her mouth open like that.

"Where does this lead?" Dorcas questioned.

"Somewhere you will love, I promise now I am going first or are you?" Peter responded and Dorcas looked a little hesitant. Peter leaned over and softly kissed her, "I'll go first and you just follow me?"

Dorcas nodded and waited until Peter had disappeared into the hold and she quickly looked around before following after him.

" _Lumos_ ," Dorcas spoke and her wand lit up allowing some light to flood the tunnel as she followed Peter through it.

She was still a little cautious when they came out on the other side, it looked like they were in someone's house. She knew that Peter and his friends were well known for doing stupid and reckless things but breaking into someone's house was beyond her level of comfort, there was a reason she was a Hufflepuff and not a Gryffindor like the rest of them.

Peter turned and noticed the look on Dorcas' face, "love I promise everything will be fine I've done this a hundred times with the others, nothing will go wrong." Peter reassured her and she nodded before placing her hand in his out stretched one.

It wasn't until he led her up a set of stairs and out onto the main level that she was shocked once more, "this is Honeydukes." she pointed out and he turned to look at her with a large grin on her face.

"It is, we found this secret tunnel a while back, I wanted to share it with you before we graduated."

Dorcas had a smile on her face as she leaned up to softly kiss him, "that was really sweet of you, thank you."

"Any time love, now let's find you some cockroach clusters." Peter spoke as he led her through the shop looking for her favourite sweet while picking up some other things to bring back for his friends.

.oOo.

Octavia looked up at the sound of someone entering the common room muttering to themselves, most of the other years were in classes while she, Remus and Peter had a free period. Remus and Peter were currently up in the boys' dorm with Remus helping Peter with their current Transfiguration essay McGonagall had set.

She caught sight of the blonde first year and a smile appeared on her face, "Anna," she called out and Avianna instantly turned and faced her with a smile.

Avianna walked over and sat down on the couch next to Octavia and let out a huff of annoyance causing the older girl to laugh, but she turned, crossing her arms over her chest and glared towards the fire place.

"What's wrong Anna?" Octavia questioned but Avianna just huffed once more.

"It's March but yet all the Professors seem to talk about are the exams coming up in _June_! Come on, it's March and June is ages away!" Avianna whined and Octavia couldn't help but laugh, oh to be young again she thought to herself. "Stop laughing," she snapped giving Octavia a look and if the older girl had any doubts about the two of them being related, it was that look.

"June sneaks up on you, trust me. There were years I wish I had begun studying earlier then what I did, trust me fifth year is no field trip, you need to begin studying earlier."

"Why do we have exams anyway?"

"Because it's a part of our education, just wait, third year begins the mid-year exams." Avianna snapped her gaze around and stared at Octavia, not believing what she was saying.

"Nope, no way, no way do we have mid-year exams, I don't believe you," Avianna shook her head.

"Oh come on, it's not so bad, third year comes with picking your electives, you can pick something that inspires you and leads you to have a career in the future." Octavia explained and Avianna hung her head.

"What electives did you pick? I've heard the second years discussing their options."

"Already?" Octavia asked in shock, her and her friends weren't discussing elective options until around Easter. Avianna nodded in response, "Sirius and I picked Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures, if you're curious about some of the others James and Peter picked Divination and Remus and Lilith picked Ancient Runes since we all took Care of Magical Creatures together."

"You know what, I don't care." Avianna huffed, crossing her arms over her chest over more.

Octavia shook her head, "you still have one more year, don't worry about it. As for your exams, just take it one day at a time and focus on your topics, study with your friends and it will be alright, just don't become a shut in."

Avianna nodded as she relaxed into the corner of the couch, shifting around to face her cousin.

"Where did this attitude come from Anna?"

"What attitude? It's purely me," she grinned at the other girl and Octavia couldn't help but smile, seeing many Carrow qualities within the younger girl.

"Hang on, why aren't you in class?" Octavia questioned once she realised that the younger girl should be class with the rest of the first years.

"Oh that, well one of the Slytherin students was saying mean things about my parents, so I socked him in the face. Prewitt sent me to see McGonagall but she has a class and sent me to the common room stating she will deal with me later."

"You punched a Slytherin in the face?" Octavia questioned, unsure as to if she was shocked or proud for the act.

Avianna nodded with a grin on her face, "I wasn't interested in ballet or piano lessons like the other girls at my school, I wanted to take martial arts with the boys. Mum was really reluctant at first but eventually caved."

"Well at least I know you will be able to protect yourself but surely you realise that Muggle duelling won't come in handy when it comes to magical duelling."

"I know and my parents are going to be furious when they find out what I did, I couldn't ignore it, I just got so mad. Is that a family thing, getting so mad you just lose it?"

Octavia stayed silent for a moment, she knew she had to inform Avianna of the more darker things that comes with being a Carrow and the ability to lose it was just one them.

"Yes and no, tempers don't run in the family like they do with the Blacks even though my brother has the worst temper, especially loses it when it comes to my sister and I. But there are moments when everything becomes dark and I'm not left alone to calm down things can happen. The Carrows have been inbred for a couple of generations now Anna, things can go wrong because of it. In the past I have become deathly calm, I've been lucky that Sirius can see the signs and knows when I'm best left alone."

"What happens when you do become deathly calm?" Avianna questioned timidly and Octavia softly patted her hand.

Octavia could remember what happened the one time she wasn't left alone to calm down, she remembered seeing the fear in Sirius' eyes as well as her brother but the thing is, she can't even remember what happened, she just remembers the looks on their faces when she came back too.

Sirius and Amycus both tried to explain what happened but none of it made sense to her, she didn't understand how she behaved like that.

"The summer before fifth year, there was an incident and I ended up in St Mungo's for a couple of days, I was fine after resting but my temper was constantly on edge. I don't remember what specifically set me off, maybe it was a comment from my parents or the beginning of an argument but I lost it. Sirius said I just lashed out at everyone, pulled my wand out and began firing spells at everyone and when I was disarmed I took to throwing the furniture around the room. No one was hurt but ever since Sirius has kept an eye on me, noticing the signs and leaves me alone to calm down before it goes too far." Octavia explained what happened, leaving out the punishment her parents had given her. Her father had tried to physically punish her but her mother ended up convincing him against him, stating that her already limited physical movement from the Cruciatus Curse would raise more suspicions if something went wrong with her again so instead she was locked in her room for the remainder of the summer with no food, which like always Dinky snuck her food.

"Is that what happened to my parents but instead of hurting other people they hurt themselves?"

"I don't know Anna, I don't know why your parents did what they did, their grief over the death of Bexley was too much and they couldn't handle it. I can't help you when it comes to your parents and sister, I was very young when they all died and barely remember them as it is, I can't tell you much about them, I've told you this Anna."

"I know, it's just hard not knowing anything about my family and I'm grateful that I have you and Sirius as family now but I wish I could know more."

"And I wish I could help you Anna, I truly do but I can't and there is no way I am going to introduce you to the rest of the family. Maybe during the summer we can spend some time together and I will introduce you to someone who may potentially know Bexley or even your parents but it's a risk we will take."

"That sounds good," Avianna replied as students began entering the common room. "I should probably go find McGonagall."

"Sounds like a plan, either accept your punished or act like you didn't do it at all, always works for me." Octavia flashed a grin towards her cousin who just laughed in response.

"Except Prewitt saw me punch Goyle in the face," Avianna complained as she left the common room, leaving Octavia alone with her thoughts.

She had never looked into what Slytherin first years Avianna shared classes with, but hearing her now mention that she punched Goyle in the face, maybe she should. She was worried that with Avianna punching Goyle, a Sacred Family member that maybe Regulus' pardon on the girl may shatter.

"Why are you so deep in thought?" Octavia looked up at the sound of Lilith's voice and gave her best friend a smile.

"Anna's going round punching Sacred Family members," Octavia explained and Lilith stayed silent as she collapsed onto the couch beside her.

"That's bad, like really bad. Forget about the punishment McGonagall is going to give out for her punching students, with everything going on at the moment the last thing she needs to be doing is angering those families. It won't take much for them to find her parents, if they wanted pay back it won't take much for them to kill her parents."

Octavia leaned forward and placed her face in her hands, "I know, I know Lilith, I came from those families and I know what they are capable of. I just don't want Anna getting hurt, I'm afraid that just as she is adjusting to our world something happens that causes her to pull away. I honestly fear for all the Muggleborns coming into our world at the moment because it would be terrifying to get thrown into a world that is in the middle of a war."

"Maybe you should ask Fabien and Gideon for a favour?"

"I think I've already got one with all the lessons with them."

Lilith shrugged, "who knows, speaking of lessons are you honestly still mad at Padfoot for what happened yesterday?"

"Is that why he didn't return from Potions with you? He's cowering like a dog in the corner somewhere?" Octavia turned and looked at Lilith, noticing the look on her face. "What happened in Potions?"

"I'm not too sure, I had to go to the bathroom and my Potion was simmering so Slughorn let me go. I return to having the door locked and Slughorn telling me to come back to the common room from the other side. I can only assume what happened and Slughorn has only locked the door in the past when a potion has exploded."

"I wouldn't be surprised if something happened between them and Snivellus," Octavia responded and Lilith shook her head.

"Honestly, you all need to stop calling him Snivellus, honestly most of us are all 18, we should be mature enough by now."

Octavia scoffed, "us mature? Are we talking about the same people because I honestly remembering the boys turning the gravy the other night during dinner into chocolate sauce and the week prior rigged it so the food would explode upon contact with silverware?"

"I knew it was you," Lilith narrowed her eyes but Octavia just flashed a smile.

"Oh come on, no one was hurt and a lot of people laughed, it was funny."

"What's funny?" Sirius questioned and both girls looked up and found him and James standing there.

It was then Octavia caught a whiff of the smell that was surrounding them both, she placed a hand over her mouth before she rushed towards the bathroom to throw up.

She let out a groan as she stood up and walked over to the sink to rinse her mouth out, she thought most of her morning sickness had passed. Most of the time she just felt a little nauseous but hasn't thrown up for a couple of weeks now, not since the Quidditch Match against Hufflepuff.

But it was that smell, whatever the smell was that the boys were covered in set her off, it instantly made her stomach churn.

She looked up in the mirror as the bathroom door opened and saw Lilith standing there.

"You alright?" Lilith questioned and Octavia nodded. "Padfoot and Prongs went to go shower, thinking whatever they were covered in made you throw up."

"Did they say what it was?"

"They don't know, a potion exploded in class and that's all they know. Someone must have added something because my potion didn't smell that bad when I left."

"Knowing those two, they put something in someone's cauldron and it exploded because of it. I need to go lay down," Octavia spoke as she rinsed her mouth out once more before leaving the bathroom and heading up to her dorm.

Lilith stood there and watched as Octavia head up the girls' staircase towards their dorm, there was something off with her best friend but Lilith knew it could only be of the many number of things that was constantly bothering her best friend and there was nothing she could do to her help because all the issues were out of her control.

She rubbed the back of her neck before heading up the boys' staircase in search of her own boyfriend.

She entered the boys' dorm and found both Remus and Peter sitting in the middle of the floor with books spread out between them, she walked over sat down beside Remus giving him a smile when he looked up at her.

"Hi love, how was Potions?" Remus questioned, leaning over and quickly kissing her before looking back down at Peter's Transfiguration work.

"They didn't tell you? Padfoot and Prongs obviously stink of something because Snow threw up due to the smell only she could smell."

Remus shook his head before grabbing a book and opening it, "how are you still mixing them up Wormtail, here this explains them both perfectly fine." Remus spoke, placing the book down before looking back up at Lilith. "Yes I figured that much but you don't smell bad, so I figured something happened after class."

"I left for the bathroom and came back to be sent back here due to something going wrong, I have no idea what happened in class." Lilith explained and Remus nodded as the bathroom door opened revealing Sirius. "Where's Prongs?"

"Another dorm's bathroom most likely," Sirius shrugged walking over to his bed and laying down on it. "Where's Snow?"

"Said something about laying down, I think whatever you two were covered in really upset her stomach. Speaking of which, what were you two covered in?"

Sirius scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish look on his face, Lilith was really intrigued, "well first you must understand, Avery was saying things about Prongs and Evans now dating and Snivellus kind of lost it, threw something in Prongs potion to ruin it and in return Prongs threw something in Snivellus' potion and next thing we knew was there was a giant orange cloud in the room. Prongs doesn't even know what he picked up and threw in the Potion, said it was one of the ingredients on the table but Slughorn said it didn't make sense."

"So what, Snape wasn't brewing the required poison like the rest of us? He thinks he's that much better than us all at Potions that he can brew something entirely different and it won't make a difference, didn't we have to handle a sample in to Slughorn anyway?" Lilith responded.

"Yeah but after that orange cloud, everyone's was ruined. Slughorn said it wasn't poisonous itself the cloud because of what we were brewing since it has to be ingested so we were free to go, just have to shower to get rid of the smell." Sirius explained looking down at where Remus and Peter were still working on Transfiguration, "just give up Moony, give him your essay to copy."

Remus looked up at Sirius, "why so he can fail come our exams? I'm helping him so he can pass the exam, giving him my essay to copy won't help him in the long run." Remus explained and Sirius nodded. "Wait, what poison were you brewing?"

"Why?" Sirius questioned, he was confused. Slughorn said they weren't going to be harmed by the cloud of smoke, so why is he so curious.

"Because some poisons are more harmful to pregnant witches, regardless of if it's ingested or inhaled. It might not be harmful to you inhaled but you brought the smoke back to the common room with you-" Remus started but Sirius quickly sitting up cut him off.

"And in turn Snow breathed in," he looked over at Lilith.

"I'll go get her and we'll go to the Hospital Wing, maybe that's why she's throwing up." Lilith quickly jumped up and headed down the stairs, knowing Sirius was following behind her.

Except when Lilith entered the common room she saw McGonagall walking through, "Miss Longbottom, I was wondering if you could tell me where Miss Carrow is?" McGonagall spoke noticing her coming down the stairs.

"In our dorm, she wasn't feeling well and wanted to lie down but after hearing what happened in Potions we were going to take her to the Hospital Wing to make sure she wasn't affected, guess Professor Slughorn forgot she was pregnant when he released the students."

"Which is why I'm here with this antidote, without knowing what exactly was thrown in, we can't work out went wrong with the poison," McGonagall held up a vial and Lilith was glad Slughorn mentioned to the other Professors what happened in his class and that someone thought of Octavia.

Lilith nodded before turning and heading up the girls' staircase knowing McGonagall will follow her, there was a part of her that hoped that Octavia was fine, that it was just the smell that set her off and caused her vomit and not something in the poison effecting her.

"O?" Lilith called out as she entered the dorm, finding it empty and worried filled her. She heard a mumbled response come from the bathroom and she walked over and pushed the door opened to find Octavia laying on the floor with tears running down her face.

"Something's wrong," she sobbed out and Lilith rushed to her side.

"Sh, it'll be alright, I promise. McGonagall is here and she has an antidote for you," Lilith sat on the floor and rested Octavia's head in her lap and softly brushed her hair out of her face as McGonagall walked over and handed the antidote over.

"It should help and then we can get Madam Pomfrey to have a look at you and make sure everything is alright with both you and the baby," McGonagall held the vial out and Lilith grabbed it before holding it near Octavia's lips allowing her to drink the antidote.

"Feel better?" Lilith questioned as Octavia pulled away after the last of the antidote.

"It's helping, yes." Octavia looked at McGonagall, wiping away the tears staining her cheeks. "You said something about seeing Pomfrey?"

McGonagall nodded and the two girls stood up and followed their Professor downstairs, before leaving the Gryffindor common room. In the process Lilith and Sirius had switched places, Lilith stated it was a couple thing and that she will see Octavia when they return from the Hospital Wing.

Lilith didn't mention it but she knew that if the baby was badly hurt and nothing could be helped to fix it, she wouldn't want anyone to be present except for Sirius. Lilith hated it but it was the way Octavia was and Lilith understood that since first year it's always been Sirius and Octavia.

Nothing was said when the three of them entered the Hospital Wing, Pomfrey directed Octavia directly to a bed and began running diagnostic spells, still not saying anything as she handed potions over for Octavia to take, which over increased Octavia and Sirius' concern for what was going on.

"It'll be alright baby," Sirius whispered as he softly pressed his lips against Octavia's temple but he could see the fear and worry in her eyes as she looked down at where her hands were placed on her stomach.

McGonagall had followed Pomfrey back to where her office was located while the two of them had a conversation, which only worried the young parents to be.

"How do you know that, I can't lose her," Octavia responded, her voice breaking and Sirius lowered his hand and placed it above hers.

When Octavia was wearing the robes required as dress code it was hard to see the small bump that was now present, it was when she was wearing the small number of muggle clothing she had with her at Hogwarts that the bump was visible.

"I know baby, I know how you have convinced yourself that this girl you've seen from the future is this baby, but what if this baby isn't that girl, what if you've just convinced yourself it is?" Sirius tried to reassure Octavia but knew it wasn't working, he knew she was incredibly stubborn and was dead set on this baby being the girl she's seen a couple of times.

"It's her, it has to be, she's friends with a set of twins, Molly is due to give birth to a set twins in coming weeks," Octavia snapped and Sirius didn't get the chance to respond as Pomfrey and McGonagall re-emerged from the office in the back.

Octavia looked up at Sirius and he softly ran his thumb along her cheek, hoping to reassure her of her concerns.

"Please tell me everything is okay, that my daughter is okay." Octavia questioned causing Pomfrey and McGonagall to share a look, probably due to the fact that she claimed she was having a daughter but no one questioned it.

"Yes it seems that way due to quick thinking on everyone's part, I understand your friends were about to bring you here regardless of McGonagall arriving?" Pomfrey spoke and Octavia looked up at Sirius, she didn't know that but he just nodded in confirmation. "Without knowing what went wrong with the potion we wouldn't have known what would go wrong with your pregnancy but for now everything seems to be perfectly fine, I request daily visits just to make sure everything is still running smoothly, there have been cases in the past where an antidote just helps cover the potion for a couple of days but if anything feels wrong I need you to come and see me immediately."

"Understood," both Sirius and Octavia spoke and Pomfrey gave them a smile.

"Good now head back to your common room and I need you to take this potion, you need some well-deserved rest and this will help."

Octavia hesitantly reached out to grab the vial Pomfrey held out, she wasn't interested in taking another potion, not after the strange feeling she was having after inhaled whatever was covering Sirius and James when they returned from Potions.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	87. A Wolf in Hiding

Chapter 86: A Wolf in Hiding

James, Sirius and Lily had just entered the hidden room they were still using after seven years, James and Sirius were behind Lily laughing about something while she was ahead but stopped walking and let out a gasp at the scene in front of her.

"Lily what's wrong?" James questioned, noticing that she had stopped walking.

"There's a wolf on the couch," Lily whispered and both boys looked over at the couch, looking at a very familiar wolf.

Sirius stepped forward noticing the territorial look on the wolf, he knew she wasn't annoyed at the guest and having a secret revealed, no she was annoyed at being disturbed.

"What did we say about this?" Sirius spoke, stepping closer to the wolf not even seeming phased when the wolf growled at him.

The growling wolf caused Lily to jump and James just put an arm around her waist and kissed her temple, "it'll be fine." He whispered in her ear.

"Don't you growl at me," Sirius warned and in turn the wolf snarled at him baring its teeth. "You're being rude now." Sirius frowned before kneeling in front of the couch, he placed one hand on the wolf's head and the other on its stomach.

The wolf whimpered and Lily turned to face James, full of confusion. "What's going on?" she questioned but he just shook his head, continuing to look at where Sirius was.

"What's wrong Snow?" Sirius questioned, patting the wolf's head while Lily's mouth fell opened.

"No way, that is not Octavia," Lily exclaimed and Sirius laughed not refusing to look away from his pregnant girlfriend.

Octavia eventually transformed back into herself and Sirius noticed the look on her face, he cupped her face before kissing her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm only four months pregnant and I am already struggling to get comfortable, but I've found I'm comfortable as a wolf and I was quite happy getting some rest before you all barged in here," Octavia complained but Sirius just laughed again.

"Someone needs to tell me what is going on, now." Lily declared and Octavia looked over at her, the two of them got along a lot better now that James and Lily were dating but it was still uneasy between the two of them every now and then.

"What you can't figure it out Lily, we've studied this. I may have just gone a bit further with the information then the rest of you." Octavia responded, unsure as to what would happen if all of their secrets were spilled like this and she could tell just how happy James was with her.

"You're an Animagus."

"Ding, ding, we have a winner." Octavia waved her hand around before pushing herself off the couch.

"That's why they call you Snow, because your fur coat is white like snow. Does that mean the rest of you can turn into animals since you have names linked to animals?" Lily questioned, looking at James.

"Who knows Lily," Octavia responded before pushing past where James and Lily were still standing.

"Snow wait," Sirius called out after her, hoping she would stop, actually surprised when she did.

"I'm sorry for snapping, I just…" Sirius cut her off with a kiss.

"I know, you're pregnant and it's not something we wanted at this age, especially with what's going on with the war." He cupped her face and she nodded.

"Prongs is going to kill me for spilling that secret to Lily though."

"Not if I kill you first, what did we say about transforming while you are pregnant, we don't know what could happen," Sirius responded, his voice harsh and Octavia pouted at him.

"The Professors all know I'm an Animagus and Pomfrey didn't say anything about not transforming, she didn't even say anything about not joining Moony for the Full Moons." Which was something that shocked Octavia, maybe the Professors were claiming ignorance with that particular fact and didn't want to admit they were secretly letting a student run around with a werewolf every Full Moon.

"I know that was me, I sure as hell don't want to risk having you thrown against a tree when we all play around to risk losing our baby," Sirius' voice became soft as he cupped her face. "After what happened with the poison in Potions I sure as hell don't want to see you go through that again, we're just going to take things easy from now on okay and no more transforming because we will find another way to help make you comfortable," Octavia nodded as Sirius leaned down and kissed her.

"I promise Pads, I need to see Fabien and Gideon."

"What, why?" Sirius questioned with a sour look on his face.

"Because between the poison you and Prongs brought into the common room, my daily visits to the Hospital Wing and you hovering like crazy I haven't had time to ask them for a favour. Anna punched a Goyle of all people that day in class, I found out before everything happened."

"Fuck," he whispered in response and Octavia nodded, they both understood the repercussions of something like that. "Come on then, let's go protect probably the only innocent person there is still left in our families."

"You know we still haven't come up with names?" Octavia spoke up as the two of them headed towards the Prewitt brother's classroom.

"That is because you are convinced we are having a girl and won't even let me make suggestions in regards to a boy name, you shut me down every single time." Sirius remarked with a smirk and Octavia laughed softly before looking up at him with a large smile on her face, "don't look at me like that."

"Like what Padfoot?" she questioned innocently and he shook his head. "Fine, what boy names would you like to throw out for our non-existent son?" She teased but he just gave her a look before looking ahead.

"Turner or Kael," Sirius finally responded and the quietness of his voice shocked Octavia.

"You've actually given this a lot of thought haven't you?" She questioned looking up at him, they were both so unsure about the pregnancy and hesitant from the start, the only reason she knew what name she wanted was because she heard it in that first dream of Willa and ever since she's been in love with the name, unsure as to where she would have heard it to get the idea originally.

"Why are you so shocked baby? We can't have a nameless child and there is no way I'm following my families tradition of Astronomy related names but your families of unique names is something I could enjoy if we find the right names, unless you want to go common by randomly picking up a book?"

"There are times where I hate having such an unusual name but others, not so much. I don't mind Turner but we aren't having a boy, we're having a girl, so girls' names?" Octavia responded but Sirius laughed before letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"How about this then, you think of a girl name and I think of a boy name because I don't want to think of the possibility of us having a girl, it terrifies me." He pressed his lips into her hair and she stopped walking, looking up at him with the question on the edge of her lips. "I'm terrified because of what will happen when she's older, I hurt you so much because of what I was doing with Marlene and I hate myself for it and let's not getting started on when I hit you. It's easier to think of having a boy because I won't have those same concerns." Sirius answered the question before she could ask it.

Octavia nodded and stepped back in beside Sirius, she never thought that was why he was so against them having a daughter. She just thought it was something trivial as not knowing how to raise a girl because despite the two of them growing up together, she wasn't the most girly girl. She rarely wore make-up and when wearing muggle clothes she preferred pants and shorts over skirts and dresses. The most girly thing about her is her obsession with her hair.

"Willa," Octavia stated, looking up at Sirius and he looked down at her.

Sirius knew Octavia knew the name of the daughter that they would come to share in a possible future, the same daughter she had seen on a couple of occasions but hadn't voiced it as of yet.

Sirius nodded in response, his only recognition of the name before he placed his hand on the door handle to open the door to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

They entered the classroom and found Fabien and Gideon mid-duel, they shared a look unsure as to what was going on between them.

Fabien looked up and noticed the couple standing there and a grin appeared on his face before he disarmed Gideon.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of being graced with your presence," Gideon spoke with a large grin.

Octavia looked up at Sirius and smirked before facing the brothers, "well Sirius and I were previously discussing potential baby names, what ideas do you have?"

"Hmm that is a tough," Gideon placed a hand on his chin for a moment. "I've always enjoyed the name Gideon."

"Nice try," Sirius laughed.

"What about Fabien?" Fabien threw in and Octavia laughed in response.

"We might enjoy your company but don't think we are at the level closeness that is naming our children after you," Octavia explained and the brothers pretended to be hurt.

"Honestly though why are you two here? I thought we didn't have a session planned for tomorrow."

"Need a favour," Octavia stated and it piked the interest of them as they moved closer to her. "The first year Avianna Carrow? I'm unsure as to if you were informed but she's actually related to me but grew up amongst the Muggles."

"Yeah we know her, she punched another student the other week in class."

"Yeah exactly, wanted to give her house points for socking a Slytherin like that but we had to be responsible." Fabien and Gideon spoke, sharing a look.

"Yes well the fact that it was also a Goyle, if he is that pissed at the action he may ask his family to settle the score," Octavia pointed out and the brothers shared a look before looking at her.

"You want us to put protection on her parents in case they do get pay back?" Gideon spoke and Octavia nodded, "we can look into it, see what we can do for her but you should tell her not to go round punching anymore Sacred Family members. You need to teach her which ones to leave alone."

"I will, thank you, both of you," Octavia gave them a smile before she allowed Sirius to pull her from the room.

.oOo.

"So wait repeat that again?" Avianna spoke, a little flustered from all the information she has been given.

Octavia was doing what Fabien and Gideon suggested, she was explaining the basics when it came the Sacred Families that Octavia grew up among.

"The Blacks, Malfoys and Carrows are the top three families, it means something coming from one of them. It's partly why you have been ignored by the other Slytherin students the last few months after we spoke about them saying mean things to you, but you punching Goyle like you did could have severe repercussions."

Avianna grimly nodded, "like what?"

"We aren't isolated at Hogwarts and the families, they can find anyone because of the connections they have," Octavia stated slowly and that was when fear appeared on the younger girl's face.

"My parents?"

"If they really wanted to yes, don't stress I've spoken to some friends and they will keep an eye on your parents but you really need to learn to keep calm around the Slytherin students, I understand that my friends and I aren't the best examples when it comes to them but we know what we've caused and are dealing with it, but you're only in first year, you can fix the damaged bridges before it's too late. Promise me you will go back to ignoring them and let them do their thing, ignore them when they say mean things again."

"So if I don't keep my mouth shut, they'll threaten to hurt my parents?" Avianna questioned as her eyes welled up and Octavia felt for the poor girl, she was sweet and innocent and shouldn't have to go through this horrors.

"I don't know what they will plan to do, but if they want to get revenge it is possible they could go through with this threat, you need to be careful and play it safe."

Avianna nodded before resting her head on the table they were sitting out, they were in silence for a couple of minutes as Octavia continued to write her notes of a piece of parchment for Avianna to have as a reminder for the Sacred Families. Avianna broke the silence by mumbling something against the table.

"What was that?" Octavia questioned, slightly amused and Avianna's head snapped up.

"I said, can't I go back to being a Muggleborn? It seems awfully hard to be a part of this family, I love you, both you and Sirius but honestly this is all so much."

Octavia placed one of her hands over Avianna's and gave her a soft squeeze, "I know, I can only imagine what it's like to be thrown into one of those families but remember I'm not letting you meet them, I'm just helping you survive Hogwarts come my own graduation soon."

"I know and I have grateful O, this is all just so much and I thought I was struggling with the classes but this is in a world on its own."

Octavia leaned back in her chair and watched as Avianna read over the notes she had made about the families, there was still so much Octavia hadn't told her about the families but didn't see the point in concerning her with something that wouldn't worry her.

Octavia wondered if she should tell Avianna about the arranged marriages that the families participating in but Octavia didn't think any of the families would want to be associated with a Pureblood who grew up amongst Muggles and that loved Muggles and accepted their ways.

She looked at her watching quickly noticing the time, Smith was going to kill her if she didn't hurry up. "Look I have to head to class Anna, just focus on your studies, for now while Sirius and I are still at Hogwarts we are more than too happy to help and then over the summer we can really sit down and work on it properly, so you are properly warned coming back on your own."

"Crap, I have class too," Avianna's eyes went wide as she realised she was late for History of Magic causing Octavia to laugh at the younger before she turned and left knowing Avianna would be alright on her own.

.oOo.

Octavia looked up at the sound of someone's footsteps and noticing Lily entering the secluded room that she shared with her friends, she never got around to asking James if he had told Lily that the rest of them were Animagus, she supposed it was only his place to say if he was one or not.

She also hasn't gotten around to asking why he delved the secret of their hidden room to Lily since she had been throwing herself into her studies since she was no longer allowed to play Quidditch or transform into her Animagus form to keep Sirius happy. She also been spending more time with Avianna so she could get to know her cousin.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, I was looking for James." Lily apologised and Octavia gave her a small smile.

It's been two weeks since Lily found out that Octavia was an Animagus by walking in on her attempting to rest in her wolf form but with Octavia struggling to get comfortable with her belly she had been spending her nights in the boys' dorm since Sirius was able to put some relaxation into her just by his presence alone and allowed her to get some sleep.

"It's fine, listen I probably should have done this weeks ago but I want to apologise for scaring you. I didn't know you knew about this room and could enter at any moment, I certainly knew you didn't that I was an Animagus," Octavia spoke, giving Lily the green light to walk over and sit beside her on the couch.

"James explained everything to me, about everything you've all done to help Remus during the Full Moons," Lily spoke.

Octavia looked over at Lily in shock, she didn't expect James to tell her Remus being a werewolf. "James told you that?"

"Well no," Lily quickly responded, falling silent for a moment to gather her thoughts. "After that moment at the beginning of the year when I was convinced you were all up to something and you revealed that you got abused at home, I had rounds with Remus and I was asking him about you all, why he was friend with you. I've suspected for some time that Remus was a werewolf but never said anything to him because I didn't know how considering we weren't that friendly, some of the things suggested that you all knew and with James explaining everything, I can't honestly believe the lengths you've gone to help him."

Octavia nodded, leaning back against the couch and placing her hands on her stomach, attempting to adjust to the odd feeling it was when the baby shifted inside of her. "The types of families Sirius and I grew up value a strong sense of loyalty, mind you we weren't loyal to them for various reasons instead we came to Hogwarts got sorted into Gryffindor, away from them all and found the people we are loyal to, we found family as well and we protect our family." Octavia explained.

"I can see that, I can see the way you all are. It's seeing those small moments, hearing how you all stuck by Remus despite him being a werewolf and how they've all stuck by you being pregnant at your age before having graduated."

Both girls fell silent for a moment, sitting there on the couch, Lily having forgotten why she was looking for James in the first place and Octavia was enjoying the fact that she was currently comfortable.

"You know our family now includes you, James has made sure of that and you protected my secret when you didn't have to." Octavia spoke, having broken the silence and when she opened her eyes she found Lily looking at her but she couldn't read the look on the other girl's face.

"James means a lot to me, he's grown on me incredibly quickly this year and I don't know what's going to happen once we graduate but I'm trying to put behind everything that's been said and done in the previous years and start fresh with you and I'm quickly learning that you aren't anything like I thought, anything like Kara had said."

Octavia smiled at Lily and quickly put her finger over her lips to give the other girl the hint to stay quiet as she heard the sounds of steps coming towards the room before James and Sirius came running in.

"Where's the fire?" Octavia teased and the boys shared a look.

"We uhh," Sirius started, looking at James before looking back at the two girls and Octavia laughed.

"You saw us alone together and thought all hell would break lose?" Octavia remarked and the boys nodded in agreement.

"How did they know we were alone together?" Lily questioned and Octavia raised an eyebrow at James.

"You mean, when you told her about us all being Animagi, you didn't tell her about the one crucial thing?" Octavia questioned and James shook his head. "Hand it over," she commented and Sirius laughed before walking over with the map in hand.

Octavia pointed her wand at the parchment, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," she spoke and watched as the map spread out on her lap in front.

"Oh my," Lily gasped as the map revealed itself and she stared at it, still not sure as to what she was looking at.

"This is our map of Hogwarts, we know where everyone is within the grounds of Hogwarts. It's how they knew we were in here, it's how we know where anyone we are looking for is. It can be hard when students are in large groups though." Octavia explained.

"Where did you find this?" Lily questioned and the other three laughed.

"Oh love, do you really underestimate us?" James questioned and Lily shot him a look. "We made it," he claimed with a large grin on his face.

"What do you mean you made it? I found the spell," Octavia challenged but James just waved her off. "Prongs," she snapped.

James grinned at her, "alright fine and before you start, yes it was your idea but we all worked on it. Come on love, we have that Prefects meeting."

James and Lily left the room leaving Sirius and Octavia alone, a heated look appeared on his face before he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her close.

"Whatever you are thinking don't Pad," she warned him but he just continued to look at her. "That look is how we ended up in this situation."

"Exactly, we are already in this situation, can't land in it again any time soon." He responded before kissing her deeply.

.oOo.

"Wormtail, so glad you could make it, where have you been lately?" James questioned when Peter entered the secluded room.

"Oh so when you spend time with your girlfriend it's all fine but when I spend time with mine you all question my actions," Peter remarked and they all laughed.

"Good for you mate," Sirius threw out before patting the spot on the floor beside him. "Come join us, we have much to discuss."

Peter walked over and took a seat at the table with the rest of the boys, "where are Snow and Lilith?" he questioned, unsure as to where the girls were.

"Snow couldn't sleep last night but she is now and Lilith is keeping an eye on her while we work out the plan for this end of year prank." Sirius explained and Peter nodded before picking up a book on the table.

"Has Snow worked out that paint spell yet?" Remus questioned.

A while back Octavia had found this spell that its description made it sound like it was similar to the aspect of a water gun but with paint instead and it interested them all highly but there was nothing about the spell on what the incantation was or how it was casted, just a very brief description.

"No it's bugging her and I'm not trying to remind her of it because she has enough stress at the moment, Pomfrey warned Octavia at the beginning of her pregnancy to watch her stress levels," Sirius explained refusing to look up from the book in his hand.

"Alright so if that isn't code to get us to stop harassing Snow I don't know what is," Remus spoke, shooting James a look.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" James questioned innocently and the other three laughed.

"Probably because you and Snow like to rile each other up the most," Peter answered.

"Nonsense," James scoffed.

"Don't be like that Prongs, you two have been like that since first year. It's never hatred between you two, it's like how I would assuming siblings would act but ever since she got pregnant she hasn't tried to rile you up once, she's even trying with Lily Prongs." Remus spoke up.

James looked over at Sirius and quickly noticing the strange look on his best friend's face and knew it was concern for his pregnant girlfriend, he released a sigh. "Fine, I'll back off in terms of rile Snow up, now can we get back to this end of year prank please?" James questioned and Sirius nodded, throwing his book on the table before reaching over and grabbing another.

"Prongs what was your idea with the suits of armour again?" Sirius questioned.

James fell silent as he looked at the books laid out in front of them before finding the spell he had the other week and opened it to show them, as well as explaining his part of the end of year prank for them all.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to revathi and Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	88. Raging Hormones

Chapter 87: Raging Hormones

Octavia sat there on the bed in the Hospital Wing as panic set in, she had come in for a regular check up with Pomfrey but something wasn't right, Pomfrey had left to consult her books and hasn't returned since.

It was now she was wishing that she hadn't egged Sirius on to curse Avery and get given a detention so he couldn't come with her, Lilith had even offered but Octavia waved her off claiming she would be fine and most of the time she was only with Pomfrey for 30 minutes before Pomfrey said both her and the baby were healthy and she could leave.

That time frame was over 20 minutes ago.

She sat there on the bed and watched as Pomfrey would shake her head, pick up another book and flick it through, the longer this was taking the more nervous she became.

She knew that Pomfrey didn't have much experience when it came to pregnant witches since she worked with students, it wasn't like there was a pregnant witch every year and because of that fact sometimes Pomfrey had to consult a book. That wasn't the issue for Octavia since it's happened previously but what was worrying her now was that she has been sitting in the bed in silence for a while now and it was unnerving.

Pomfrey looked over at where Octavia was still sitting and noticed her sitting there looking incredibly nervous.

"I'm sorry Octavia, I didn't want to worry you but it looks like I am. One of your readings weren't normal and I'm unsure as to what could have caused it because I'm not used to this situation, I may have to get someone from St Mungo's to come out and check up on you." Pomfrey walked over and took a seat on the bed next to the younger witch as she nodded.

"Can we wait until Sirius is out of detention?" Octavia questioned.

"Whatever you want dear," Pomfrey patted her leg, "I will go contact my friend within St Mungo's and get someone over here while we wait for Sirius."

Octavia nodded and watched as Pomfrey disappeared into her office.

She sat there and waited for Sirius knowing he would come looking for her soon enough if she wasn't in the common room when he returned from his detention.

It didn't take long for Sirius to turn up and when he did he walked straight towards the bed where she was sitting, he had his mask up to hide his emotions but Octavia knew better, she knew he was worried.

"What's wrong baby?" he questioned softly before he cupped her face, kissing her.

Octavia's eyes welled up and Sirius hated seeing her like that, the further along in her pregnancy she got the harder it was for her to keep her mask up because her emotions for getting the better of her.

"Pomfrey said something wasn't normal but because she doesn't deal with pregnancies often enough she wasn't too sure what it is, she's got a contact at St Mungo's and they're coming out to check me out."

"Oh baby, I'm sure everything will be fine. Our baby is still in there isn't he? It's not like with the poison when you instantly knew it didn't feel right," Sirius spoke as he wiped away the tears that escaped and she nodded. "It'll be fine, our baby boy with be perfectly fine." He was happy when she finally laughed.

"I told you we're having a girl," Octavia stated.

Sirius removed his hands and sat down beside her on the bed, wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I told you baby, we've changed everything else, we're changing this as well." He commented before softly kissing her temple as Pomfrey and a female Healer from St Mungo's entered the room.

"A common argument I've seen amongst couples, as to what the gender of their baby is." The Healer remarked with a smile as they headed towards the couple.

"You know Muggles can find out what the sex of their unborn baby is by one of their own creations?" Octavia commented.

"I see someone is taking Muggle Studies, I know about the ultrasound and I don't have a problem with my patients seeing a Muggle doctor to determine the sex of their unborn baby if they wish. I do warn my patients that it isn't always correct, that sometimes it's wrong depending on the positioning of the baby. We can't have the machine in St Mungo's because it runs off electricity and there is too much magic within St Mungo's and no one has yet created a spell that useful." The Healer spoke and Octavia nodded, instantly glad that the Healer had no problem with Muggle doctors and wouldn't have a connection to her parents. "I'm Healer Benson, may I have a look at both you and your unborn baby?" Benson questioned and Octavia nodded.

Everyone was silent as Benson did her job and tried to work out what was wrong with Octavia that Pomfrey couldn't see or work out.

"It isn't anything of too concern, your stress levels are getting to a rather high level and in turn it's causing stress on your baby. I understand given your situation and what's happening outside of Hogwarts it can cause a little stress but you need to start lowering your stress otherwise it will make things worse the closer it comes to your due date, it could affect both you and the baby. A Potion will help you along the way but I must stress, if it gets worse you may have to be removed from your common room and placed on bed rest where Pomfrey can monitor you more thoroughly." Benson explained and Sirius looked at Octavia with concern.

He waited until Benson and Pomfrey returned to the back where her office was before he pulled away and looked at his girlfriend.

"Snow," he spoke with a warning tone but she lowered her gaze. "Baby," he spoke, this time his voice softer and she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, confusing him.

"What, why?" he questioned.

"Because I can't even keep our baby healthy, how are we going to be parents, why did I ever think this was a good idea?" Octavia spoke and her voice broke as she did, worrying Sirius in the process.

"Hey, don't think like that because this isn't your fault. You can't control what is happening out in our world at the moment, the only thing we can work on is the amount of stress you have. I didn't mean to sound angry, I just know how little you've been sleeping due to discomfort and surely that can't be helping with your stress levels either."

Octavia nodded and rolled over allowing her to burying her face in against Sirius, allowing her to freely cry against him and let out of her worries about already being a bad parent.

Sirius didn't know what to say or do now, he tried what he thought would work, would help calm her down and remove her concerns but all it did was cause her to start crying. He wrapped his arms around her and softly kissed the top of her head.

"It'll be alright baby, I promise you we will be just fine and after seeing you with Nymph I know you will be an amazing mother to our baby, you just need to stop beating yourself up over this." Sirius spoke, finally having found the words to comfort his crying girlfriend.

Octavia pulled away and looked at him, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. "You sure?"

"That is the one thing I'm so sure of, you are a caring, loving person despite the people you grew up with and I know you will be an amazing mother." Sirius leaned over and kissed Octavia's forehead as he placed a hand on her stomach. "I love you Snow, so much and I have faith in you always knowing what the right thing to do is."

A large smile appeared on her face, "I love you too Pads."

Sirius removed his hands and placed them on Octavia's neck softly kissing her.

It was then Octavia felt the baby kick for the first time, she quickly grabbed Sirius' hand and moved it so he too could feel the baby kicking.

"Our son has such a strong kick," Sirius teased as a scowl appeared on her face.

"Girl," she stated but he just grinned at her as a cough came from behind them, they both turned around and found Pomfrey standing there with an amused smile on her face.

"I seem to recall a particular morning you were in here in tears because of something you've seen, you claim you want to change part of the future you've seen but yet you keep claiming you will have a girl. You can't pick and choose what you want at whim Octavia," Pomfrey interjected, showing she had heard a part of their conversation.

"I've seen more of her then I have of any other event, long before everything else began happening, add all that together I believe nothing can change her, I will get her." Octavia explained and Pomfrey nodded before holding up a couple of vials.

"I only have one batch of the required Calming Draught you require to lower your stress levels, I will have to ask Slughorn to brew another batch but this should last you the week or so until it is ready. Please hear Healer Benson's warning about lowering your levels, I really do not want to have to confine you to a bed in here, for the sake of bot h our sanity's," Pomfrey spoke, placing the vial on the table at the end of Octavia's bed before turning and disappearing back into her office.

"Did she just?" Sirius questioned and Octavia laughed.

"Did she just say that if I was to be put on bed rest in here she may lose her sanity, I believe so Pads but think about it. I don't think for a second that if I was here on bed rest, you lot won't join me." Octavia climbed off the bed and grabbed a vial, giving it a sniff, pulling a face in disgust before placing them in her bag. "Speaking of our crazy, loyal friends, let's go find them before they come here looking for us." Octavia turned and left the Hospital Wing, knowing full well that Sirius will catch up when he recovers from the harsh comment made by Pomfrey.

.oOo.

The group of friends looked up as they heard Sirius and Octavia enter the common room arguing between them, they all laughed as they heard Octavia snap that she can carry her own bag but Sirius didn't budge.

"Everything alright there?" Lilith questioned as Octavia walked over and sat down beside her with a sigh.

"He's being a prat," Octavia responded.

"I'm being a prat?" Sirius questioned, "You were just told by Pomfrey to take it easy."

"Yes take it easy being to destress and not worry about everything, I can still carry my own bag." Octavia snapped.

"Hold up, what happened with Pomfrey?" Remus cut in.

Octavia gave Sirius a glare before looking at Remus, "Turns out my stress levels are high, like potentially hurting the baby high but it doesn't mean I can't carry my own damn bag."

"No but fighting Padfoot when he's only trying to help won't be helping your stress levels, the further along you get you won't be able to carry your bag, especially when it's full of text books, you will need all our help." Remus spoke softly, hoping diffuse some of her anger.

"Fine, Padfoot, carry my bag up to my dorm," she snapped before standing up and heading up the girls' staircase.

Sirius looked at Lilith, "please tell me her mood swings will be gone once the baby is born?"

"Why the hell are you looking at me? What you think I've got a love child hidden away somewhere?" Lilith remarked and Remus looked at her, "it was a joke," she reassured him and he nodded.

"Well you are a girl," Peter remarked and Lilith looked at them one by one.

"What you honestly think that since I am a girl, I know how pregnancy works along with her mood swings?" she questioned and Sirius, Peter and James all nodded. "Snow had the right idea," she shook her head before getting up and following Octavia to their dorm.

"Honestly, tell me again how you three have girlfriends?" Remus questioned and when smirks appeared on their faces, "don't answer that," was all Remus said.

"I'm handsome."

"Good in bed."

"Funny."

But yet Remus still received responses from the three of them that he didn't particularly want or needed to know.

.oOo.

"Hey O."

Octavia turned her head and looked at the open bathroom door as Lily called out for her but nothing more was said, she packed up her things before leaving the room and entering her dorm, still not finding Lily in sight but the door to the dorm was left opened.

Hearing a commotion outside the she walked over and stuck her out into the little area that was outside the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh year dorms wondering what was going on, she couldn't help but shake her head at all the girls surrounding the black dog sitting in the middle of them loving the attention he was receiving.

"Where did the dog come from?" Octavia questioned, Padfoot let out a bark and all the girls fawned over him.

"No idea, Blair came out and the dog was just sitting there, we don't even know how it got into the common room." Jenny, one of the fifth years spoke and Octavia nodded walking to where they were all standing.

"There was this though, the dog was carrying it in its mouth," Blair held up a bouquet of flowers and Octavia grabbed them, giving Padfoot a smile.

"You don't think Black organised a way for a dog to get into to Hogwarts and deliver a bouquet of flowers do you?" one of the girls questioned and Octavia shrugged.

"This long and people are still questioning what he may or may not be capable of, now let's get you back to your owner," Octavia ordered while pointing towards the stairs but the dog dropped to the floor causing the girls to go all gooey over the cute dog. "Now," she ordered once more and Padfoot reluctantly stood up and walked down the stairs.

"One would think Carrow doesn't like dogs," one of the girls commented and Octavia laughed before looking over shoulder at them.

"Don't trust dogs that come from Sirius, ever," she warned them before walking down the stairs.

She entered the boys' dorm to find it empty and it didn't take long for a pair of warm arms to wrap around her waist, hands being placed on the bump of her stomach.

"I'm sorry for my comments yesterday baby," Sirius spoke quietly before softly kissing her neck.

Octavia twisted around and wrapped her arms around his neck, attempting to stand close to him but her stomach prevented it from being possible. "I know but honestly, you walking up to the girls' dorms as Padfoot was risky, what if one of them questions about the dog?"

"One time baby, it's a one time thing and no one will question it again, can I go back to apologising for my stupid comments about your pregnancy?" Octavia shook her head, causing him to frown at her.

"Pads, we've always argued and I didn't honestly think it would change now that I'm pregnant, we need to stick together because everyone is whispering about this pregnancy within the Castle, it's something everyone is talking about. I heard from one of the sixth years that there is actually a pool going on as to who the father is, some people don't believe it's you. We need to stick together, prove them all wrong because I know you are the father of what will become the beautiful daughter I've seen, I don't doubt it one single bit."

"You know I've heard those rumours, apparently my own brother is at the top of the list along Prongs and Moony," Sirius added in and Octavia laughed. "Come on, the others are waiting for us so we can continue to plan this prank we are pulling before we graduate."

.oOo.

Regulus looked up at the sound of the door being slammed against the wall and found Bridgette standing there looking unimpressed, he raised an eyebrow at her before looking back down at the parchment in front of him, needing to finish the translations before class tomorrow.

Regulus and Bridgette had gotten into the habit of meeting in one of the many empty classrooms but have of late been sticking with one on the fourth floor because it seemed to be one of the quieter floors for whatever reason.

"Can't you see me standing here looking unimpressed?" Bridgette questioned as she walked over and took a seat at the table.

"Oh I saw you but I'm rather interested in these translations instead of whatever it is that is bothering you this time round considering last time it was a piece of boring Hogwarts gossip," Regulus responded sounding incredibly bored.

Bridgette made a noise and Regulus finally looked up at her, not liking the look that was on her face.

"Bridge what's wrong?" he questioned softly.

"You know there is a bloody bet making its way round with the older students and it's all of them taking bets as to who they all believe the father is of Carrow's baby because they believe it's not Black, you know you are at the top of the list?" she questioned and Regulus laughed.

"That is absurd, I have you," Regulus gave her a smile and she scoffed before making her way over positioning herself on his lap.

"You didn't have me back then but do people honestly think that you lowly of you, or even the others in that list, or Carrow?" Bridgette threw out and Regulus shook his head, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Where are you going with this Bridge? Why do you care what people think of their relationship?" Regulus questioned and Bridgette batted her eyelashes at them.

"Nowhere, I just think its absurd people are actually talking about this. Why do people care that she is knocked up at 17, why do they care who the father is?"

"Because you are forgetting of who the Blacks and Carrows are, this baby is being born from two extremely powerful families. There is a reason why I have that marriage contract in place with Octavia, as to if it still stands or not, I do not know. If that baby is a boy, not only will it maybe the gain the heir title it will also gain the company that the two families run. This boy when it's older it could be potentially very powerful in our community." Regulus explained, ignoring the roll of her eyes.

"Don't really care, it's a baby born of two disowned children, why do they care?"

"Bridge, stop listening to idle gossip, it just makes you annoyed at the stupidity of our classmates."

"But it's so much fun," she pouted at him and he shook his head.

"How are you in Ravenclaw again?" Regulus teased.

"I was nice before I met you," she responded, grinning with his eyes narrowed for a moment before he focused back on his translations. "You used to be fun," she huffed climbing off his lap and sitting in the chair beside him pulling out her own translations.

Regulus looking over at his girlfriend, noticing the look on her face. "Bridge, I'm sorry I just really have to get these translations done for class tomorrow."

"You haven't done them yet?" Bridgette questioned with a smirk.

"Not all of us can be in Ravenclaw," Regulus remarked and she grinned at him.

"No but you did request to be sorted into Slytherin," Bridgette commented and Regulus narrowed his eyes and looked down at the parchment.

"Are you going to help me or continue working on next week's translations?" he questioned softly, not happy with the smirk on her face.

"I don't know, these translations are quite interesting," she twirled her quill in her fingers.

Bridgette didn't tease Regulus for long, she shifted back onto his lap and looked at the translations in front of him. She hated that he always waited until the day before class to ask for help with them, she knew he struggled with the translations that were needed for class but he was too proud to ask for help early and when she offered early in the week to help him he would always deny it.

"One would think by now you would stop being so stubborn and let me help you earlier than the day before class."

Regulus didn't respond to Bridgette, he brushed her hair away from her neck and pressed his lips against the soft skin there, smirking when she shivered under his touch.

"How about this, we finish these translations and then we can proceed with what you would rather do?"

"Fine," Regulus responded, removing his lips from her neck and looking at the translations, annoyed with how many he still had left.

.oOo.

"Stop it," Octavia complained as she swatted away Sirius' hand but he would just laugh and continue what he was doing because he could see the small smile on her face as she complained.

Easter break had been and gone and that usually meant the fifth and seventh years went into their study frenzy before their exams but today it seemed as though nature had a different idea in mind, the sun had come out and it was warmer then it usually was around this time of year and as such most of the students were outside enjoying the warmer weather.

The Marauders had taken place in their usual stop under the large birch tree by the lake as they studied, well some attempted to others decided it was more fun to annoy their girlfriends.

James had invited Lily down with them so they could study together and Peter had done the same with Dorcas.

"Padfoot," Octavia warned but Sirius just grinned at her. "Seriously stop trying to tickle me and study."

Sirius pouted at her before crossing his arms over his chest and sat there like a complaining two year old.

"Oh god, I'm going to be raising two children, I can see it now." Octavia complained, her eyes widening as she realised and it earned a laugh from Remus and Lilith who were sitting near them, noticing the interaction.

"How are you only seeing that now Snow, just remember there will be times you have to leave that man child in charge," Lilith commented, smirking at Sirius when he acted offended at the comment.

"How about this then Lil, we ditch these two bozos and we raise my daughter together?" Octavia suggested.

Lilith looked at her for a moment before at Remus, placing a hand on his arm. "But I quite like this bozo."

"Bozo huh?" Remus questioned, raising an eyebrow and both girls just laughed. "Quick Snow, it looks like his ego is deflating way past warning levels." Remus remarked, liking that it seemed they were all poking at Sirius and he hadn't caught on for a change.

"What's going on here?" Peter questioned as it seemed like the others had moved closer to them after noticing the actions of them.

"Oh we're all just poking fun at Padfoot and deflating his ego," Octavia explained nonchalantly.

Lily and Dorcas were well accustomed to the use of the animal related nicknames for the group of friends, at one point or another they had both questioned as to why Lilith didn't have a nickname but no one really had an answer to that.

It wasn't until Lily learned that they were all Animagi to help Remus with the Full Moons that she understood where the names came from, also understood as to why Lilith didn't have one. Lily couldn't believe they were all crazy enough to spend the night with a werewolf.

The one thing the two girls hadn't caught on though was the use of the nicknames.

"Oh cool, can we do James next?" Lily questioned.

"Hey!" James cut in and they all laughed.

"You know Moony, I think that says something about us because our girlfriends aren't wanting to join in," Peter commented with a grin but Remus shook his head.

"I wouldn't be too sure," Remus pointed at Dorcas, noticing the look on her face but when Peter turned and looked at her, it was quickly replaced with an innocent look.

"Love?" Peter questioned but she just grinned at him before leaning over and giving him a quick kiss.

It only took seconds for Sirius and Octavia to begin making gagging noises as payback for all the times Peter had done it to them at the beginning of their relationship.

"Real mature," Peter spoke, throwing some loose grass at the couple.

"Says the guy throwing around grass," Octavia pointed out and Peter shrugged.

"You've thrown worse," Peter smirked at her and Octavia looked offended.

"Not my fault Prongs threw his dirty underwear at me, what was I meant to do with it, just hold it and look at it? No I'm going to throw it away," Octavia responded, still incredibly disgruntled about being woken up by a pair of James' underwear the other week.

"Hey," James spoke up, holding his hands up in defence. "In my defence I didn't realise you were in Padfoot's bed, I thought he was alone."

"James, sweetie," Lily spoke softly, placing a hand on his arm. "O hasn't sleep in her bed for like two months now, she spends every night with Sirius." Lily explained and James looked between the two girls.

"Aw, you called me Sirius," Sirius cooed, placing a hand over his heart. Lily just picked up more loose grass and threw it at Sirius.

"Was that really needed?" Sirius snapped, picking the stray grass off him.

"Word of advice Lily," Octavia spoke, helping Sirius. "Don't ever throw grass at Padfoot, especially if it ends up being a second time."

"Seriously?" Lily questioned, face falling when she realised what she said.

"Ignore those two," Remus added in, facing the confused girl. "But Snow was right to an extent, Wormtail should have known better than throwing grass of all things at them but it seems like they're both in a good mood today."

"Why?" Lily questioned but it was when she caught the look that crossed their faces she understood.

Dorcas looked around the group as everyone fell silent, realising she was missing out something. "What am I missing?" she questioned, wanting to know what everyone else obviously knew.

"It's just the way Padfoot and I were raised, we weren't allowed to get our robes dirty, have it drilled into your heads long enough and it kind of sticks," Octavia explained, earning a nod from the other girl before she gave Peter a look.

"Come on Pete, let's go for a walk." Dorcas stood up and held her hand out for Peter.

Peter looked at his friends, shrugging before standing up and following Dorcas down towards the lake.

"I'm really sorry O, I didn't mean to make a slip like that, I completely forgot for a moment." Lily quickly apologised once the other girl was gone from hearing range.

"Its fine Lily, everyone makes mistakes," Octavia gave Lily a smile, looking over at Sirius, noticing the gleam in his eyes. "Everyone makes mistakes Padfoot," she spoke again and it took a moment but Sirius finally looked at her.

Octavia hated that she was seeing the fear in Sirius' eyes at the reminder of her abuse, she knew how much he hated the way her parents treated her but she was away from them and safe, that's all that mattered.

Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulders and shifted closer to her, softly kissing her temple.

"Are those two always like that?" Lily questioned noticing the moment between Sirius and Octavia.

"You mean Snow managing to calm Padfoot down before he blows a gasket, then yes but we should still leave them alone for a bit in case Padfoot's anger comes back, you really don't want to see him lose it," Remus teased and a playful growl came from Sirius causing the rest to laugh but Lily looked worried.

"Ignore him," James stood up and held his hand out for Lily. "We can't work out why Snow and Padfoot are more animalistic than the rest of us, their animal traits come through easily." James noticed Lily's hesitation. "It was also a playful growl, you'll quickly catch on with those two growling at everyone."

Lilith waited until James and Lily had walked over before flicking Octavia over the leg.

"What was that for?" Octavia complained.

"Because I couldn't reach Padfoot, honestly, getting annoyed at the girl for a simple mistake. We all get that Snow's abuse was bad, we all understand how bad it got and how hard it was for you to sit back and watch but it's not needed for you to get angry at her."

"You know what I want," Octavia spoke up brightly.

"If you say pickles and ice cream," Sirius muttered, getting annoyed by her cravings during the pregnancy.

Just the other week she had convinced him to go to the kitchens and retrieve her one of her weirder cravings, a strawberry chocolate milkshake and French fries. Sirius eventually caved because she was pouting at him with large eyes and went down to the kitchens to get what she wanted only to return and find her fast asleep, he woke her up only to be told she no longer wanted them.

Sirius had to bite his tongue, she ending up eating a small handful of the fries before falling back asleep while the milkshake went to waste.

But it was pickles and ice cream that she had been craving the most, something Sirius found entirely disgusting.

Octavia gave him a frown, "I wasn't, I was going to say ice cream and pickles."

Lilith let out a laugh before holding out her hands to help the girl up, "come on, let's get you your pickles and ice cream."

Sirius waited until the two girls were gone before he stood up and threw the rock that he had picked up towards the lake in frustration.

"Padfoot she's safe," Remus spoke, hoping to calm him down.

"Yeah she's real safe getting attacked at Hogwarts, I jus-," Sirius snapped before running his hand threw his hair. "I need a fly," he muttered before taking off towards the Quidditch Pitch, leaving Remus there unsure as to where he should go.

Remus stood up and followed Sirius towards the Quidditch Pitch, planning on just keeping an eye on him from the stands to make sure he didn't do anything stupid while he was angry.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Revathi, I always planned on having Lily and Octavia become friends at some point because of the relationship between James and Lily, I just didn't want to do the whole cliché where my OC is best friends with Lily from the start.**


	89. The End of an Era

Chapter 88: The End of an Era

"All gone, can I go now?" Octavia questioned as she placed the empty goblet on the table, looking over at Pomfrey.

The seventh years were currently in the middle of their NEWT exams and because of the stress that came with her exams Octavia was forced to visit Pomfrey daily to keep an eye on her stress levels.

Octavia's stress levels were still borderline high, but they weren't high enough for her to be forced to spend every night in the Hospital Wing having Pomfrey keep an eye on her, they also weren't high enough that the baby was in danger just yet.

"How many exams do you have left Octavia?" Pomfrey questioned and Octavia fell silent as she thought about it, she couldn't believe she actually had to think about which exams she had and hadn't taken yet.

"I have three and they are my top classes, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies and Charms and I remember to come here while they're all taking their Potions practical until you have find out what they are brewing." Octavia pointed out and Pomfrey turned around to grab something behind her.

When the exam schedule was handed out McGonagall told Octavia that she was to spend time in the Hospital Wing while the rest of the seventh years took their Potions practical since no one knew what Potion they were brewing until the beginning of their exam and after the incident a few months back, it was the safer option especially now that she was almost seventh months pregnant.

"The Nutrition Potion you've been taking monthly has to be taken every two weeks this far along," Pomfrey turned back around with another goblet in hand and Octavia scrunched her face up, she hated the taste of the Nutrition Potion, it was on par with the potions she had to take during the Animagus process.

"I think that is what I am looking forward to the most once my pregnancy is done with, no more of these disgusting potions," she complained before swallowing it all.

"Yesterday it was being able to see your feet again, I understand that there is something could pregnancy brain." Pomfrey teased and Octavia frowned before smirking.

"Careful, the year isn't over yet and I haven't graduated, I could still end up spending every day in here along with my friends." Octavia threatened and the elder witch shook her head.

"Both goblets are empty and your levels haven't risen so you are free to go."

"See you tomorrow," Octavia flashed the Healer a smile before climbing off the bed and leaving the Hospital Wing, heading back to Gryffindor Tower where she knew her friends would be studying in the boys' dorm.

"What did Pomfrey say?" Lilith questioned, having noticed Octavia enter the dorm first.

"Fine same as yesterday, oh and I now have to take those disgusting Nutrition Potions every two weeks," Octavia complained before walking over and sitting beside Sirius on the bed. "Where do you keep pulling the sugar quills from?" she questioned, noticing that he had another full box in front of him.

Sirius looked up at her, "hi baby, all good?" he quickly questioned before looking back down as his text book.

"I've never seen him study this hard," Remus pointed out and Octavia quickly agreed.

Normally in previous years it was only Remus, Lilith and Octavia who studied for exams, James and Sirius had studied when they felt like it, still somehow managing to pull the grades they did. While Peter was varied as to what he did, some years he studied and other years he goofed with James and Sirius.

"He wants to do well so he can get into the Auror Program offer," Octavia explained grabbing one of the sugar quills and the Charms textbook sitting on the bedside table, making herself as comfortable as possible.

"You know they're your sugar quills right?" Lilith threw out and Octavia's jaw fell opened as she turned and looked at Sirius. "I brought them down knowing you'll want to study but he took them from me."

Octavia didn't say anything, just reached over and grabbed the box, placing them on the other side of her knowing he wouldn't fight her to get them back.

When Octavia felt someone staring at her, she looked up and found Sirius watching her, she knew he wanted the sugar quills back. "Padfoot wants to study hard so he can be perfect father and help change the world better for his daughter," she spoke with a smirk and he narrowed his eyes, only smiling when she placed the box back in his hand.

"I don't know why you are so embarrassed about that Padfoot, it's actually a valid reason for wanting to do well, to protect my goddaughter," James spoke, reassuring Sirius but Remus let out a cough causing them all to look at him.

The topic of Godparents had been avoided, both Sirius and Octavia refusing to speak of who they had in mind until the baby was born but despite that they all knew without a doubt that Lilith would be Godmother.

"What's the matter Moony, need a drink of water?" James responded.

"Not at all mate, just unsure as to why you are so convinced you will be Godfather. We all know that Lilith will be Godmother, it only makes sense that I am Godfather," Remus added in and they all looked the couple in question.

"Hey don't look at me, it's his choice, I actually picked Worms." Octavia spoke, placing the sugar quill in her mouth.

"We have our Charms exam tomorrow, are we seriously having this conversation tonight? I thought we all agreed the topic of Godparents waited until the summer because I sure as hell hate that I'm picking between my three best mates as to who will look after my child if something happens to Snow and I." Sirius snapped before looking back down at his notes and they all shared a look, mumbling their apologies.

"Pads?" Octavia questioned softly, placing a hand on his arm but he just brushed her off.

"Not now Snow," he responded quietly not even looking up at her.

Octavia fell silent, lowering her gaze to the text book she was holding, silently wiping away the tears as they escaped. She knew the tears were brought on by the pregnancy hormones and knew that Sirius was just focused on his studying.

.oOo.

Octavia walked outside and headed towards the Black Lake, enjoying the emptiness that was the grounds while the other students took their exams. She didn't know where Remus had gone but suspected he was studying for Ancient Runes and Peter was with Dorcas studying for History of Magic while the rest of their friends were taking their written Potions NEWT Exam. It wasn't until after lunch that she had to go and hide out in the Hospital Wing waiting until it was determined what Potion they had to brew.

She walked down and stood on the shore of the Black Lake, knowing better to not take any further steps in without the boys there to watch over her. One day she will learn how to swim and the boys will show her, she will learn how to swim so she can swim with her daughter when she's older.

"O?" she turned her head and spotted Regulus heading her way, she gave him a smile before turning back around and facing the lake again.

"No exam?" he questioned and she nodded in response.

"I'm not taking Potions, I didn't exactly enjoy it and I don't need it for the career I want."

"Would have thought Dragon Tamers would have to know how to brew potions," he remarked and she looked over at him in shock. He shrugged, "I hear things O, there are also only like six seventh years taking the class."

She nodded before looking down at the ground, she was nervous about what was going to happen come her own graduation, unsure as to what was going to happen once she was fully emerged out in the war and when the truth about what she truly was would be revealed, that she was different to everyone else.

And none of that included the daughter she was due to give birth to in a few weeks.

"You know once I leave we won't be able to talk anymore," Octavia pointed out, sneaking a look at the boy beside her, but she quickly noticed he had his mask up.

"If this is you hinting at where I stand on this war, don't bother. I already know Sirius would have gotten in your ear about how I'm apparently a Death Eater."

Octavia frowned before shaking her head, "After all these years you think I listen to what Sirius says about you?"

Regulus shrugged, "he is convinced I'm a Death Eater."

"Along with everyone else in Slytherin and can you blame us? Look at the people in Slytherin and the families they came from, it makes sense that they will end up as Death Eaters, I mean both Alecto and Amycus have followed along with Bellaxtrix."

"You've seen my arm O, there was no mark."

"That was before Christmas break, show it to me now." She challenged him but he didn't move, couldn't even look at her. "That's what I thought Regulus," she responded before turning and walking away.

"O please wait," Regulus called and she timidly looked back at him. "I won't hurt you, I won't ever hurt you."

"Yes now, but what about in a couple of years when we're both out there. I love you Regulus, I see you as family, that won't ever change and don't forget that, I can keep Sirius in line." Octavia spoke softly, hoping that Regulus would understand what she was saying. If he ever changed his mind, she will always help him.

"Goodbye Octavia, it was a pleasure knowing you and calling you a friend." Regulus responded before looking back at the Lake.

Octavia stood there for a moment, a smile appearing on her face when Willa kicked. She stepped back in line with Regulus and grabbed his hand, placing it where Willa was kicking. "You're niece," was all she needed to say as a smile grew on his face.

"How do you know you're having a girl?" Regulus questioned.

"I have a feeling, I have one last NEWT to study for, I will see you around Reg," Octavia spoke softly as she leaned up and softly kissed his cheek.

"Wait O," Regulus called one more time and she looked at him. "Will you and Sirius be fine after your graduation, financially I mean. You have a baby on the way and you were both disowned."

"Thank you for your concern Reg but we will be fine, we have the gold in our vaults, I inherited everything from when my grandmother passed away and it turns out that Sirius inherited everything from your Uncle Alphard."

"Mother will be so pleased with that," Regulus commented and Octavia couldn't help but laugh. "What about somewhere to live though?"

Octavia stepped closer to him and placed a hand on his arm, "your concern means a lot, it truly does Reg but we will be fine. You've chosen your side and we've chosen ours, once I graduate our communication ends until one of us changes our minds."

"Please be safe O and keep Sirius safe," Regulus responded softly, wrapping his arms around Octavia as she nodded.

"Everything alright here?" Sirius' voice broke them apart and Octavia looked over at him, noticing he didn't look too happy.

"Fine, we were just saying goodbye," Octavia spoke, walking over and taking Sirius' hand in hers as the two brothers stared at each other.

With this being the first time the brothers had been in the same vicinity with no Professors around and there being no harsh words or spells directed towards each other, Octavia hoped that maybe they could move past everything because she knew that they truly cared about each other but refused to show each other they cared.

"Seriously, you two are brothers and you have nothing to say to each other?" Octavia questioned harshly.

"No, he made his choice," Sirius spat before turning and pulling Octavia with him away from Regulus.

"You seriously have nothing to say to him? He's your brother Pads, regardless of you telling me otherwise I know how you feel about him." Octavia questioned when they were out of ear shot and Sirius looked over at her.

"I said all I had to say, he made his choice, he is a Death Eater Snow."

"You don't know that."

"And you do?" he questioned and she averted her gaze. "Exactly Snow, we both know what his choice in all this is."

"What if he dies out there? Don't you care at all?" she questioned softly and Sirius pulled on her arm to twist her around, he softly placed a hand on her stomach.

"All I care about now is you, this baby and our friends. He made his choice Snow, he made his choice with no regard to what we thought. His choice proved he is siding with our families, he can't continue being in the middle, even Amycus understands that. When was the last time you spoke with Amycus?" Sirius spoke softly, pointing out everything that Octavia was ignoring, the truth in front of her.

"What if he changes his mind?" she questioned.

Sirius shook his head, "stop saying things in hopes that they turn out to be true, we know what is happening out in the world. We know what happens when people pick their sides, you need to realise that come our graduation he won't speak to us anymore, you need to let this idea go and let him go," he softly stroked her cheek and she nodded. "I know you hoped you could pull him away from the families but it didn't work, he still did as they wished."

He knew it was the end of the conversation when Octavia's mask appeared despite what her eyes were telling him.

"How was your exam?" she questioned, ending the previous conversation.

.oOo.

Octavia threw the book she was reading towards the end of the bed with a huff before looking around the Hospital Wing in annoyance.

Remus lowered his book and looked over at his highly annoyed friend and hid his smile, "what's wrong Snow?"

"You mean aside from being locked in here while our friends take their Potions practical?" she snapped, leaning back on the bed and making herself comfortable.

"Humour me," he responded, making himself comfortable knowing she won't feel better until she is distracted from everything.

"None of these books mention anything about a child or children, not a single one of these books that mention Dreamers ever mention a single one having children, not a single one Moony!" she yelled.

"What's going on out here?" Pomfrey rushed out, having heard Octavia yelling, worried that something was going on.

"She's fine, just frustrated because she doesn't know how she is going to affect her child, because she is different to the rest of us." Remus explained and Pomfrey nodded, giving Octavia a look before disappearing back into her office.

"What if something is wrong with her because of me?" Octavia spoke, her voice breaking.

Remus stood up and made his way over to sit beside her on the bed and he picked her hand up in his, giving it a squeeze. "Why are you so scared about your baby? Is it because you are becoming a mother so young or are you that sure you are going to affect the child?" Remus questioned and watched as so many emotions washed across Octavia's face before her mask appeared as her hands were placed on her stomach.

"I'm different, my magic and magical core are so different to Padfoot's and I fear that it is going to drastically affect her."

"Snow I know you and you will love her regardless, I can only think of three possibilities. One, she will be a normal witch and you haven't affected her at all, two she will be like you and you will be able to help her as she grows up and help her control her magic and three, she will be a squib having no magical properties about her. Will any of those change how you feel?"

"No, I love her so much already."

"Exactly, so stop stressing so much. Pomfrey has already warned you that your stress levels are getting too high, just focus on the right now." He spoke softly, hoping to reassure her and hope that she will relax a little.

Remus knew how much Sirius was worrying about Octavia and her health while she was pregnant but Remus didn't know how much he could do to help both of his friends.

Remus wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, softly kissing the top of her head. "Your stress is worrying everyone, we all care about you Snow, so much but the more stressed you get the higher the chance of something going wrong and none of us want that."

Octavia didn't say anything in response, just grabbed Remus' hand and placed it on her stomach where Willa was kicking.

"As long as she keeps kicking then I know she is healthy," Octavia responded and Remus could tell she was almost asleep.

"Then focus on that," Remus responded and allowed the other girl to get some sleep, knowing how much she was struggling to sleep while this far along in her pregnancy.

Remus was grateful that Pomfrey had taken pity on him when she walked back out of her office with the idea of checking on the two of them, quickly noticing that Octavia had fallen asleep against him and happily handed him his book that he left on his previous seat.

Remus quickly noticed when Sirius entered the Hospital, the rest of their friends following shortly behind.

"Is she alright?" Sirius questioned, quickly noticing the fact that there was still tears resting on her cheeks.

"She's fine Padfoot, she just panicked a little about the baby. She's convinced she's going to do something to the baby because she's different. I managed to calm her down enough to get some rest." Remus explained, giving Lilith a smile when he looked over at her.

"Should I be jealous?" she teased and Remus laughed.

"I swear she either has her head in her textbooks studying for exams or has her head in the bloody books about Dreamers. Where's Wormtail?" Sirius questioned, noticing that Peter wasn't with them like he was before the Potions exam started.

"Him and Dorcas are studying History of Magic since they have that exam tomorrow, speaking of which, Lil, Ancient Runes?" Remus smiled at the face Lilith pulled just at the thought of studying straight after an exam.

"How about after dinner, that Potion we had to brew was a bitch," Lilith complained.

"What was it?" Remus questioned.

"Draught of Living Death, I couldn't even get it right last year when we had to brew it in class."

"She's exaggerating," James cut in with a smirk.

Sirius ignored the continuation of the conversation as he walked around the other side of the bed and sat in the chair, pulling it closer to the bed before placing a hand on Octavia's head.

"I promise you she's fine, just talk to her when she wakes up," Remus reassured Sirius, noticing the action.

Sirius just nodded in response, listening to the conversation that was happening, most of it included what they thought would be in their Charms exam taking place in a couple of days.

.oOo.

"I need you to stay here," Sirius spoke softly, noticing his girlfriend attempting to get out of his bed.

"Are you kidding me?" she responded and he nodded.

The exam period was over a few days ago and most of the students were getting ready for the summer, the younger students were getting the information they needed for over the summer to complete the homework they will be given to complete before the beginning of the next school year while the Seventh years were enjoying their last remaining moments at a place they called home for seven years.

There was only one more day left before the seventh years go through their graduation, which meant that tonight was the perfect moment for the Marauders to put their carefully constructed prank in place, the one that leaves their legacy behind, never forgotten but Sirius wanted Octavia to stay behind.

"Baby you're seven and a half months pregnant, you need to rest. I really don't want you to have to run around the Castle all night. Please stay here and rest, give me a peace of mind. I know you've put a lot of work into this prank but let me and the boys set it all up and tomorrow we can enjoy it together." Sirius explained, cupping her face.

"This isn't fair, we've been working on this prank all year and because you decided to go and get me knocked up I'm not allowed to enjoy it," she grumbled.

"I decided to get you knocked up?" he repeated. "Hold up a damn minute there baby, I sure as hell didn't think to myself, 'hang on, you know what, screw my future and what I want, let's get my girlfriend pregnant instead'." Sirius spoke harshly, regretting his choice of words when Octavia pulled her head away from his hands.

"Glad to know how you really feel about this pregnancy, look at that you can now drop the act. When we return to the Potter's and I will pack my things, Dromeda offered me her guest room at Christmas so maybe it's time I take her up on the offer." Octavia spoke coolly before getting off the bed with the idea of leaving the dorm and sleeping in her own bed for a change.

"Snow…" Sirius called after her, hoping to apologise.

"You have a prank to set up, shouldn't keep you from it." Octavia snapped pulling the door opened and heading down the stairs.

Sirius stopped at the bottom of the girls' staircase knowing things would be worse if he attempted to follow his girlfriend and set the slide off in the process.

He shook his head before turning and leaving the common room, hoping to catch up with the others.

.oOo.

"Are you going to tell me what happened with Padfoot?" Lilith questioned.

It was the following morning and Octavia was standing in the bathroom, getting ready for the day.

When Lilith had woken up she was surprised to find Octavia in her own bed, since she had gotten well used to their dorm only consisting on her and Lily. It was because of this fact that Lilith knew something had happened between Octavia and Sirius.

"Some things were said, do you want me to cast that charm or not? Because we have to head down for breakfast and we both know what they were up to last night," Octavia spoke, completely avoiding the topic Lilith wanted to discuss.

"I still think it was a stupid idea to cast the suits of armour like that," Lilith muttered, letting Octavia cast the charm on her.

Octavia grinned, "Why? I think it's a brilliant idea."

"It's going to end badly and surly Lily will have Prongs' head," Lilith sang but it didn't do anything to falter Octavia's grin.

"Let's see, Prongs is Head Boy, Moony is a Prefect," Octavia tapped her chin like she was thinking, "oh and you are also a Prefect, three people who helped this prank come about. I think we will be fine and no one is going to be hurt, we've made sure of it so Lily won't be mad."

"Come on little miss I think of everything, let's get you down to breakfast so you can have some food, remember the more you eat the less Nutrition Potion you have to take." Lilith couldn't help but laugh at the face Octavia pulled just at the thought of that horrid potion.

"It's going to take way longer than usual as well because we may have to avoid some of the staircases," Octavia pointed out and Lilith nodded, picking up the other girl's bag.

It was now at that point in Octavia's pregnancy where she shouldn't be carrying heavy things, add the weight of her school books to everything else that is in her bag, it makes it hard for her to carry it.

Peter had suggested a feather light charm but it wasn't worth it considering the charm does wear off after some time and no one wanted to risk Octavia carrying it when it worn off and because Octavia shared all her classes with at least one of her friends, she relented and allowed them to carry her bag.

"Yes of course, that stupid charm Prongs thought of to have placed the on the stairs. Come on we really should go."

Octavia nodded and followed Lilith out of the dorm, silent the whole way down the stairs wondering if Sirius would be waiting at the bottom for her. She wanted to apologise, she doesn't know why she said the things she did the previous night, she knew that Sirius cared for her and was excited about the fact that they were having a child. Him studying for his NEWTs as hard as he was, was proof enough of the fact.

The two of them had spoken in depth over the last few weeks about what they were going to do once they were out of Hogwarts in regards to Octavia giving birth and what was going to happen once the baby was born. They had a plan in mind but it required them to talk to the adults still in their lives.

But there was one little key piece of information they were both ignoring, where were they going to live after their graduation because they both knew they couldn't live with the Potter's forever.

Lilith looked over and noticed the look on her best friend's face, Octavia having long ago gave up attempting to keep her mask up while within the safety net that was the Gryffindor common room, her pregnancy hormones wreaking havoc on her emotions. "This is you and Padfoot, everything will be fine."

Octavia got her wish when both girls found their boyfriends standing in the common room waiting for them.

Lilith gave Octavia's arm a quick squeeze before leaving the common room with Remus, leaving Sirius and Octavia alone.

"Morning," Sirius spoke softly, unsure as to what Octavia was thinking.

Octavia shocked Sirius as she stepped closer to him, nuzzling her face against his chest as she breathed in his scent, her inner wolf marvelling in the fact that it was so close to its mate.

"I care baby, so much." Sirius spoke softly, wrapping his arms around her. "I may not have been happy with the idea originally but I am thrilled we are having a child and starting a family, it may not be at the time we wanted but it's still happening. I never knew how much I wanted children until you were pregnant and it set in that I was going to be a father. Regardless of all the times I've said we're having a boy just to annoy you, or how I am terrified about raising a girl, I don't care. Our child is going to be half you and I love you, so much and I know I will love this child just as much." Sirius spoke softly, pressing his lips into her hair when he was finished.

"I shouldn't have said those things, I don't even know where they came from." She mumbled against his chest, pulling away and looking at him, taking a deep breath. "We've spoken about our future and how that is going to affect our child, regardless of us arguing over names and whether or not it's going to be a girl or boy, you are invested in this future together and our child. You are the one that is for once having back-up plan after back-up plan and I appreciate that, you are studying so incredibly hard for your NEWTs in hopes of making our world safe for our child. I appreciate everything you've done for me and our baby."

"They come from fear baby, we graduate tomorrow and you are terrified of what that is going to mean and as usual you are pushing me away. Now let's go downstairs, have breakfast, enjoy the prank that we spent all year planning as well as the last of our time at Hogwarts before tomorrow." Sirius spoke, softly running his thumb along her cheek with a smile.

"I love you," she spoke with a smile.

"I love you too baby," he responded, giving her a kiss.

.oOo.

Octavia and Sirius joined the rest of their friends at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall for lunch, laughing at what they had witnessed in the halls.

The two of them had Muggle Studies while Remus and Lilith had Ancient Runes and the others had a study period. Most of the classes the seventh years had taken a part in was the Professors covering the topics that the students found they struggled with the most when it came to their NEWTs since taking them. Some students weren't too bothered with some subjects while others wanted a career to do with said class.

"You lot missed it," Sirius spoke, the two of them sitting down at the table.

"It's probably the same thing that's been happening all day," said James.

"What I want to know is how Snow is getting around the Castle without using the stairs considering some of them are turning into trampolines," said Peter.

Octavia grinned, "actually, the slide ones are my favourite." She pointed out and the others laughed.

"Well in case anyone is wondering, Snivellus actually got stuck with a few of the suits of armour in that corridor where they are everywhere. They started a paint ball fight with him and he came out of it looking like a giant rainbow, it was hilarious." Sirius explained, attempting to hold in his laughter.

"No one was wondering, hence why no one asked," Remus teased.

"I thought it was hilarious Pads," Octavia spoke, giving him a soft smile.

The Marauders had actually placed charms on all of the suits of armour throughout the Castle, causing them to attack random students as they passed the suits of armour but instead of them being attacked by whatever weapon was in their hand, the weapon shot out balls of paint towards the students unless they can affectively get a spell, any spell, landed on the suit of armour. Some students had worked it out quicker than others judging by the amount of students covered in paint.

The charm that Octavia had placed on Lilith this morning made them invisible to the suits of armour, keeping them safe from being attacked. Instead they had to deal with the rest of the events unfolding within the castle, like the stairs.

The stairs had been charmed to randomly change throughout the course of the day, whether it be a slide or a trampoline like feature, causing the students to bounce their way to the top or bottom.

These combined were also the source for many students being late to classes today.

"Hi," Avianna chirped as she sat down beside the group of seventh years with a bright smile on her face.

Octavia looked over at her younger cousin and noticing the splats of paint covering her and couldn't help but smile, despite her being covered in paint she was clearly in a good mood.

"Hi there, having a good day Anna?" Octavia questioned and Avianna quickly nodded.

"Is it bad that Chloe and I have been ditching classes in attempts of finding suits of armour to start a duel with?" she responded causing the seventh years to start laughing.

"McGonagall will have our heads if she's convinced we're rubbing off on her Snow." Sirius pointed out and Avianna flashed him a smile.

"No, we're good influences," Octavia spoke with a grin and Sirius shook his head.

"Honestly," Remus cut in, having heard the conversation taking place. "The fact that you two think you are good influences really does make me wonder how your child will grow up."

"Ouch, Moony that hurts," Sirius responded in shock and Remus just shook his head.

"I'm not saying you two will be bad parents because you won't be, I don't question that for a second. It will be how you are going to raise the child, they will most likely be troublemakers as well, you know that?"

A frown appeared on Octavia's face, "it's like you don't know us at all, we all know mine and Padfoot's daughter will be incredibly well behaved."

Remus raised an eyebrow at Octavia, whose frown had turned into a smile and it was only seconds before Avianna burst into a fit of giggles.

"Anna, Anna, Anna," Chloe repeated as she came running over and jumping into the seat beside Avianna.

"What is it Chlo?" Avianna questioned helping herself to the food sitting in the middle of the table.

"I just heard from Franklin, who heard from Star, who heard from Roberts, who heard from Princeton, who heard from-" Avianna placed a hand over her best friend's face knowing she could keep going.

"She always like that?" Sirius questioned and Avianna nodded.

"Cut to the chase Chloe, what did you hear?" Avianna spoke, slowly removing her hand from the other girl's face.

"Well apparently someone released nifflers in the Castle," Chloe explained, missing the look that Sirius and Octavia exchanged.

"What's a niffler?" Avianna questioned.

"Nifflers are these tiny creatures that are attracted to shiny things, they make great treasure hunters but can also wreak havoc when locked in confined spaces," Octavia explained and Avianna nodded.

"So like a metal detector?" Everyone stared blankly at Avianna, having no idea what she was on about. "Muggle thing," she waved her hand, now well used to people around not having an idea about some muggle inventions.

"Wonder why we didn't learn about it?" Sirius questioned.

"So where were these nifflers?" Octavia questioned, ignoring Sirius.

"Divination tower, wherever that is," Chloe responded.

"North Tower," Sirius instantly answered and both young girls just stared blankly at him, obviously not knowing the Castle as well as the older students did.

"Miss Cooper, Miss Carrow, I did miss you both in class this morning." McGonagall's voice spoke from behind the first years and Octavia snuck a look at Sirius, they both knew what was about to happen.

"We were practising our duelling techniques against the suits of armour," Chloe spoke, looking up at the Transfiguration Professor.

"Exactly, Professor Weasley also caught us and said we were doing remarkably well against them considering what they were charmed to do." Avianna added in and McGonagall looked at the seventh years sitting around the first years.

"Yes what the suits of armour were charmed to do," she repeated giving them a look.

"It's so cool, does this happen every year?" Chloe questioned with a large smile on her face.

"No, I believe this is a once off. Hopefully over by the days end?" she questioned, giving the seventh years a warning and they all slightly nodded in agreement.

"What about the nifflers, where do they go once the day is over?" Avianna questioned and Sirius slapped a hand against his face.

"Nifflers? There are nifflers running lose within the Castle?" She questioned, snapping her gaze towards the first year.

"Well we better go, you know I have that appointment with Pomfrey and Lily and James have their speeches to write," Octavia spoke slowly as she stood up and back away from the table.

It only took a moment for the rest of the Marauders catch on to what was happening and they all slowly stood up and backed away from the table before McGonagall lost it and yelled at them.

"Hold it right there," McGonagall ordered, noticing what they were all doing.

"Come now Minnie, what they've done is perfectly harmless and just a lot of fun for the students on their last day." Fabien spoke, appearing beside the Transfiguration Professor.

"Even the staircases that have the bouncing charm on them are protected, no one can fall off due to the barrier around the stairs and the nifflers are just causing the students to laugh." Gideon threw in, grinning at the seventh years.

"Fine, fine, off you go." She waved them off before looking at the Prewitt brothers. "At least next year things will be calm again, how I have missed those."

"Yes but for how long Minnie, no one may match up to them but Octavia is pregnant, raising a child with Sirius. Their child will be here soon enough." Fabien spoke, grinning as McGonagall's face fell.

Gideon patted her shoulder before the two of them left the Great Hall.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Ginny702, Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, they all mean so much to me.**

 **Revathi, happy birthday, I'm glad you thought my update was a special birthday surprise and I do hope you had a wonderful birthday.**


	90. The War - Living Situations

Chapter 89: Living Situation

 **July 1978**

"Fleamont seems happy," Octavia stated as she walked over and stood beside Sirius.

The two of them were currently standing in the doorway to the kitchen where Fleamont, James and Lily were sitting at the small table in there.

"Pongs mentioned a couple of times that he believed Fleamont wasn't coping as well with us all at Hogwarts, the house was far too empty."

"I can't imagine how that feels, losing the love of your life and then the children that have been keeping you busy for a couple of months disappear for months on end, leaving you alone."

Sirius looked over at Octavia, he could practically see the gears working in her head and what she was thinking.

"We will get through this war, we will get out of it alive. I won't leave you alone in this situation, I won't leave you alone to raise our baby." Sirius placed a hand on her stomach, softly rubbing it.

"I need this war to be over with, I'm terrified for the next Blue Moon, I'm terrified for what is going to happen now we are out of Hogwarts and away from the safety of it, our friends and the ones we are going to lose. I just-"

"Sh baby, I know," Sirius softly kissed her temple cutting her off and earning a smile from her.

"I'm going to see if Amycus has responded yet," Octavia pulled away from him and headed towards the stairs.

"You only sent him a message this morning," Sirius called out after but she didn't turn around.

It had been a couple of months since Octavia had heard from Amycus and she didn't realise how much time had passed since last communication between them and she was worried. She tried to tell herself that he would surely be fine considering she was meant to get Leighton if anything happened to her brother, surely Ted would be notified and in turn notify her?

She pulled opened her trunk and found it empty, she completely forgot she had asked Sirius to unpack her trunk for her because she couldn't do it, she couldn't bend over her trunk while she was this far along.

She knew that Sirius knew which pieces of parchment were connected with other people and he wouldn't have thrown them out, especially the one connected with Amycus because it would just worry her even more.

It was then Octavia spotted them resting on the top of her desk, she walked over and took a seat.

 _There is a letter waiting for you at Gringotts, I was told it would be delivered to the right Goblin, the one in charge of your own vault._

 _I'm fine, Alecto is fine as well. Stay safe now that you have graduated._

A smile appeared on her face at the news that Amycus and Alecto were both fine, but what confused her was that he said there was a letter waiting for her at Gringotts.

Octavia turned when she smelt Sirius enter her room and she turned around to find him standing in the doorway.

"He's fine but there's something at Gringotts for me," she explained and he nodded.

"Well we do have to go to Diagon Alley anyway considering we have _nothing_ needed for a baby, for a baby that is due in a few weeks." Sirius spoke, happy to see a smile on her face.

"I can't imagine what he's left for me at Gringotts though, it seems rather bizarre don't you think?" Octavia questioned. "Can we go now? Give Fleamont, Prongs and Lily the time they want alone?"

"Whatever you want baby, are you going to be alright travelling by Floo?"

"I will be fine Pads, no one has warned me away from travelling by Floo just Apparition and I have done that."

"I know baby, you've been very good with your pregnancy, you haven't Apparated, you've eaten all the right foods, taken all your Potions and you haven't transformed since I asked you to stop."

"I think that's been the hardest of all, not transforming into my wolf, it's so hard to explain but my body is like a constant bubble of energy at moments and the wolf just wants to take over."

"Come on, how about we go inform them that we are going to Gringotts and then we can go." Sirius spoke, holding out his hand and Octavia nodded, standing up and walking over to him, grabbing his out stretched hand.

.oOo.

"It was requested that you read this first," Goknog spoke, handing over a letter for Octavia to read.

Her and Sirius were currently sitting in one of the side rooms at Gringotts, having been requested to wait in there for Goknog to arrive, he was the goblin in charge of both of their vaults.

"You can't tell me anything else?" she questioned, only to receive the in response was a shake of his head.

Octavia took a deep breath before breaking the seal on the envelope and pulling out a letter for her to read.

 _My baby sister,_

 _I have purchased a house buried within a Muggle community that I hope you and Sirius will be happy living within._

 _Please take this house as a gift, a baby a gift, a graduation gift, a gift to get you away from our world and somewhere safe where no one will know where you are._

 _I've known about the pregnancy for a while now, since the rumours start circling at Hogwarts most likely and word was sent home from the Slytherin students._

 _At first when I was told I was furious, furious for so many reasons but mainly because you and Sirius could have potentially ruined your futures with your mistake but then I remembered who you and Sirius are. You are both incredibly brave and are fighters, it's probably why you were placed in Gryffindor in the first place._

 _I was furious because I had to hear about the pregnancy from someone else but then I realised how hard it would have been for you to finish your education at Hogwarts without having to inform your older brother that you are pregnant._

 _But I know you, both you and Sirius and I honestly believe you two will be the perfect parents. You both have enough childish behaviours in you to make it fun and interesting for your future child but you also know when you have to be serious and buckle down._

 _I've done many precautions with this house, buying it through the Goblins knowing they will keep it a secret and purchasing it through a Muggle realtor. No one knows I own this house, no one knows I am in turn turning ownership over to you._

 _You can decide if you can trust me enough to live here now that you and Sirius have graduated, live here as a family with your baby once they are born._

 _I can only promise you I won't tell anyone where you are located but the rest is up to you, but remember this, I have gone this long without no one else knowing we are in contact._

 _This house is fully furnished except one room, the room that will be perfect for your child. How you wish to decorate it is up to you._

 _The only piece of furniture in there is a rocking chair._

 _When Celeste was pregnant with Leighton it was the only thing she wanted that wasn't a necessity for a baby, without Celeste I thought I would struggle raising Leighton on my own but that rocking chair has proven to be a miracle from Merlin himself and I hope it can be the same for you._

 _Enclosed is a photo of my son, your nephew who has your marvellous bright blue eyes._

 _Remember why I'm doing this,_

 _I love you always O._

 _Am._

Octavia looked up at Sirius, before looking at Goknog. "A house?" she stuttered.

Goknog nodded before pulling out the rest of the parchment and a set of keys, placing them on a desk in front of the couple.

"What do you mean a house?" Sirius questioned, picking up the parchment on the desk and looking through it. "Wait Amycus brought us a house?" he questioned, looking down at Octavia.

"That what he says, says it's in a Muggle community and he promises not to tell anyone where we are living if we choose to live in that house. I know we both have other properties under our name because of inheritances but we can't live in those, our families know where they are but this, if you can trust Amycus then we can live here and raise our little girl together." Octavia explained.

"We will talk about this another time, was there anything else?" Sirius questioned.

Octavia stayed silent, sitting there worried as Goknog shifted through some more parchment in silence looking for something.

"Yes, Mr Carrow requested that some gold be transferred from his vault to your own Miss Carrow." Goknog spoke and Octavia nodded. "That was all I was instructed to give you or tell you, if you don't need anything else from me."

"Of course, we will let you get back to work Goknog, thank you again for your assistance." Octavia gave the goblin a smile, he returned with a small bow before leaving the room.

Sirius walked over and softly kissed the top of her head, pulling the letter from her hands. "What do you think of this letter from Amycus?"

"I trust him, but do you?" she looked up at him, hoping to read something on his face but he wouldn't budge.

"Baby, I know you want to trust him but he is a Death Eater, we haven't seen him since the summer after we left. It's not our safety we are putting at risk anymore, it's our baby, the little girl you are so dead set on having."

"He knows I'm pregnant, at least read the letter. He had nothing but kind words and well wishes for our future together, he's giving us the house so we can be together as a family, so we can safe." Octavia spoke, hoping to plead with him. "I trust my brother Pads."

Sirius didn't say anything in response, just looked at the letter, reading what Amycus had written to her.

"How about we go check out the house and we can make a decision after seeing it? Hopefully it isn't too far out of London and we can catch a taxi out there, I will go and get some gold converted to muggle currency. How about you go to Madam Milkins and have a look at what they have for babies and I will meet you there okay?"

.oOo.

Sirius threw some money at the taxi driver telling him to wait if he wanted more before following Octavia out of the car and stood beside her, an arm coming around her waist.

"What do you think baby?" he questioned softly, pressing his lips against her temple.

"It's beautiful, honestly Amycus did well." Octavia spoke as she looked at the house in front of them.

Octavia thought it was stunning with the red brick and large windows in the front, but what did it was the semi-large front yard with a porch at the front of the house. She could already picture her and Sirius sitting there in a swing, watching as Willa played in the front yard, most likely with other children in the street, possibly younger siblings to the ones she saw riding bikes on the way in.

She followed Sirius as he pulled away and headed towards the front door, unlocking it and allowing them in. She was making mental notes along the way of how hard or easy it would be to modify the house with magic to make it safer for them, allow them to hide easier. With Muggle neighbours, which was the quickest way out that didn't notify them to the magic they had, the magic that came with Apparating.

She allowed Sirius to lead her through the house, both of them checking out the furniture that Amycus had placed in for them, listening to Sirius' comments about some of the colours being too dark for his liking, reminding him too much of his childhood home. She didn't voice her opinions but she did agree with him, they both grew up in homes that consisted of dark colour schemes but since living with the Potters they had grown fond of the lighter colour scheme that was within their house.

"Wait," Octavia spoke softly when her and Sirius were standing outside the last room to be checked in the second floor. She assumed it was going to be the baby's room and she was unsure as to what to expect.

Sirius smirked at her before opening the door.

"I said wait Pads," Octavia mutter as she walked over and poked her head in, looking at the bare room except for the rocking chair sitting in the corner.

"I know you baby, you would have spent minutes deciding as to if you wanted to see this room, unsure as to if Amycus didn't decorate it like the rest of the house but it's empty, like he said. I've made my comments about the house and have no idea what you think but we're magical baby, we can change anything with the wave of our wands."

Octavia nodded as she walked over and took a seat in the rocking chair, "I can see why this calms Leighton, it's so relaxing." Octavia closed her eyes and placed her hands on her stomach, hoping she can calm down the highly active baby in her stomach. "I'm glad the master bedroom is next door, I want a door put between the two rooms."

"So the office downstairs has windows only facing the back yard and due to the high fences the neighbours can't spy into that particular room, if needed we can use that as our Apparition point. I'm pretty sure we can put simple wards around the room, letting us known when people arrive or use it as a locking system to prevent people from randomly entering the house. We can also lock my bike in the garage, preventing it from being stolen a random Muggle burglar noticing it can fly."

Octavia opened her eyes and looked over at her boyfriend leaning against one of the walls, "you think it's possible, that we could actually live here?" she questioned and he nodded.

"I believe so but I also want Fabien and Gideon to come out and help with the wards, I know you've been practising but they've been dealing with them a lot longer than you. But promise me something baby, the earliest sign that Amycus has betrayed us we leave and never come back, you stop communicating with him through that parchment and ignore anything that comes from via owl." He responded.

"Deal, how about we head back to the Potter's, Dromeda is meant to be visiting tonight and check up on me as well as catch up."

"That involves you getting up Snow," he teased, a smirking resting on his face and Octavia smiled.

She held her hands up, "help?" she questioned softly, he nodded before walking over and helping her stand up.

.oOo.

"So everything seems to be fine O," Andromeda spoke, giving the young couple a smile and she could see the relief on their faces. She had been informed of Octavia's high stress levels but so far they had been borderline and hadn't start to begin affecting her pregnancy just yet.

"My stress levels?" she questioned softly.

"Still high but they aren't causing damage to your pregnancy or baby yet, don't worry so much. I can monitor you every few days if you wish," Andromeda spoke calmly hoping to reassure the younger witch.

Octavia nodded, laying back down on the couch, looking up at where Sirius standing behind the couch.

"Now we need to have a discussion of what is going to happen once you go into labour O."

"What is there to discuss?" Sirius questioned, unsure as to where Andromeda was going with this, he thought they had it all worked out.

"I know for obvious reasons as to why you don't want to give birth at St Mungo's but I must stress the importance of trusting me if something goes wrong. I may have more expertise than Poppy when it comes to pregnant witches due to my placing in St Mungo's but I don't normally work with them."

Octavia looked at Sirius before looking at Andromeda, fear filling her. "What are you trying to say Dromeda?"

"You're different, magically different and I do not know how that will affect you or the baby once you go into labour. I will be here at a moment's notice when I hear word that you are in labour but I need you to spend the next few weeks here, the house is on the Floo network and if something goes wrong I can Floo St Mungo's and get someone I trust out here to help." Andromeda explained, knowing it made the situation worse as Octavia quickly sat up on the couch.

"You think something can go wrong?" she questioned, her voice breaking causing Sirius to place a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm telling you I don't know what could happen, I'm preparing for the worst case scenario O. I know you're convinced you having this little girl you've seen but you can't know for sure this is that exact moment, I'm not trying to scare you, just try and prepare you for what could go wrong. Remember the fact that you are pregnant, to another Pureblood from a heavily inbred family just like yours is a miracle in itself."

"I can't lose her," Octavia choked out and Andromeda leaned forward and hugged the younger girl.

"We will do everything we can to make sure nothing goes wrong but now, I need both of you stay here where there is an active Floo," Andromeda spoke softly, looking up at Sirius and he nodded in response.

"Mummy!" Nymphadora called out as she came running into the room.

Octavia quickly pulled away and wiped away her tears, not wanting to worry the young girl who had a rather large smile on her face.

"Did you have fun with James?" Andromeda questioned as Nymphadora climbed her way onto the couch between the two of them.

"I did, he took me flying." Nymphadora spoke and Andromeda's eyes instantly shot to James as he entered the room.

James quickly held his hands up in defence, he had missed what Nymphadora said but the look on Andromeda's face said it all.

"You took her flying?"

"He did, mum it was so cool," Nymphadora chirped, the massive grin still firmly planted on her face.

"We didn't go far off the ground and I had a firm grip on her, I did no fancy tricks, nothing to put her at risk. I promise," James spoke, hoping to reassure Andromeda.

Nymphadora reached over and grabbed Andromeda's arm, pulling on it. "I wanted him to go higher and faster but he wouldn't," she pouted at her mother and the others laughed.

"Very well, you're lucky this time James," Andromeda warned.

"Don't worry so much Dromeda, James is trying to prove he can be responsible, show that he deserves to be Godfather but yet someone hasn't made their mind up yet," Octavia explained, watching as a grin appeared on James' face.

"Godparents aren't the people who are the most responsible, hell if that was the case I seriously wonder how you two will do as parents." Andromeda teased, "Godparents are the people you trust the most to look after your children if something happens to you, it is the most horrible feeling in the world to even consider you dying before your children but it needs to be done. Don't place the responsibility on the most reliable, place it on the people you trust the most." Andromeda explained Sirius and Octavia both nodded, sharing a look.

It was at that point that Fleamont entered the room, "Dumbledore has come and graced us with his presence, requested to see you all in the dining room. Also requesting Remus, Lilith and Peter to join us."

"I have to head home anyway, let me know the moment anything feels different," Andromeda leaned over and kissed Octavia's cheek before grabbing Nymphadora's hand and leading her towards the back doors to head outside to Apparate the two of them home.

"I'll go round up the others," James spoke before heading outside and disappearing as well.

"I need to go lay down," Octavia spoke softly, pushing herself up and off the couch.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned as Fleamont left the room, leaving them alone.

"I'm fine it's been a long day and I need to get some sleep, give my apologies to Dumbledore and tell me what he wanted later?" Octavia walked over and gave him a quick kiss before heading upstairs to her room.

She had a feeling as to why Dumbledore was here and requesting to speak to them all, she had a feeling it was due to the Order of the Phoenix.

Octavia wanted to be able to help, to help take down Voldemort and his Death Eaters so badly but there wasn't anything she can do now that she was pregnant, she doesn't even know how much she can once she has given birth as she doesn't know when she will be able to leave Willa alone.

She curled up in her bed with the idea of getting some sleep, knowing that Sirius will come join her once Dumbledore had left.

.oOo.

Octavia rolled over, breathing in Sirius' scent and when she opened her eyes she could tell by the look on his face what he wasn't happy.

"What's wrong Pads?" she questioned softly and he looked down at her.

"Order of the Phoenix huh," he stated.

"You're mad," she stated.

"You signed up to actively fight against him and his followers and didn't tell me, of course I'm mad, what did you expect was going to happen?"

"I haven't done anything, it was during Christmas Break when he was out and Dumbledore said I wouldn't be doing anything until my duelling was up to scratch from working with Fabien and Gideon and then I found out I was pregnant, not a lot I can do now is there?"

Sirius took a deep breath before shifting himself and laying down beside her, a hand automatically going to her stomach. "I just don't understand why you didn't tell me," he spoke, sounding much calmer than he previously was.

"Because I know you Pads, the moment I told you would have gone storming to Dumbledore's office demanding to join up as well. You would have done something while out there, Dromeda made me promise that I graduated for our baby and I wanted you to do the same. I knew if you knew that you could be out earlier, fighting against them you would have done it. I'm thinking of our future, the one once the war is over, tell me if you didn't graduate what would you have done for work once the war was over?" Octavia questioned.

At first Sirius didn't respond, just moved his body closer to hers, softly kissing her neck hoping to calm down a bit more.

"Okay fine, I'm still not happy though," Sirius muttered, making himself comfortable against her, just causing her to laugh.

"I'm not interrupting am I?" Lilith spoke from the doorway.

"Yes," Sirius spoke, earning an elbow into the side from Octavia.

"No, you're welcome to come join me. I'm pretty sure Pads has other plans," Octavia mentioned.

"The others are out playing Quidditch," Lilith suggested and Sirius nodded, sitting up on the bed.

"You don't seem like you're mad at her."

"You mean for not telling you about the Order? I already knew," Lilith shrugged, walking over and sitting on the end of the bed waiting for Sirius to leave.

Octavia knew the look Sirius gave her as he left the room, but she let it go and knew he would talk about it later.

"You knew huh?" Octavia questioned once Sirius was gone and Lilith shrugged.

"Worked it out, might not have known it was the Order of the Phoenix that Dumbledore's calling it. You get attacked at Christmas break and when we return to Hogwarts you are no longer talking about going off and working with Magical Creatures, you're focusing more of your duelling skills. Even Gary mentioned how he was the only one that put in an application to go and work in the Dragon Reserve in Romania, something you've always dreamed off." Lilith explained.

Octavia's brow furrowed in confused, she didn't know how Lilith had spoken to Gary but then she remembered he took Ancient Runes.

"I'm pregnant, not exactly the best place for me and a baby once I give birth." Octavia pointed out.

"Honestly, you being in Romania will be incredibly safe for you and your baby, he and his followers aren't over there. At the moment they're just terrorizing Britain."

Octavia took a deep breath, "fine so you worked it out, but it's not like I did anything anyway."

"I know, what happened with Dromeda? Prongs said you were fine after going to Gringotts but Dromeda must have said something."

"She wants me to prepare for the worst case scenario come my labour, she's unsure how being a Dreamer will affect it, she wants me to stay here because of the Floo network so if something does go wrong people from St Mungo's can instantly come out here. I understand things can go wrong during labour but it's the way Dromeda was wording it that made seem like if anything goes wrong it'll be my fault." Octavia's eyes welled up and Lilith moved down the bed to sit beside her.

"You don't know that, I think Dromeda is just worried about what could happen. You're different, something none of us have been around. She's not saying you will cause something to go wrong, she's just unsure as to how different your labour will be because of your magic. You stressing about this is the last thing you need."

Octavia nodded, grabbing Lilith's hands and she looked at her best friend. "Promise me Lil, promise me that if something happens and I don't make it that you will help Padfoot, that you make sure he raises our daughter because I know him, I know if he pushes her aside because he lost me he will regret it later. Please make sure that doesn't happen," Octavia pleaded with her.

"Snow, this is insane."

"Please…"

"You asked me to be Godmother, if that includes making sure Padfoot stays sober to raise your baby then I will but this is you we are talking about, you are tough and a fighter. Nothing will happen and you will be there to raise her."

Octavia nodded as the tears escape and Lilith did the only thing she could, she hugged her best friend.

"You'll be fine, we will all be fine," Lilith reassured her softly.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **As you can see at the start of this chapter I had the month and year stated, I will be continuing this throughout the next however many chapters it takes to cover the rest of the war to give you some idea as to where they are in time as I won't cover all specific dates to help you along the way like Christmas, Easter and birthdays.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, it means so much to me.**

 **Revathi, you're welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed the prank. I did struggle through their time at Hogwarts coming up with prank ideas so I left most of them for the end, wanting them to go out with a bang.**


	91. Trust Funds

Chapter 90: Trust Funds

 **July 1978**

"You wanted to see me father?" Regulus spoke when he entered Orion's office, he didn't know what his father could want of him, he has done everything his parents have asked of him.

"Have you managed to fix your relationship with Octavia yet son?" Except that Regulus said to himself.

"No father, Sirius has her managed to pull her away from us. Any time I try and talk with her he pulls her away from me, she no longer wants to associate with us and I'm afraid that now she has graduated we have lost all hope." Regulus lied, knowing that the truth would just keep his parents focused on a relationship that will never happen.

Regulus could see how happy Octavia was with Sirius and he didn't want to be the reason for her unhappiness, he thought that maybe he did love her like his brother did it wasn't until he met Bridgette that he realised that maybe he loved her like a sister, that he was just protective over her. He was jealous because Octavia followed Sirius, without giving him another thought.

"Such a shame, we really needed that heir."

"Why is that father? Why can't it be an heir to a different family?" Regulus questioned and his father was silent for a moment.

"It's become too hard having two CEO's of the company, Keyon and I decided it would be better if the company was left to the one heir. It's why we were all so invested on the marriage between you and Octavia, even if she ended up on the other side of this war because we knew that the Dark Lord would succeed and none of it would matter anyway, a blood traitor could have pardon if they produced an heir." Regulus took in this information, they didn't care about Octavia they just wanted the child, they were so sure that Voldemort would succeed that they didn't care which side she was on because her marriage to Regulus would protect her.

Regulus knew he couldn't keep it a secret anymore, especially if somehow it would repair the relationship between the family and Sirius and in extension Octavia. They needed to know she was pregnant.

"Well father it may not have come about the way you and Keyon wished but you will be getting that heir, Octavia is pregnant."

"Good job my son, although I do wish you had waited until both of you graduated."

"No father I'm not the father, Sirius is the father, or so the rumours at Hogwarts say."

"Is it the rumours that state she is pregnant or you heard it from her?" Orion questioned, lingering his gaze on Regulus making him slightly uncomfortable.

"Neither, it's either that or she got fat." If Regulus denied that he had heard it from her, then just maybe she wouldn't hate him as much for throwing them both under the bus.

"I see, thank you for this information I shall pass it on to Keyon and Ophelia, they will be pleased to hear about their future grandchild, one who is going to a Pureblood and belong to such two sacred and prestige families." Regulus nodded before turning and leaving the office.

Regulus was unsure of how the families would go taking this information knowing that the heir to both the Blacks and the Carrows was on the wrong side of the war.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the kitchen to find Sirius staring at an owl while Peter sat at the table watching him with curiosity.

"What's with the owl?" She questioned and they both turned their gaze to look at her.

Sirius had a scowl on his face before he rushed over to help her towards the table and sit down, all Octavia did was glare at him in response.

"I'm 8 months pregnant, not a child." Octavia complained and Peter laughed.

"The owl is from Gringotts." Peter responded while Sirius was fussing over Octavia.

"Why are we receiving letters from Gringotts?"

"It's not we, it's you." Sirius responded before finally grabbing the letter from the owl and watching it fly away before handing her the letter.

"But still, why would we receive letters? We haven't received letters from Gringotts since our trusts were cut off, we were lucky that our families couldn't pull whatever gold we have left in our vaults."

"Who knows, open it Snow." Sirius spoke softly before kissing her temple.

Octavia looked at him before opening the letter with shaky hands, this letter worried her, she didn't know what else her family could do and there was a part of her hoping her family didn't know about her pregnancy.

But there were too many within Slytherin that would have passed the information along to their own parents and in turn the information would reach her own parents.

 _Miss O. Carrow._

 _We are writing to inform you that the following family trusts have been reinstated._

\- _Carrow_

 _We are also writing to inform you of the following family trusts set up for your unborn child._

\- _Carrow_

\- _Black_

 _Please come and visit our London Branch once the child is born so we can finalize the details of the unborn child's vault._

 _Wagnok_

 _Gringotts._

Sirius sat there and watched as Octavia's gaze switched between him and the letter, moments later she placed the letter on the table and placed her hands on her swollen stomach.

"Snow?" He spoke softly and she looked up at him.

"They know, our families know. I've had my trust reinstated, and they've set up the trusts for her."

Sirius could see the fear in her eyes, he looked over at Peter. Peter nodded before getting up and leaving the two of them alone. Octavia's hormones were getting the best of her and she was hating the idea of her friends seeing her weak, they had learnt early on it was better to leave her alone with Sirius when she had moments like these.

"They won't get her Snow, we will be able to protect Willa. All of us, including Moony, Prongs, Worms and Lilith will protect Willa. I'm pretty sure even Lily will help protect her."

"But they know about her."

"I know but we will be protect her, she will be safe with us. Don't you think if our parents' wanted her, they would have contacted you? All they did was go to Gringotts." Sirius explained calmly and she slowly nodded.

"I'm going to go have a shower, Anna is meant to be coming over today."

"You sure that's still best?" Sirius questioned.

Octavia just glared at him before she stood up and left the room, slowly heading upstairs to her room to shower before Avianna turned up.

"Baby, I'm sorry." Sirius apologised as he entered the bathroom, not hearing a response he walked over and pulled the door to the shower open to look at her. "What's wrong?" he quickly questioned, noticing her hand on her stomach and a pained look on her face.

"Her kicks are just incredibly strong at the moment, quite painful."

Sirius didn't believe her, he stepped towards her and placed a hand on her cheek, not caring that he was getting wet from the water. "Are you sure baby? You've never reacted like this to her kicks before."

"I'm sure Pads, they're just really strong and I didn't get much sleep last night, she's constantly moving and not resting herself." Octavia hoped to reassure him, knowing it wasn't working by the look on his face but he didn't say anything else as he stripped his clothes and properly joined her in the shower.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the library and found Avianna laying the floor surrounding by a pile of books, she couldn't help but smile at the sight.

The closer she got to her due date, the more she considered how Willa would be, would she be eager to study like Avianna, love Quidditch like herself and the rest of their friends, be as mischievous as her and Sirius, be as brave as Sirius? The list went on and on.

"One would think you would be suited for Ravenclaw being that eager to study," Octavia commented as she walked over and sat on the couch near the younger girl.

"The hat did make a comment about Ravenclaw but decided on Gryffindor in the end, James gave me these though when he lead me into here. He said I may find them useful," Avianna held a book up for Octavia.

Octavia grabbed the book and took notice of it, it was the same one she regularly forced to read growing up, the same one that the Sacred Families made all the children read as they grew up, the same etiquette book.

"These are the family books that James was never forced to read growing up and I do recall promising you that come the summer I will help you learn about your family. Where do you want to start?" Octavia gave the younger girl a smile as she sat up and sat next to her on the couch.

"My family, my parents and my sister. I know you said they are dead but surely you know something, have a photo of them, _anything_." Avianna questioned softly, lowering her gaze towards the floor.

Octavia let out a sigh, she was so unsure as to if she really wanted to tell the sweet innocent and young girl that all three of her family members killed themselves, that they didn't want to live anymore, that their own parents couldn't bear the thought of raising her because of her dead older sister. It didn't matter if Avianna suspected that they killed themselves, Octavia had never once confirmed it just so far been successful in changing the topic.

"What happened O?" Avianna questioned once more, looking up at her cousin, shocked at seeing pain and sorrow in her eyes. "Please," Avianna pleaded.

"Etiquette training is something that is required amongst the families I grew up with, some Sacred Families like Lilith's aren't as strict with the training like ours are. Before we start at Hogwarts we spend two days a week between the ages of 7 and 11 learning various things, whether it be how to act in public, how we should dress, how we talk, a number of things. It's the parents' choice as to if their daughter attends the summer before their fifth year." Octavia started, falling silent for a moment trying to push back her own memories of that summer.

"Bexley attended, didn't she?"

Octavia nodded, "she did, I attended as well but mind you it was the summer before my fourth year. The things they do are horrible and I will never wish that on anyone. We are told that your parents stood there and watched as Bexley got on the Hogwarts Express but no one noticed as she got off the train and headed into London instead. Bexley ended up committing suicide, I believe it's because of the way the conduct things at the etiquette school but I was lucky, I had Sirius watching out for me."

Avianna's eyes welled up as she took in what Octavia said, "my parents committed suicide as well didn't they?"

"I remember being told that Bexley had died, wasn't told how or why, just that she died. I saw Maxton and Cora once or twice over the next few months but they slowly stopped visiting. I was told it was two years, two years they tried to live with their grief but they couldn't."

"They couldn't even live for me, they just put me up for adoption," Avianna's voice broke, Octavia shifted her position, putting an arm around her.

"I honestly believe they were doing what they thought was best for you, they gave you the chance to have a happy childhood, somewhere where you felt loved and cherished. Two Pureblood parents who were raised to believe that we were better than Muggles, that we had more power and were privileged but they put their second daughter up for adoption with Muggles. They wanted you to grow up away from the world that they became to hate, that took their first daughter away from them." Octavia spoke, hoping to make Avianna feel better.

"Is that why you left?"

"Yes and no, I don't have the same views as my parents, I took Muggle Studies for one. I didn't even leave, I was taken from my home."

Avianna looked at Octavia, blinking away her tears, confused by what was just said. "You've always said you left."

"I know, I just tell everyone I left, I don't want to tell them that Sirius and James risked their lives sneaking into my house and abducting me from my bed in the middle of the night for my own safety, to keep me safe from my parents."

"Your parents hurt you?"

Octavia nodded, "I believe your parents put you up for adoption within the Muggle world with hopes that my parents didn't find out about you, that you wouldn't have to be raised in the same situation. My parents abused me from when I was young and to begin with I never thought any different because everyone was punished the same, to keep us in line we were told, but I knew it was different when Sirius' parents stopped and mine didn't. I tried so hard to behave like they wanted but it was never good enough for them."

"How old?"

"I was fifteen when I left, before you ask Sirius was set to inherit everything from his parents the moment he turned 17, we were trying to last that long, we were trying to make it to when he turned 17 so we could take everything."

"That's why you and Sirius never did anything to dispel the rumours about the baby maybe being someone else's?"

"Correct, that and we both knew it was his, we've never questioned our loyalty towards each other. Now you were asking for photos, I don't have any but what I do remember of Bexley was that she had blonde hair just like yours," Octavia reached out and tucked a lock of Avianna's hair behind her ear.

"What about Bexley's eyes, were they same as ours?"

"No, no one in the family had the same eyes as us, we're special and different." Octavia had a smile on her face, watching as Avianna climbed off the couch and began searching through the books looking for something in particular.

It was then Octavia felt it, the pain in her stomach that was worse than she felt earlier in the shower.

"O what's wrong?" Avianna questioned noticing Octavia in pain and pressing her hands against her stomach.

"Get Sirius," Octavia gritted through her teeth before Avianna ran from the room.

Octavia couldn't be in labour, she still had another month left of her pregnancy, something had to be wrong she just knew it.

Sirius entered the library and found Octavia sitting on the couch awkwardly and he could tell she was in pain, he just wished she had admitted it earlier, they could have gotten Andromeda to check her out.

"Anna I need you to get James to contact Dromeda, tell her something's wrong," Sirius ordered before walking over to where Octavia was.

"What's going on?" Avianna quickly questioned.

"Just do it Anna, James will understand," Sirius snapped before knelling in front of Octavia.

They had set up a piece of parchment that was linked with one that Andromeda had, they found it was the easiest and quickest way to get in contact with her when Octavia finally went into labour because there wasn't a Floo set up at the Tonks' residence.

"Baby, what's wrong?" He spoke, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I think I'm in labour but it's too early, I still have a month left."

"You should have told me earlier that something was different, you shouldn't have passed it off and we could have gotten Dromeda out earlier to make sure everything was fine." Sirius spoke softly.

"It's too early Pads," Octavia complained, fear sitting in as she worried for the health of her baby.

"You don't know that, maybe she's ready to come out, you are different and your pregnancy is different, maybe you won't go full term with her."

"I was curious myself as to how long O's pregnancy will last," Andromeda's voice rang out as she entered the room and Sirius turned to look at her.

"Could it be anything else, if not labour?" Sirius questioned.

"Has your water even broken yet O?" Andromeda quickly responded, having seen the look on Octavia's face and knowing the younger girl was in fear of what was happening.

"We had a shower earlier, when I first noticed she was in pain but she just claimed the baby was kicking really hard." Sirius responded, knowing that Octavia wasn't able too, having been to focused on what was happening to her body.

"Alright, it does seem like she could be in labour, some women don't always notice that their water has broken in the shower. I will have a look and then we will go from there, Sirius you may want to go deal with the anxious girl out in the hall."

Sirius nodded at Dromeda before softly kissing Octavia's forehead, "I'll be just a minute baby." He stood up and left the room.

"O I need you to lay down so I can check you out, I know it's uncomfortable and it hurts but I need you too," Andromeda spoke as she walked over.

"It's too early, I can't be in labour," Octavia spoke again.

"There is never such thing as too early when it comes to magical pregnancies, especially if one of the parents is extra special. Mermaid pregnancies aren't 9 months and when you get half mermaid half human babies. Your pregnancy could be similar, your baby could also want to come out now, and you've been healthy so far, with exception of your high stress levels. O, you've done everything you have had to do when it comes to your pregnancy, you stopped playing Quidditch and have been taking all your required Potions." Andromeda spoke as she waved her wand around, performing the diagnostic spells required to check on the health of the baby and Octavia.

"I wanted to be the best mother possible, I'm terrified of screwing this up, what if I can't be a good mother to her," Octavia spoke, her pain disappearing for the time being.

"Nonsense, I've watched both you and Sirius grow up, I know you both and I believe you will both be amazing parents. You grew up knowing what it's like to have cold distant parents and you both hated that, you will both do what you can to give your child the childhood you always wanted. You are in labour and your baby is coming."

"Wait, she's coming now?" Sirius' voice was heard and they both turned and looked at him.

Andromeda nodded, "yes it does seem to be that way, now I will transfigure this couch into a bed so it is easier and we don't have to move O." Andromeda quickly waved her wand and the couch turned into a bed and Octavia made herself comfortable as Sirius walked over and climbed on beside her.

Octavia took a deep breath, leaning back and placing her arms over her face, "this is going to suck without a Pain Potion isn't it?" she questioned.

"I'm afraid so, even if you weren't allergic to them I would be wary of giving you one because you are different, Mermaids can't have Pain Potions when they are in labour."

"Baby you're used to dealing with pain without the Potions, this will be fine as well," Sirius kissed her temple, softly shaking his head when she glared at him.

"How about you push this baby out then," she snapped.

"Alright O you just need to take this Potion to help get your body ready quicker for you to start pushing and then we will start," Andromeda handed over a Potion and Octavia took it, quickly emptying the vial.

.oOo.

It felt like forever to Octavia that she was pushing to try and get her baby girl out, she was exhausted and incredibly relived by the sound of her baby screaming when she was finally out in the world.

"I love you baby and I'm so incredibly proud of you," Sirius whispered as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple as they both watched Andromeda check over their new baby.

"I love you too Pads," Octavia responded, sleep lacing her voice.

"Here you go, you have a healthy baby girl. You can have a hold of her before I have to run the rest of her diagnostic tests to make sure she is completely fine." Andromeda handed over the baby and Octavia cradled her close.

They all fell silent as Sirius and Octavia took in their new baby girl, it sinking in that they are now parents and everything will changed from now on.

"What are you going to name her?" Andromeda questioned looking at the two brand new parents holding their baby girl.

Sirius and Octavia had been tight lipped about the name of their daughter, they all knew that Octavia was deadest on having a girl but neither one of them spoke about the name they had decided on.

"Willa Amy Black," Octavia spoke while looking down at the little girl in her arms, she couldn't remove the smile from her face.

"Why Amy? I thought we agreed on Mia?" Sirius questioned and Octavia finally removed her gaze from Willa.

"Because of Amycus, he always protected me."

"How is torturing you, protecting you?" Sirius questioned clearly still angry with the fact that Amycus used the Cruciatus Curse on her.

Octavia looked at Andromeda, hoping she would give the two of them the room.

"I just have to run some diagnostic spells over her before I finish the paperwork," Andromeda spoke and carefully picked up Willa from Octavia's arms.

Octavia waited until her and Sirius were alone, "Alecto was there, Voldemort was there along with the rest of his circle, he had no choice, Voldemort was ordering him too. Remember, he is staying with Alecto to protect her, he trusts you to protect me. He's only used the curse on me once, he hasn't done anything physically painful aside from that one time. Everything he has done, he has apologised for and fixed where he can, remember my broom second year? He sent me a new one."

"Okay if you want to give Willa the middle name Amy, we will. I just don't want you to regret naming her after Amycus." Sirius kissed her temple.

Octavia looked up at Sirius, she knew he didn't believe her but was agreeing with her either way.

They both knew that their siblings were a hard topic of conversation between them, Octavia had lost all hope for Alecto but Amycus proved otherwise while Regulus, well Regulus was a sore topic for them because Octavia had hoped that he will come back to them while Sirius believed he was too far gone.

"I'm so proud of you baby," Sirius whispered in her ear and she looked up at him, love and adoration filled his eyes.

"I wouldn't have been able to do this without you, any of it. I love you Pads," Octavia spoke, leaning against Sirius.

"I never would have let you do this alone, we have a healthy baby girl, the one you've seen multiple times so we know she stays safe, that we can protect her." Sirius responded, shifting down the bed and laying down beside her.

"Everything is going to change now isn't it?" Octavia whispered and Sirius nodded, moving closer to her.

"We can get through anything that gets thrown at us baby, get some sleep. I will watch Willa when Dromeda brings her back in here." Sirius spoke, softly kissing her forehead when he noticed how tired she was.

Octavia nodded before shifting and resting her head on Sirius' chest, missing the action when his arms came around her due to her being pregnant she wasn't able to cuddle up to him like this due to the size of her stomach.

"Get some rest baby," Sirius whispered once more as Octavia slowly fell asleep.

.oOo.

Octavia looked up at the sound of someone knocking on her bedroom door, she covered herself and Willa with a blanket as she was in the process of attempting to feed Willa.

It didn't take long for her and Willa to be relocated to her bedroom upstairs once Andromeda had claimed that both mother and baby were perfectly healthy but requested a couple of days until they moved into their own home and be a family together

"Come in," Octavia called out and it was only seconds until James and Lily both entered the room.

"How are you feeling Snow?" James questioned.

"Just tired but I will get there, I never got around to asking but did you get Anna home okay yesterday?"

"It was fine and she understood, don't worry about that for now," James responded as he and Lily walked over and joined her at the end of the bed.

"How long are you and Sirius staying here?" Lily questioned but received a look from James. "What? I've heard them talking about moving out."

"Snow, surely you know dad and I won't kick you out any time soon." James cut in quickly.

Octavia gave him a smile while she slightly shook her head, "we had always talked about moving out, not wanting to live off you guys forever. We knew with Willa coming it had to be sooner than expected, we have a house and everything, it is all sorted but just needs furniture in the baby's room and even then most of that is here." Octavia explained but she quickly noticed the look on James' face. "It's not like we will be gone forever, we are always going to be there Prongs, just maybe a little more tired the next few months," she joked and managed to get a laugh out of him.

"What about Order stuff?" James wearily questioned.

Octavia lowered her gaze, lifting up the blanket to check on Willa. "We've spoken about it but it seems to be a bit of a disagreement between us."

It was at that time that Sirius opened the bathroom door, catching the end of the conversation. "No kidding it's a disagreement, I think you're being ridicules." Sirius added as he walked around the room gathering the things he wanted.

"How about you tell us your sides and we decide who is and isn't being ridicules?" Lily questioned before things got heated between the two of them.

"Well…" Sirius started but Octavia glared at him and he just waved his hand at her.

"I think Padfoot is being ridicules by not helping out the Order," Octavia spoke and James instantly looked at Sirius in disbelief.

"Snow's not telling it all, what I said was I wouldn't help for the first few weeks. I'm not all of a sudden going to take off and leave you with Willa alone, I just said I was going to stay at home for a couple of weeks and help you out, do this with you. I always told you I wasn't going to leave you alone in this, why would I do that now?" Sirius explained.

"It makes sense, do you honestly want to be at home with a one week old baby on your own?" Lily spoke softly.

"Snow you put up this brave face but this isn't a situation where you should pretend, accept the help, let Padfoot help you." James added in and Octavia rested her head back in defeat.

"But the war…"

"Will still be there in a couple of weeks, baby I'm going this to make things easier on you in the beginning. We both want to be out there fighting but we can't, we have a baby to raise and as such things change, we have different priorities. We will help when we can," Sirius spoke, sitting down on the bed beside Octavia and he softly kissed her temple.

"Sirius is doing the right thing, I know if I fell pregnant I would want James there, I wouldn't want him running off to fight Death Eaters instead of helping me," Lily spoke and James shot her a look causing her to roll her eyes. "I'm not pregnant, calm down."

"So does the Godfather want a hold?" Octavia questioned with a smile and James stared at her before looking at Sirius.

"What?"

Sirius still hadn't told the boys who he had chosen to be Willa's godfather, he had been putting it off because he found the decision to be so tough, having to hate his decision about picking between his best friends.

They all knew that Octavia was going to ask Lilith without her having actually asked her yet, it made sense because the two were best friends and it was her likely pick.

"That's right mate, I decided to make you Godfather Prongs. You're my brother, I wouldn't want anyone else to look after Willa if something happened to Snow and I." Sirius picked Willa up and handed her over to James, giving him a hold.

"How'd you come up with the name Willa? I've never heard it before," Lily spoke as she looked over James' shoulder at the baby causing Octavia and Sirius to share a look.

"There's something we haven't told you Lily," Octavia started and Lily looked up at her.

"Is this about all those times you were in Fabian and Gideon's office?"

Octavia nodded at Lily, waiting until she had a hold of Willa before speaking. "Sort of, that was because of the attack that took place on the night of the ball, I know Prongs told you of that because you questioned their presence at Christmas but I'm talking about something else. Do you remember third year when we were taught about Dreamers and Wandless?"

"Briefly, Professor Burrows didn't really go into too much detail about both, he explained Wandless more than Dreamers. I admit I tried researching them out of curiosity but I couldn't find any information on them."

"All the information you could possibly want on Dreamers are in this house, over the years we have purchased most books we have come across on that particular topic. Lily I'm one of them, I am a Dreamer. My lessons with the Prewitt brothers were because of the attack but they were also helping me hone my magic because I specialised in Charms and as you know Charms isn't always useful in a duel and they were helping find ways around it if it ever came to the point where I was disarmed." Octavia explained, sitting there watching as Lily blinked a couple of times, letting the information sink in about what she was told.

"So what are Dreamers exactly?" Lily questioned, getting rid of the worry everyone had over how she would react to the news.

James, Sirius and Octavia all began explaining what they currently knew of Dreamers and how it has affected Octavia's life so far and how it will in the future, as well as the unknown that is Willa.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **I'm putting this out there now, I am not a mother, I have no experience with children or child birth. The information I used in this chapter and will be over the next few ones contains information I've gotten from movies/T.V shows and the internet. If there are any parents reading this story and some of my information is incredibly incorrect please let me know and I will make the appropriate adjustments.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Revathi, yes they are growing and now they are parents.**


	92. The First

Chapter 91: The First

 **August 1978**

Octavia stood in the room she knew to be the Great Hall within Hogwarts but it looked different, similar to what it looked like for the ball she had only a few months ago, but still different.

Aside from her knowing this was a moment from the future, it was this difference that led her to believe it wasn't a memory.

When she caught sight of the red hair that she knew was her own, she headed towards it knowing she would either find herself, or find her daughter.

Octavia stood there watching as Willa laughed at someone who deeply resembled Fabien and Gideon and knew that this was one of their nephews, whether it be Fred or George. But she quickly frowned when she realised that she couldn't hear what was being said, that was something new, something she hadn't experienced before.

"I apologise, I can turn their voices back on if you wish." Octavia turned around and faced the person who spoke, startled for the first time in seven years that someone had spoken to her in one of these dreams. "She is very beautiful," the lady spoke again and Octavia nodded before looking back at Willa.

Octavia knew she wasn't in trouble here, nothing could hurt her, she learnt that the hard way after seeing Amycus die.

"Who are you?" Octavia questioned, finally looked back at the stranger standing before her.

"My name is Florence dear, I am like you but yet different at the same time."

"So you're a Wandless?"

"No dear, far from it. I am Dreamer much like you, except when I was growing up there was no term for what I was."

Octavia raised an eyebrow before looking back at Willa, quickly noticing that one of the twins had disappeared and was replaced with a group of girls.

"Then how are you different from me?"

"Because I am the first Dreamer, I am the exception to all the rules you have been reading about. I have specialised in all three classes of magic."

"But then why haven't I read about _you_ ," Octavia emphasised the point with a frown. If there was one exception to everything she had learnt, why wasn't this Dreamer in the books?

"Because I existed long before print existed, there was no way to write about my existence. I existed long before Hogwarts did my dear."

"You say you are a Dreamer but yet claim you are different, how does that work?" Octavia challenged but Florence didn't falter.

"That I do not know, no Dreamer that has followed me has been able to specialise in all three classes of magic." Florence responded before looking over at where Willa was still standing with her friends.

"Then how are you here now?" Octavia snapped and Florence in return gave a small smile.

"Octavia I am the first Dreamer, I may be long dead but I am not gone, I will always appear in one of your moments just like this. I am not a ghost nor a spirit, although it is hard to explain. I watch over all Dreamers that follow after me, to help them when needed."

Octavia couldn't believe this, if there was someone who was out there able to help her, why did she have to always work it out on her own?

"If you've been watching me why are you here now and not earlier when I needed your help, when I was trying to figure out what was different about me or trying to learn how to control everything!" Octavia snapped, not entirely phased since no one else could hear her.

"Because I do not help in that way my dear."

"Then why now?"

"Because of her," Florence responded and Octavia watched as the other girl turned and looked at her daughter, instantly feeling incredibly territorial over her. "This is the first dream you've had since she was born, she is the first of her kind Octavia, a Dreamer has never had a child."

"Then why me and why now?"

"A number of reasons, despite you only controlling Charms magic you have managed to control a larger number of defensive Charms compared to previous Dreamers before you and let's not forget that your dreams came at a much younger age than the others before you. You my dear are the strongest I have seen in centuries, something which will greatly help in this war you find yourself in."

Octavia shook her head, as she turned to follow Willa through the Great Hall, it didn't matter if she couldn't hear what was being said, she still felt fiercely protective over her daughter.

"Dumbledore believes I got my dreams because of the war, all my dreams have been about the war." Octavia responded.

"I've seen other Dreamers grow up in a war similar to yours, this isn't the first time someone has come along and decided to try and take over the community, Voldemort is different because he is also attacking Muggles. Not all of your dreams have to do with the war, look at this one for example." Florence waved her arms around to make the point about where they were. "I believe your strength in your magic has allowed you to see the future much earlier."

"Fine, if that is the case how does all that let me have a child, one that has never been seen before?"

"I believe it is your mate, you are also the first Dreamer to have a mate that is also an Animagus. You feel 100% complete with him, other Dreamers don't, despite them loving their mate they feel like something is missing and they also believed it was because they didn't have children, but I see the truth now."

"What does that matter, love is all the same isn't it?" Octavia questioned, completely confused about what was being said.

"Despite you having control in your Animagus form, the Animagus will have its own view on the world. You for example in your wolf form will see your mate as your mate in both human and dog form. Whereas the Potter boy, I believe he won't view his mate the same way in his stag form since there is no animal in her for him to detect. I can't say the same for the werewolf since not many Dreamers have associated themselves with them."

Octavia frowned, unsure as to if this was believable or not. "So you believe that because both Sirius and I are Animagus, it was why we were able to have Willa?"

"That is correct, she will be different, that much I can assure you of but I cannot tell you how she will be different. But as you can see here, she is 16, happy, health and living that is all you would want for her yes?"

Octavia was confused, how did Florence know Willa was 16? She didn't even know how old her daughter was in this moment. "You're in my dreams as I view them, yes?" Octavia questioned and Florence nodded with a sad smile on her face.

"That is correct, I may take notice of more things going on than you do but that only comes with centuries of experience. I do not control what you see, although I have managed to remove their voices from time to time so I could freely communicate with the current Dreamer. I can also not tell you how to save your friends, despite us having both a gift and curse in seeing the future, we cannot save everyone some people are destined to die for the greater good."

Octavia didn't like that, Florence claimed that she was here to help and Octavia wanted her help to save her friends, she didn't want them to have to die for the greater good, she wanted her friends to live through the war.

"You're no help," Octavia mumbled and Florence let out a soft laugh.

"But yet I have been helpful. You just want to know how to save your friends is all. Concentrate on protecting your daughter and working out what will be different for her, remember despite you confusing yourself between a Dreamer and a witch, you are a full Dreamer and not a witch. She is half Dreamer and half witch, it will cause some trouble on someone's magical core."

"You said she's 16 here?"

Florence nodded, "that is correct."

"Which makes this her sixth year at Hogwarts, I wonder why the ball?" Octavia questioned as she once more looked around the Great Hall and taking in the differences between now and it usually looked.

"That I cannot tell you, you are my first Dreamer to attend a magical school, most are home schooled."

"Will you still be here over the years to help with her?" Octavia questioned, if Willa was truly going to be this different, she couldn't do this on her own, she needed help.

"Octavia I will always be in your dreams, watching and learning just like you. I will not disappear forever, just may be harder to spot in others." Florence gave Octavia one more smile before the dream completely disappeared and Octavia woke up in her bed beside Sirius.

.oOo.

When Sirius woke up, he instantly noticed that Octavia was missing from the bed. He climbed out and quickly walked over to the door that led towards Willa's room, glad to see her sitting in the rocking chair looking at the crib where their daughter was sound asleep.

Sirius walked over, pulling Octavia up allowing him to sit down and to her sit on his lap, he became worried when she didn't look over at him or acknowledge him.

"What's wrong baby?" Sirius questioned as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I just had a bad dream is all," Octavia finally responded as she leaned in against him tucking her head under his.

"Why didn't you wake me? I told you, I'm always here when you need to talk to someone about what you see."

"You'll think I'm crazy."

"I already think you are crazy Snow," he teased and she laughed.

Octavia sat there and explained everything that was said in her dream, worried when Sirius didn't respond to anything, just continued to sit there in silence.

Octavia turned her head and looked at Sirius, deep in thought as he was looking over at Willa sound asleep. "Pads?"

Sirius finally looked back at Octavia and softly kissed her forehead, "if this is real and your imagination not going wild from a lack of sleep we will work it out, as Florence said, Willa will have her childhood. We just need to get through this war first baby and then we will worry about what makes Willa different, she will have a childhood full of happy memories and be able to have fun, she will have the childhood we wanted but weren't allowed."

"What do you think about the part where we only have her because we are both Animagi?" Octavia questioned, resting her head against his shoulder.

"I don't know, it's hard to believe. I know when I look at you, I see love no matter what form, but as to if it's true or not then we will have to speak to Prongs. Come on, come back to bed so we can get some proper sleep." Sirius suggested, hoping she would stand up and go back to bed with him, but Willa took that moment to wake up screaming.

"I'll get her," Octavia spoke as she walked over and picked up the screaming baby before sitting back down in the rocking chair that Sirius had vacated moments prior.

"Don't stay up with her all night, you need rest too baby." Sirius spoke softly before he leaned down and softly kissed her temple, doing the same thing with Willa.

Octavia looked up and gave Sirius a small smile, "we've gotten a couple of hours sleep tonight, it's more than what we are usually getting anyway."

"Yes but you keep forgetting that I am able to take a Pepper Up Potion, while you can't, please don't stay up all night." Sirius spoke once more before turning and leaving the room.

"Mama is right here baby," Octavia whispered before she softly kissed Willa's forehead, the two of them rocking in the chair.

.oOo.

 **September 1978**

Sirius and Octavia had ended up using the downstairs office as a way for their magical friends to arrive when they are visiting, they ended up asking Fabien and Gideon what they knew in warding to set up so they knew when someone arrived in the room and the brothers were happy to oblige as well as showing the couple how to preform the spell and other wards that would be useful for them.

James walked out of the office and went in search of Octavia and Sirius, it had been a few days since any of the Marauders have spoken to the couple but with a newborn they understand that their priorities have changed for the time being, despite them all knowing how much Sirius and Octavia wanted to be out there helping in the war they were now involved in.

He found the couple in the kitchen, Sirius had fallen asleep while resting on the counter while Octavia was standing there, bouncing Willa in her arms attempting to calm down the screaming baby.

James knew he would get in trouble if he spoke what he was thinking but he thought they looked like a mess.

"Snow?" He questioned, hoping he wouldn't startle either of them.

"Not now Prongs, a little busy. Wake up Padfoot!" Octavia yelled, noticing Sirius had fallen asleep and he jumped at the noise and quickly looked around.

"I get that, I really do. None of us wanted to come and bother you both without letting you know we were dropping by but it's urgent." James explained, he didn't want to have to do this, he knew they had a baby to take care of but this was something they would hate to not know about.

"I'm pretty sure the Order has enough members that they don't need us for clean-up duties right now," Sirius snapped walking over and taking Willa from Octavia.

James shook his head, he knew the Order would be grateful for their help but he remembered the deal. Sirius was at home with Octavia until she was fine on her own for a couple of hours. If something drastic happened he knew they would be both help out if they could or weren't sleep deprived, so far things had been somewhat quiet.

"This has nothing to do with the Order, honestly Willa is only a few weeks old. It's Moony," James spoke and they both finally looked at him.

"What about Moony?" Sirius questioned, his face falling. "He's alright isn't he?"

"Define alright, look his mum is real sick. He's been keeping it from us, Lilith only told us yesterday and then Lily and I spent hours last night deciding if we should bother you two or not."

"Its Moony Snow," Sirius turned and looked at Octavia.

"I know, I know," Octavia rubbed a hand up and down her face before looking at James. "How about this, Prongs watches Willa for a little bit while we quickly shower and then we can go check on them."

"Can you Apparate with her?" James questioned as he took Willa from Sirius, balancing her in his arms and softly bouncing her in his arms.

"It's not recommended but it won't hurt her or anything, may only cause her to continue to scream." Octavia responded as she went to follow Sirius upstairs but she stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked back at James.

James noticing her hesitation spoke up, "I will be right down here, I'm not going anywhere and remember this is for Moony." He spoke, hoping her hesitation was about leaving Willa alone with him.

Octavia merely nodded before she went upstairs.

James stood there in the kitchen Willa in his arms, crying about something. "You know if you keep crying like this your parents aren't going to get much sleep and they aren't the most pleasant people to be around when they are sleep deprived." He looked down at the baby in his arms, surprised that she went silent and looked up at him, blinking her eyes.

"No idea why I'm talking to you like you can understand me anyway," James muttered, shaking his head as he walked over and took a seat on the couch.

James sat there on the couch attempting to keep Willa calm but there was obviously something bothering her and he had no idea how to help the baby.

It was when James looked at his watch and realised that Sirius and Octavia had been upstairs a lot longer then he thought, that he went and look for them.

He stood there in the doorway of their bedroom and found the two of them sound asleep on their bed, he shook his head before walking through the door on the side and placing Willa in her crib before walking over and waking the sleeping couple.

"Come on guys, wake up." James spoke as he shook them awake, stepping back as they stirred knowing Sirius was well known for throwing pillows when he was woken up.

Octavia quickly sat up and looked around the room in alarm, "where's Willa?" she asked.

"I put her in her crib," James responded, Octavia nodded and climbed off her bed, heading towards Willa's room. "You two fell asleep and we were meant to go see Moony."

"Sorry Prongs," Sirius yawned as he walked over and checked on Willa as well.

"It's fine, are you two good now? We can go check on Moony and Lilith."

"Yeah we will go, we just have to pack a bag for Willa and then we can leave," Octavia called out from the other room.

It didn't take long for Sirius and Octavia to have a bag ready for Willa and they were able to Apparate to where Remus still lived with his parents.

When they entered the house they were unsure as to what they were walking into, the house was too quiet. In the past when they had visited they were well used to Hope, Remus' mother, having what the muggles called a radio playing in back ground while she cooked and cleaned but today there was no noise.

It was when they walked into the kitchen and spotted Lilith sitting there at the table they realised what happened.

"Lilith?" Octavia spoke, handing Willa to Sirius so she could go and hug her distraught best friend.

"She was fine last night," Lilith murmured as she wrapped her arms around Octavia's neck.

"If she was fine, what happened?" James questioned.

"Moony and Lyall are in with dad right now, but she woke up and made us breakfast this morning and claimed she had a headache and wasn't feeling the best so she went to lie down and when Lyall attempted to wake her up for lunch she wouldn't, Moony ran some of the basic diagnostic spells but they were giving him weird results so that's when I got dad to come over." Lilith explained stopping when she broke down in tears.

"What were the weird results?" Sirius questioned, frowning when Octavia shot him a look.

"The weird results were because she's dead," Remus spoke as he entered the kitchen and they all turned to look at him.

"Mate we're all so sorry," Sirius quickly responded, finally realising what everyone else realised had but he didn't.

Remus nodded, walking over and putting the kettle on to make tea. It was when he placed his face in his hands, his back facing his friends, that the group shared a look.

"Why did we have to hear from Lilith that Hope was sick in the first place, surely you know after everything we went through with my own mother we would have been there for you, all of us?" James spoke, walking over and placing a hand on Remus' shoulder.

"Because despite her being sick, she seemed fine. There is so much going on in our lives, we are still dealing with the loss of Euphemia last summer, Snow and Padfoot had Willa to worry about and let's not forget that Lily ended up in St Mungo's the other day after a raid-"

"She what?" Octavia exclaimed, cutting Remus off, as she turned and looked at James.

James ran a hand through his hair before facing the girl, "She's fine, I didn't want to worry you. We were able to attend her sister's wedding on the weekend, which is a whole other story mind you."

"This is insane, Padfoot and I have a baby, we aren't children. It doesn't mean we can't be told about what is going on in your lives, yes we are adjusting to the new life we have because of Willa but it doesn't mean we have disappeared from all of yours, we want to know these things and not be left in the dark. What's going to happen in a couple of weeks when Padfoot is back out there helping with the war, what I'm meant to sit at home alone and have no idea as to what is going on in our world? Remain ignorant?" Octavia spoke sternly, annoyed with her friends for having kept secrets.

"Snow you couldn't even manage to stay awake long enough to have a shower, get dressed and pack a bag for Willa this morning before I had to wake you both," James explained, hoping to remove the anger she had.

"Snow," Lilith spoke softly, bringing the girl's attention to her. "Yes we know you have a baby but you are adjusting to your new life with your beautiful little girl who we all adore, we all understand that with you both a little sleep deprived that your focus is solely on her and we don't want to have to remove that focus unless it's needed. Lily was perfectly fine, hence why we didn't tell you and as Moony said, Hope was just a little under the weather, the only reason I told Prongs and Lily was because Hope was still sick, has been for a while. If things got worse, we wouldn't have kept it from you, we're just making judgement calls as to what we should and shouldn't bother you with." Lilith explained, this was something that the friends had all spoke about over the last week, trying to work out what would and wouldn't be deemed important enough to bother the new parents.

Octavia looked at Sirius before nodding, "sorry, I just hate to think you guys think we don't want to know what's going on anymore when we do, you are all still our best mates."

"Speaking of friends, where is Wormtail?" Sirius cut in and they all shared a look.

"Well remember when I turned up to yours this morning I didn't think this was going to happen, I just wanted to tell you both what was going on. He probably doesn't know what has happened, I'll go tell him and Lily." James spoke, disappearing from the room and Willa let out a cry causing Sirius and Octavia to hang their heads.

Lilith taking sympathy on her friends walked over and took Willa from Sirius, softly bouncing the baby in her arms, "she's not sleeping?"

"No, she's constantly crying and we don't know what is wrong with her," Octavia responded, taking a seat the table and burying her face in her arms.

Remus noticing the action walked over and placed a hand on her back, "you guys aren't bad parents, surely it would take some time to adjust she's only a couple of weeks old."

Remus not receiving a response, softly shook Octavia and quickly noticed the girl had fallen asleep. "You two really aren't sleeping are you?" he looked over at Sirius.

"No not really, we're lucky if we get a couple of hours. I'm doing a lot better than her because I can take Pepper Up Potions while she can't." Sirius responded and both Remus and Lilith nodded in response.

All three of them turned at the sound of feet and saw both Liam entering the room, "Sirius, it's good to see you again, I would say the same to Octavia but it seems as though the girl in asleep. It does get easier, you just need time to adjust to being a parent."

"It's good to see you as well Liam," Sirius nodded at Liam before turning and looking at Remus.

"I'm going to check on dad," he muttered softly before he slipped past Liam and left the room in search of his father.

"What happened dad?" Lilith questioned once Remus was gone.

"It was just her time, there is signs of her being sick but that is the differences between Magical and Non-Magical people, they are affective by different illnesses. Hope had something that is common amongst the Muggles, she passed away in her sleep so it would have been painless." Liam explained.

"So even if the Healers had spotted something nothing could have been done?" Sirius questioned, Muggle illnesses was something that wasn't covered in Muggle Studies so this bit of information confused him.

"I have no idea, I haven't had much experience when it comes to Muggle illnesses. Despite Muggleborns having Muggle parents and most of them being accepting of our world not of all of them are willing to accept help from our Healers," Liam responded, shooting Lilith a look.

"What am I missing?" Sirius questioned having caught sight of the look.

"Dad doesn't want me to speak of the department within St Mungo's where they are working on cures for some of the harmful Muggle diseases, it's not common knowledge amongst the public but I know because I overheard him and his co-workers talking one night. They haven't successfully managed to cure anything yet otherwise word would have spread, it's why I never told Remus." Lilith explained and Sirius nodded, the three of them staying silent until Octavia shot up in her seat where she had fallen asleep.

Octavia looked around in alarm before quickly noticing Willa in Lilith's arms.

"Is she like this every time she wakes up?" Liam questioned, noticing what happened.

"Every single time, she had a nightmare not long after Willa was born where her parents took Willa from us, it scared her and every time she wakes up she panics until she can see Willa." Sirius responded, glad to finally have someone to talk to about how Octavia was reacting to a nightmare.

After Octavia had the nightmare she told Sirius and quickly reassured him that it wasn't one of her future dreams, it was just a nightmare but it still scared her as much. Octavia panicking every time she woke up was beginning to worry Sirius but there wasn't much he could do because he didn't know how to help her.

Sirius looked over at where Octavia and Lilith were occupied with Willa, not paying attention to their conversation. He wasn't bothered if they heard him or not, he had already spoken to her all about it.

"Maybe what she needs is a good night's sleep, on a Dreamless Sleep Potion. Her lack of sleep may be affecting her and because you can take Pepper Up Potions you are coping better than her, although I do hope you are watching how many you take." Liam suggested.

Sirius removed his gaze from Octavia and looked at Liam beside, wondering if a full night's sleep is what she needs. "I am, Dromeda warned me about how they can become addictive when you have too many. I only take them when absolutely necessary, coffee works just as well most of the time." Sirius responded and Liam let out a laugh as James and Peter Apparated into the room.

"Where'd Moony go?" James quickly questioned.

"When to check on Lyall, speaking of which, Pads we should go give our condolences and then get back home to put Willa down for her nap." Sirius nodded and followed Octavia upstairs after greeting Peter.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Ginny702, Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, it means so much to me.**


	93. The Future Is Now

Chapter 92: The Future Is Now

 **September 1978**

"How are you doing Moony?" James questioned as Sirius handed out the glasses of Fire Whiskey.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were currently sitting in the office on the first floor of Sirius and Octavia's house, they were taking the time to catch up and Sirius was also testing Octavia to see if she could cope on her own with Willa for a couple of hours.

Because of the warding around the office they were unable to hear any noise coming from the rest of the house but if something went wrong Octavia knew exactly where he was.

Sirius knew he was overreacting, he had been told as much by both Octavia and Andromeda during Willa's last check-up but with Octavia still panicking every time she woke up because she refused to have a full night's sleep with a Dreamless Sleep Potion, he wanted to be 100% sure before he left on his first mission.

"Some days are worse than others," Remus responded.

"Tell me again why we are hiding out in here," Peter questioned, them all looking at Sirius.

Sirius just took a sip from his glass and refused to answer.

James shook his head and looked back at Remus, "I'm not saying it ever gets better but it does get easier with time, your mother only ever wanted you to be happy, that includes moving on with your life."

"It just seems weird knowing how much she won't be there for," Remus responded.

"I know, I get it, really I do. There has been so much my mum hasn't been there for already and it's only been a year, she wasn't there when I got my Head Boy badge, she wasn't there for my Graduation, finding out Snow was pregnant, meeting Willa, meeting Lily. Those are the hardest moments, the ones where you turned and expect your parents to be there but only finding one standing there, that's the hardest moment." James spoke, his eyes glassing over and Sirius let out a laugh.

"I was hoping this would be a great chance for us all to catch up since we've all barely been in the same room since we graduated and the conversation turns grim," he quickly responded before someone could question as to why he was laughing to such a grim and dark topic.

"Then why are we hiding out in here instead of a pub somewhere?" Peter questioned once more.

"Because our Padfoot is as paranoid as they come," James teased, laughing when Sirius looked incredibly displeased.

"I just don't want to take off and leave Snow alone with Willa, there's too much going on right now." Sirius explained and Peter nodded.

"Well," James clapped his hands, hoping to remove the grim atmosphere of the room. "If you wanted a happy catch up conversation, I'm thinking of proposing to Lily." James spoke with a large smile on his face while the others choked on their drinks.

"You what?" Sirius questioned first and James looked.

"What you jealous I'm asking Lily before you can ask Snow?" he retorted and Sirius laughed.

"Well yeah a little, you don't think I've thought about proposing to Snow? Too much could go wrong if we get married, we've both spoken about this. But you and Lily haven't even been dating a year, a little soon don't you think?" Sirius responded, looking at the others wondering if they thought the same.

"If he loves Lily what's the big deal?" Remus added in first.

"Coming from the guy who turned and walked away when his girlfriend spoke three little words," Sirius snapped back causing James and Peter to turn their gazes and stare at him.

"You what?" James questioned.

"Hell even I didn't do that," Peter responded all while Remus turned his gaze on Sirius.

"Thanks a lot Padfoot," Remus muttered with a glare. "And I panicked alright, you were all surprised that Snow didn't do the same thing."

"Well actually she did, turns out I talk in my sleep," Sirius spoke and they all looked at him before laughing.

"Well we knew that one mate, if it wasn't for the way you looked at her or how protective you were over her then it would have been the things you said in your sleep," James spoke, smirking into his glass while Sirius looked completely dumbfounded over the insight.

"Well then," Sirius quietly responded, gulping down the rest of his drink and refilling it. "So proposing to Lily?"

James raised an eyebrow at his best mate, knowing there was an underlying tension still there. "Are you sure you don't have a problem with this mate?" he questioned, hoping he wouldn't get lied too.

"Why wouldn't I? You're my brother, all I want is for you to be happy and if it's with Lily then so be it," Sirius responded, all without looking at James.

Remus looked at James, who just shrugged in response and Remus let out a sigh. "Padfoot if you want to propose to Snow, why don't you?" he questioned, knowing full well now that Sirius was in a sour mood it wouldn't be lifted until he spoke about what was bothering, if he spoke at all.

"I can't because I don't want to get her hopes up, me proposing shows that we can get married, that I've worked it all out when in fact I haven't. She was reinstated as a Carrow and started receiving her part of the family money again when they found out she was pregnant, her falling pregnant partly fixed what us leaving ruined. There was a reason as to why there was a marriage contract between my brother and her and now there is a very high chance that they have put one in place between Snow and I, we've spoken about it and until we know if there is a contract in place and what is stated in it we aren't considering getting married." Sirius explained and the others said a look.

"How long have you two been talking about this, about a possible marriage?" James questioned, being the first able to speak after the bombshell that Sirius dropped.

"Sixth year, we suspected our parents may have put the marriage contract in place after they heard we were dating, we suspected that maybe they would stipulate that they get claim to our first born male because he will be the heir they wanted for the company. It wasn't until Christmas break that year when we were visiting Ted and Dromeda that we spoke about it with them, hoping that Ted could look into it but he stated that he couldn't without alerting them to the fact."

"But you were barely 17, why were you both considering it so young?" Remus questioned, shocked when Sirius laughed in response to begin with.

"You're all forgetting that I had a marriage contract in place, with an older girl who would have already graduated, you all remember Makenna Rosier?" they all nodded in response. "Normally the weddings take place the summer after the youngest graduation but there was talk before I left of Makenna and I getting married earlier, the Christmas break after I turned 17. After growing up with the knowledge that I would be getting married after my graduation, Snow and I talking about marriage at this age isn't as scary or weird to us as it may be to you guys."

"But why can't you and Snow get married, how could the marriage come into play and how would it even stand if you two were disowned?" Remus questioned.

"Isn't it because of how magical weddings work?" Peter responded and Sirius nodded.

"Worms is right, when the magical wedding licence is signed all pre-existing contracts between the two automatically go into effect."

"But you and Snow wouldn't have signed them." Peter pointed out.

"Their parents would have signed them before they were 17, being their legal guardians they have a say in their lives," Remus spoke, realising what was being explained to them.

"Correct but our families also know some shady people who would have helped them so it would be a legal binding contract even we didn't sign them after we turned 17." Sirius added in.

"So you and Snow could never get married?" James spoke, not liking the look on Sirius' face when he nodded. "Surely one day when our lives aren't this messed up, you can look into a possible marriage contract. Do your parents even know if you had a boy or girl?"

"No they don't and Snow is terrified that they are going to try and take Willa from us, she's had one nightmare about it and she panics every time she wakes up, afraid that they've turned up in the middle of the night and taken her."

"How would they? How would they even know where you two are?" Peter questioned.

None of them liked how Sirius' mask went up, hiding all of his previous emotions from them.

"Padfoot?" Remus questioned, hoping to get a response from him.

"Amycus set this house up for us, Snow trusts him and I'm trusting her." Sirius finally responded after a moment of silence.

"So you two are living in a house where Death Eaters could turn up at any point, living here with your daughter?" James stated in complete and utter shock.

Sirius and Octavia had spoken about telling the others of how Amycus set the house up for them but they hadn't as yet and they knew that there was a chance that their friends would be angry when they found out the truth, refusing to come around and call them just plain balmy for risking Willa's safety.

"Snow had one of her future dreams in Fifth year where she saw Amycus die, he died protecting her and that dream nearly killed her, she actually saw him die whereas the dream where she found out that not all of us make it out alive, was just a conversation. She believes that if Amycus will risk his life for us then we should trust him. We are set up to leave at the first sign of a disturbance, we were planning on telling you all, we just didn't know how or when." Sirius spoke and carefully watched his friends, hoping they would trust him and Snow, trust that they knew where they putting their trust.

Sirius knew that his friends didn't know everything that had happened within their own homes before they left their families, they knew it could backfire on them for keeping secrets but they saw this as the only way to hide where they were living from their parents and the other side. Octavia was scared that their parents were going to take Willa from them and Voldemort has stated on a number of occasions that he wants Octavia dead.

"We trust you and Snow, that's all that matters," James spoke and Remus and Peter quickly followed in agreement.

.oOo.

Octavia was currently sitting on her and Sirius' bed, smiling down at Willa as she attempted to catch her toys floating above her.

She quickly looked up at the sound of bedroom door opening, unsure as to who would be entering as she knew Sirius was downstairs in the office with James, Remus and Peter, but she noticed Lilith enter the room.

"Were the boys annoyed you disturbed their bonding time?" Octavia questioned, looking back down at Willa.

"They were fine since I left," Lilith responded.

Octavia looked back up at her best friend, something about the way Lilith spoke that caused her to believe something was going on, that something was bothering her.

"Everything alright?" Octavia questioned, carefully watching her to see the smallest sign to suggest otherwise.

Lilith shook her head before she began pacing in the bedroom and it instantly caused Octavia to worry and if it wasn't for Octavia having to make sure Willa didn't fall off the bed she would have walked over and stopped Lilith from pacing.

"Lilith stop!" Octavia yelled at the girl who was currently pacing in her bedroom.

"Nope, I can't. I spent so much time convincing him to even give this a shot and now, now he's going to panic and leave. I can't have him leave me." Lilith's voice broke, further increasing Octavia's worry.

"Wait so we're talking about Moony, what is going on?" Octavia questioned and Lilith finally stopped pacing and looked at her, Octavia noticed the tears building up in her eyes.

"Snow have you seen…what's going on in here?" Sirius spoke when he entered the room, stopping his question for Octavia and questioned what was happening noticing the look on Lilith's face.

"I don't know, I was about to find out before you barged in."

"But this is my room too."

"And right now I'm kicking you out, plus you have the guys downstairs" Octavia smirked at Sirius as she got up with Willa in her arms and walked over to push him out of the room. "God he can be such a child and it's gotten worse ever since we had Willa." She shook her head as she turned to face her best friend.

"How did you and Padfoot get through having Willa? I saw you two fighting a couple of times."

"I like to say it's because we love each other and partly it's true but we both wanted our relationship to last and getting through that was a part of it…wait are you pregnant?" Octavia questioned and Lilith slowly nodded.

That's when it clicked in Octavia's head, the girl she saw with Willa in the future was obviously a similar age. Depending on how far along Lilith was, the two girls would obviously be close. If her dream was correct then it was obvious Remus sticks around to help raise their child.

The thing that scared Octavia about her dreams to do with the future was that so far everything had come true, she had a beautiful baby named Willa and it seemed as though she was going to have her hair colour with Sirius' eye colouring.

"Everything will be fine, Moony won't leave."

"What do you know Snow?" Lilith looked at her friend carefully, it was a very small circle that knew the truth.

Octavia took a deep breath before speaking. "I had a dream second year, I never thought anything of it at the time. The main thing I took away was Willa because I was watching a conversation between the two of us, it was mentioned that Moony had a child. It never said who the mother was, just like at the time it was never said who Willa's father was."

"So you assumed it was Regulus' until you fell pregnant?"

"Exactly, same again. Just because you and Remus are dating doesn't mean I know for sure that the mentioned daughter is yours, I don't even know if I saw the child in the dream because she was never pointed out. So for all I know they were a first year while Willa was going into whatever year she was, I saw Willa with three friends and I believe one of them was that child but they weren't close enough that I could see a resemblance to anyone."

"This is all so much Snow, what if he does panic and take off?"

"Because of my dream, I honestly believe that if he does take off, he will come back. He will come back and be there for you and your child." Octavia hoped she could reassure Lilith with the knowledge of her dreams but it was obvious it wasn't working, she walked over and placed Willa in her crib before walking back over and hugging her best friend. "Do you know for sure if you are pregnant?" she questioned.

"No, I can't go to dad about this and I declined my offer for the internship at St Mungo's to help in this war." Lilith responded, pulling away and wiping away the tears that started running down her cheeks, causing Octavia to frown at her.

"How about I give Willa to Padfoot and we go visit Dromeda, she will be able to tell you if you are pregnant. She helped me so much with my own pregnancy, she can help you as well if you really don't want to go to your dad about this?" Octavia suggested.

Lilith nodded before taking a deep breath, "let me just go wash my face and remove traces of me crying, Moony won't let us leave if he realises I've been crying."

"That's because he's a good boyfriend, he won't leave if you are pregnant." Octavia spoke, not happy when it was obvious that Lilith was still afraid that Remus will leave when he finds out.

When Lilith was ready both her and Octavia headed downstairs to where the boys were hiding in the office, "I need you to watch Willa while we go take care of something." Octavia spoke, handing Willa over, softly kissing his cheek.

"Everything alright Snow?" he questioned in response, automatically starting to pull faces at Willa while she giggled away at them.

"Just fine, I've been fine on my own for a couple of hours while you lot drank now it's your turn to be the good parent and the four of you will cope just fine." Octavia teased before she grabbed Lilith's arm and Apparated the two of them out of there.

When they appeared in the empty field Lilith turned and looked at Octavia, "how come you can Apparate into this field but we can't Apparate into the meadow behind your house?"

"This field doesn't have too many people passing through since it leads away from the middle of town, to begin Ted and Dromeda brought this property because of Nymphadora. They've spoken of moving closer to the city but for now they are happy here. Whereas the meadow behind the house I share with Padfoot regularly has the Muggles that live near us in there, the children take great pleasure in playing amongst the tall grass and hiding amongst the rocks. You can't guarantee it will be empty when you Apparate in, hence why we warded the office the way we did." Octavia explained and Lilith nodded, "come on, we're going this way."

Octavia tilted her head before she began walking towards the gate that lead towards Andromeda and Ted's house, under other circumstances they had no problem with Sirius and Octavia walking through the back door but that was usually when they were expecting visits, they weren't this time so Octavia was bringing them around to the front, knocking on their front door.

"O, Lilith what are you both doing here?" Andromeda spoke when the door opened.

Octavia flashed her a smile before looking at her agitated best friend, "may we come in?"

"Of course, come in, I was just making tea." Andromeda stepped to the side and allowed the two younger girls to enter.

.oOo.

"Everything alright baby?" Sirius questioned as he stood in the doorway to the bathroom he and Octavia shared.

He could tell the moment Octavia passed Willa over before her and Lilith disappeared earlier that something was going on and he just hoped she would speak to him now, the fact that they went to visit Andromeda just worried him.

Octavia turned and faced him with a smile on her face, "perfectly fine Padfoot, why wouldn't it be?"

"Because you and Lilith abruptly left to go see Dromeda, that usually only happens when something goes wrong."

Octavia walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck, running her fingers through his hair. "I'm perfectly healthy Padfoot, nothing for you to worry about."

"Please don't tell me you're pregnant again," Sirius groaned, becoming wary when Octavia raised an eyebrow at him.

"Would it be so bad if I was?"

"No of course not baby, I love you, I love Willa," he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close before softly kissing her.

"Well I'm not the one that's pregnant, but at least I know how you feel about me falling pregnant any time soon," Octavia spoke coolly as she pulled away from him, slipping past him and heading towards Willa's room to check on her.

"You can't honestly be mad at me for not wanting to have another a baby with the way our world is right now, I love Willa I really do but she was a mistake, we didn't set out to have her." Sirius spoke, hoping she wasn't truly mad.

It was when he caught sight of the smirk on her face that he became worried, but then it clicked. "Wait a minute, you said 'I'm not the one that's pregnant' are you saying Lilith is pregnant?" he questioned and she nodded. "This won't end well."

"You have no faith in our friends Padfoot," Octavia shook her head.

.oOo.

Remus sat there on Lilith's bed, carefully watching as she walked around and got ready for bed. He knew there was something going on with his girlfriend but he didn't even know how to broach the subject because last time she ended up storming out of her room and sleeping in the guest room of her parent's house, completely confusing him because she didn't say a single word.

"Lil?" Remus questioned softly, watching as her actions haltered for a moment before she continued on.

He was still to this day fascinated with how much she did before bed, he didn't understand why she did so much and whenever he questions her, she would just smile in response before stating that it takes work to look this good.

Remus, getting sick of the silence stood up and walked over to her, grabbing her hands, forcing her to look at him. "Please talk to me and don't shut me out," it was then that tears welled up in Lilith's eyes, giving him no choice but to wrap his arms around her and hold her close.

"I'm so sorry, so incredibly sorry," Lilith muttered and kept repeating it over and over to herself as Remus unwrapped his arms and pulled her towards the bed, getting her to sit down.

Remus sat in front of her and placed a hand on her neck and wiped away the tears that escaped, every time in the past when he had seen her cry he had been the reason behind it and it killed him every single time. There was a part of him that automatically assumed he was at fault.

"Just take a breath," Remus spoke softly, watching as she nodded and calm down. "Now try speaking again."

"I'm pregnant."

Those two words was all it took for Remus' world to shatter, his hand dropped from her neck and he stared at her, wondering if she was joking or lying or something. He even began debating with himself as to if he would have preferred her to spit out that she cheated on him instead of this.

But then he remembered Willa. The beautiful baby girl that had made his two best friends incredibly happy.

It was then he began imaging what his future child would like, would it be a boy or a girl, would they have his features or Lilith's, his mind was reeling.

He got into bed thinking about marriage after James had put the seeds in his mind this afternoon and now he was picturing children because Lilith was pregnant.

"You're pregnant?" he questioned.

Lilith nodded, "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you apologising?" he questioned, confused as to why she apologising over and over.

"Because I'm pregnant, we've never spoken about children and I had so much trouble convincing you to give us a shot and-"

Remus cut her off with a kiss, laughing slightly when she scrunched her face up at him. "Love I love you and I've seen you with Willa and you will be an amazing mother, we have all instantly been taken with her. We at least graduated before you fell pregnant, something Snow and Padfoot didn't manage."

"I honestly thought you would panic, I was terrified of telling you, I was terrified you would leave."

Remus had a smile on his face before he leaned over and softly kissed her, "Marry me?"

"What?" Lilith responded, sounding incredibly shocked.

"I love you, so much. Marriage got brought up today with the others and I instantly began thinking of life with you, being married to you. So again Lilith Longbottom, I ask, will you marry me? Let me continue to make you happy and make me even happier by agreeing to marry me." Remus questioned once more, his own panic setting in when she stayed silent.

"For once we aren't following in Snow and Padfoot's footsteps, yes I will marry you." Lilith leaned over and kissed him.

Remus pulled away and rested his forehead against hers, "I love you Lil," he breathed, happy to see the smile still hasn't left her face.

"I love you too Rem," Lilith responded.

Remus enjoyed hearing his nickname every single time his friends spoke to him, it reminded him of how much they cared, how much they sacrificed to continue to help him, even now after they have graduated from Hogwarts they haven't left and that means everything to him. But it was the moments in private where Lilith still called him Remus, or Rem, that he enjoyed even more.

"Where's my ring?" she grinned, pulling away from him and his stomach fell.

This was such a spontaneous proposal he hadn't even had the chance to go looking at rings yet, he didn't even know how he was going to afford the perfect ring for her but he would do whatever he could to get it for her.

"Oh, I… listen Lil," Remus started but Lilith shook her head.

"I was teasing, I don't need some big fancy ring, I just need you. You unlike the rest of us need to work, we all have fortunes because of our families or like Snow and Padfoot who have had inherited fortunes from deceased family members. I also understand how hard it is for you to find a job because you had to register within the Ministry as being a werewolf and when your potential employers do a background check it comes up. I've told you before, what's mine is yours."

"But you deserve the perfect ring," Remus stated once more

"Nonsense, before you even consider looking at rings, you need to ask dad for permission to marry me since I doubt you haven't yet?" Lilith spoke and Remus felt sick.

He hadn't even thought of asking Liam for permission when it came to marrying Lilith, he knew her views on werewolves came from her parents but would they think differently when it came to their youngest and only daughter marrying one?

"My dad loves you, no need to be so worried. Come on, I need sleep."

Remus nodded and laid down on the bed, his arm going around Lilith when she laid down beside him and his hand rested on her currently flat stomach.

He didn't expect the day to end like this and he couldn't have been happier.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Ginny702, Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, it means so much to me.**


	94. Placing Trust In Others

Chapter 93: Placing Trust In Others

 **October 1978**

"As much as I'm not happy for you Prongs, I am but why am I here?" Octavia questioned as she followed James around the jewellery shop they were currently in.

"Because I need help finding an engagement ring for Lily, you shared a dorm with her for seven years and I can't exactly ask her sister for her help, the two don't get along."

"I know that, but I also didn't get along with Lily for most of that time or are you forgetting that?" Octavia questioned, watching as James turned his head and looked at the cabinet in front of him. She let out a sigh before walking over and standing next to him.

"I just can't find the perfect ring and I thought maybe-"

"Maybe I'd be able to help," Octavia cut James off. "I can only try, yes I can point out a dozen stunning rings in this cabinet but only you know Lily best and know what is best for her. Only you can find the perfect ring, find something that speaks Lily."

"I've been at this for weeks, ever since I first told the others I was thinking of proposing and I haven't found anything, I've stepped foot in so many jewellery stores, both magical and muggle and nothing." James complained, leaning forward and resting his forehead on the case.

Octavia placed a hand on his back and looked in the case, seeing the same plain diamonds over and over. She knew she didn't want an engagement that was just a plain diamond, yes they were pretty but she grew up being told they were common gems and the likes of her family didn't associate themselves with common and as much as she hated it, some things stuck.

"You always say that Lily is one of a kind, now I don't know about her but to me, diamonds are too common, something everyone has when it comes to an engagement ring. Yes diamonds are stunningly beautiful but common."

James turned his head and looked at Octavia with a hint of a smile, "Lilith's engagement is a diamond is it not?"

Octavia was shocked when Lilith told her that Remus proposed after being told that Lilith was pregnant, she, like Lilith, assumed that Remus would panic and leave but he didn't, he stayed and even proposed in the midst of it all.

Octavia was happy for them, not having seen Lilith this happy for so long in such a long time.

"Yes but Lilith's engagement ring is a pink diamond there is a difference, it is also a family heirloom that Liam gave to Moony when he asked for permission to marry her." Octavia watched as James' face lit up at the sound of 'family heirloom'.

"Speaking of family heirloom, do you think she would appreciate having one of mine?" James questioned and Octavia shrugged.

"I have no idea, you can't give Lily the ring because it's a family heirloom, remember it has to be perfect for her. Lilith loved her grandmother and adored the ring, it's perfect for Lilith and if Liam hadn't suggested the ring then I would have if Moony came to me like you are. Hell I would have a much easier time helping Moony pick a ring than I am with you."

"I'm actually surprised you're lasting this long being away from Willa, this is the longest you've left her." James retorted and Octavia frowned.

"I admit, I am struggling a little but I know she's with Padfoot and if I can't trust her with her own father then who can I trust with when I'm ready to go out on missions with you all," Octavia responded.

"Alright then, how about we go check out the Potter family vault and see what jewellery is in there and then we can get you home to your baby."

"Sounds good to me," Octavia gave him a smile before heading towards the door but James grabbed her arm, stopping her from leaving.

"With Lilith getting engaged and me finding a ring for Lily how are you coping with all of this Snow?" he questioned softly and Octavia pulled her arm out of his grasp.

"I have Willa and Padfoot, I don't need a piece of paper telling me the same thing," Octavia responded, hoping her voice sounded much calmer to James than what it did in her own head.

.oOo.

Octavia threw herself down on the couch beside Sirius when she made it home with a sigh causing him to look over at her with an amused look on his face.

"Did you have fun shopping with Prongs?" Sirius teased and a scowl appeared on Octavia's face.

"He wants to find the perfect ring for Lily but yet doesn't know what the perfect ring is, he kept looking at diamonds."

"Oh yes and we all know what your view on diamonds are," Sirius teased and she hit him over the arm.

"Not my fault my parents raised me otherwise," Octavia looked at him and instantly noticed the look on his face. "Don't be like that, yes we hadn't shared most of the views our parents had but some of them stuck to us, like them raising us to have standards. We've both kept some of those standards, I've noticed you when you are buying your clothes or the things we have Willa."

Sirius shifted and wrapped an arm around Octavia, "I know baby, it can make things expensive but they were the things we took pride in while growing up in those houses. We never once stopped dressing the way they wanted us too, we never once rejected the clothes they kept giving to us, we just hated their views on people, the people we call friends and family."

"Where's Willa?" Octavia questioned and Sirius let out a laugh.

"Down for her nap, what you can't trust me alone with her for a couple of hours."

"Never said that Pads," Octavia pulled away from Sirius.

"What's wrong baby?" he questioned, noticing straight away that something was wrong since she didn't make a joke or anything at his expense.

"I'm sick of everyone asking that or asking how I feel about my best friend getting engaged, how another one is planning on proposing to his girlfriend. I'm just sick of it!" Octavia yelled out in frustration.

"Baby," Sirius started but was cut off by Willa crying.

"I'll get her," Octavia spoke before she left the room, not giving him the chance to object.

Octavia was sitting in the rocking chair, Willa in her arms as she rocked Willa back to sleep. She doesn't know if it was her yelling that woke Willa up or something else, she wasn't hungry or needed changing.

There were still no signs that showed if Willa was affected because of how different Octavia was, that she was a Dreamer and it caused both Sirius and Octavia to keep a close eye on her for anything different.

"Baby if you want to get married then tell me, screw our precautions," Sirius spoke and Octavia looked up at him.

"Should we really be swearing in front of Willa?"

"You're just as bad as I am, until she starts repeating our words I think we're fine."

Octavia just shook her head, looking back down at Willa in her arms. "We decided to not get married because of the obvious reasons and I am happy for our friends, they're doing what they want, they are falling in love, getting married and starting families."

"I feel like there is a 'but' in there baby."

"There isn't Pads, we're doing what we have to," Octavia responded quietly, shifting Willa to one arm so she could stand up and return the now sleeping baby to her crib.

Sirius walked over and wrapped his arms around Octavia's waist, softly kissing her neck. "Baby I love you, if you want to get married tell me and I will work it out."

"What I want is to keep Willa protected, to keep her away from our families and without knowing what could be in a potential marriage contract they've put in place between us I do not want to risk putting her safety at risk. I have you and you have me, that's all that matters, why do we need some piece of paper to state otherwise?" Octavia responded pulling away from Sirius.

"You say all of this Snow but your body language says otherwise," he spoke while following her into their bedroom, taking a seat on the bed while she walked into their bathroom.

"What do you want me to say Padfoot that me like any other girl out there wants to have a wedding, to marry their true love, to have their family watch as they confess said love but that little girl in there now comes first. I am in no way going to risk her safety, we both agreed in sixth year that we wouldn't get married until we knew what was in the marriage contract. We both know how magical marriage contracts work, as soon as we sign our wedding license they go into effect. Why can't you realise that I'm putting everything I want aside for her, isn't that what it means to be a parent?"

Sirius frowned when he noticed tears run down her cheeks, "fine no more marriage talk if that is what you want, now please come here."

Octavia stood there in the doorway to the bathroom, wondering if she really wanted to walk over and sit on the bed with Sirius after what she just told him.

"Baby," Sirius spoke when he realised she wasn't going to move. "You don't think I want to get married as well? I do, so much baby and I want nothing to more than to call you my wife, to wake up next to you every morning as my wife. I don't even care if it's just you, me and Willa in front of an official getting married."

"But you were so happy for Moony and Lilith when they told us, you were even thrilled when you told me about Prongs planning to propose," Octavia walked towards the bed and sat at the end of it.

"Of course I was, why wouldn't I be happy for them? They're our best mates Snow, if we can't be happy for them when they are achieving happiness then we aren't true friends." Sirius moved down the bed and positioned himself in front of her, careful not to touch her unsure as to how she was going to react being so close to the edge of her own temper at the moment. "Our world is currently being terrorized by some guy who wishes to kill people who he believes to be lower than him and he actually has people following him and we are going out there and fighting against them, baby we need happiness, we need to have a normal life around the horrible. Yes there is a part of me that wonders if all our friends are getting married because of this war but I'm not going to stand in their way."

Octavia crawled into Sirius' lap, pressing her face into the crook of his neck.

Sirius wrapped his arms around her and began running his fingers threw her hair, "how do you feel about getting someone to watch Willa for an hour or two today?"

"Why would we do that? I haven't agreed to go on missions yet," Octavia responded.

"Not what I meant, I meant how about we get someone to watch Willa while we go running. I remember you complaining while you were pregnant about not being able to transform."

Octavia pulled away and looked at him, contemplating the offer. "Can we do that, can we both leave Willa with someone else and do our own thing for an hour or two? We've only ever left her with each other."

"Prongs has watched her before while we've showered and napped, we named Godparents for a reason and even if we didn't our friends all adore Willa and lets not forget Dromeda," Sirius responded. "Baby if you don't want too we don't have to, I'm not even saying it has to be an hour or two, just us stretching our legs, I haven't transformed since we graduated and I'm feeling that bubble of energy you were talking about."

Octavia pulled away from Sirius and climbed off the bed, she stared at him for a moment before she began pacing. She didn't know if it was possible, possible for her to leave Willa with someone other than Sirius but knew the time had to come, she wanted to be out in the war helping fight against the Death Eaters before they came looking for her because she knew it was only a matter of time.

She stopped when she was in front of the doorway that led towards Willa's bedroom where she was sound asleep in her crib.

"I don't know Pads," Octavia spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

Sirius climbed off the bed and walked over to stand behind her, running his hands up and down her arms. "We can take her to Potter manor and ask them to watch her and then go running in the woods behind the house, Willa will be safe with Prongs and Lily and surely Fleamont will be home to help them."

"Okay, Prongs and Lily can watch her," Octavia finally responded softly and Sirius wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips into her hair. "But not today, I can't today, today I just want to be with you and her as a family."

"Whatever you wish baby."

.oOo.

Octavia stood in the living room and paced with Willa in her arms, Octavia thought they were passed the sleepless nights they had when Willa was first born since she had been sleeping through the night but tonight she wouldn't fall asleep, she just kept being fussy.

But this wasn't Octavia's only concern for the night and the reason for her own lack of sleep, if it wasn't for Willa being fussy she would most likely be awake anyway.

Sirius had been going on missions lately but tonight was the first time he would be gone all night, with no possibility of contacting her and letting her know he was fine until morning and it was worrying her.

They both knew what they were signing up for when they agreed to be a part of the Order, they knew it involved missions, sometimes ones where they were out for the night keeping an eye on certain places but the first one would be the worst.

"Come on baby you need sleep, it'll just make you a grumpy pants tomorrow if you don't sleep." Octavia spoke, bouncing Willa in her arms wishing more than anything she will go to sleep, it would make her night easier.

It only took another few minutes of Octavia pacing in the living room before she gave up and headed upstairs, taking a seat in the rocking chair hoping it will help now.

.oOo.

When Sirius arrived home he was absolutely exhausted, he had a list of things he wanted to before he crawled into bed and the first thing on that list was to hold Octavia on his arms.

The night was a complete bust, they discovered that the house they were watching all night was actually empty come first light. Sirius was annoyed along with Fabien and Gideon, who he was partnered with during the night.

In recent weeks without having to watch the brothers flirt with Octavia Sirius had discovered that he actually got along with the brothers, having similar personalities and now understood as to why Octavia got along with them so well.

Sirius headed upstairs and entered his bedroom walking over to the doorway that led towards Willa's, instantly smiling at the sight in front of him.

All of Willa's stuffed teddies were floating in the air, making circles around the room while she laid there on the floor attempting to grab them, all while Octavia laid there beside Willa lazily moving her hand around.

"Long night baby?" Sirius mussed, knowing full well that Octavia was awake but because she didn't turn and acknowledge him it meant she was struggling to stay awake and was putting all her effort into keeping the toys afloat.

Sirius just laughed when Octavia nodded in response before he walked over and laid down beside her.

"So glad you are home," Octavia spoke, shifting closer to him. She looked over at Willa and noticed she was asleep, "about time, she hasn't slept a wink all night." Octavia breathed out a sigh of relief before waving her hand and the toys returned to their original position.

"Why not?"

"No idea, she felt my worry or had her own," Octavia shrugged, bending over and picking Willa up to place her in her crib.

Sirius walked over and wrapped his arms around Octavia once Willa was placed in the crib, "Well no need for you to worry, I am now home and in one piece."

"How did the mission go?"

"It was a bust, the house was empty almost like they knew we were planning on watching it for the night and cleared out beforehand." Sirius spoke and Octavia lifted her head to look up at him.

"That doesn't make any sense, Dumbledore only gave out that mission two days ago."

"I know, Fabien, Gideon and I spoke about this, unless the house was already empty and Dumbledore's Intel was wrong or they caught wind of the mission."

"Let's hope for our sake that the Intel was wrong," Octavia pulled away completely. "I'm going to get some sleep while Willa is and then this afternoon let's see if Prongs and Lily can watch Willa while we go running."

"You sure baby?" Sirius questioned, he asked her to go running a week ago and she liked the idea but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Octavia nodded, climbing into the bed and making herself comfortable. "Last night was torture, having no idea if you were alright or not because I chose to not be out there due to Willa. Prongs and Lily get to go on missions together same with the rest of the couples out there. If I can go running with you in the woods behind Potter manor while Willa is inside being watched by our best friend then maybe I can think about leaving Willa with someone else while we are out on missions together."

"One step at a time baby, it's what we've always said." Sirius spoke, joining Octavia in bed, all previous thoughts of wanting a shower gone as he just wanted to hug her and reassure her that he was fine, not realising just how much him disappearing for the night worried her.

Him climbing into the bed besides her and her clutching him tight, just proved how worried she was and how relieved she is to have him home now.

"It wasn't my intention to scare you baby," Sirius whispered, softly kissing her forehead but she had already fallen asleep.

After a couple of hours sleep and feeding a much less fussy baby after having her own nap, Octavia was standing in the living room at the Potter's, looking at where Lily was holding Willa and pulling faces at her.

"We aren't going far, anything goes wrong and you can come find us, you know that Prongs? You've always been able to find us," Octavia spoke.

"We will be fine Snow, go have fun with Padfoot," James spoke, all but pushing her out the door.

"James is right, you said there are plenty of nappies in the bag, we have her favourite toys and there are bottles in the cooling cabinet. You and Sirius deserve to have some fun, go," Lily joined in, urging Octavia and she nodded, turning and looking at where she caught sight of Sirius in his Padfoot form rolling around in the grass enjoying the sun.

"You're both sure you can watch her?" Octavia questioned.

"I really don't like kicking people I love out of my house, but get the bloody hell out Snow," James demanded and Lily laughed.

"Fine, fine, I'm going," Octavia muttered as she stepped outside, transforming herself and jumping at the black dog.

Padfoot snapped at Snow before shoving the wolf off him and running into the woods, knowing that he would be followed and the quickening footsteps behind him gave him the sign.

Back inside both James and Lily were standing at the window where they were able to watch the two animal forms run through the back yard and into the woods.

"What do you think happened last night for this to occur?" Lily questioned.

"What do you mean Lil?" James responded, turning and looking at his girlfriend.

"I mean, Willa is a couple of months old now and I heard you and Sirius talking the other day about us potentially watching Willa for a little bit. Sirius was out on his first all night mission, what do you think happened last night?"

"I think just that Lil, you've been coming out on missions with me where as Snow stayed at home with Willa while Padfoot went out on the mission. Her worry and fear for him helped her realise that she needs to be out there with us, with him, but the first step for that to happen is to be okay with someone other than her or Padfoot watching Willa." James spoke, grabbing Willa from Lily.

"Hence why they came here, to where we can watch her while they run around in the woods."

James nodded, walking over and taking a seat on the floor placing Willa on her stomach while he grabbed out her toys. "Not being able to transform, it pulls at you. Snow hasn't transformed since that time we walked in on her and Padfoot hasn't since we graduated, opting out on helping me and Wormtail with Moony."

"How, that doesn't make sense to me?" Lily questioned as she walked over and joined James on the floor.

"It's hard to explain because you aren't an Animagus but your animal form becomes a part of you, it's like for you with your drawing, you turn to it when you want to relax, you enjoy it. I remember you complaining while we were studying for our NEWTs about how you haven't be able to draw in a while and you were getting agitated not having enough to do something that you enjoy and relaxes you, it's the same for us but we feel it in our whole body. Snow may have struggled leaving Willa with us but when they return they will both be in a much better mood."

"Okay then how does being an Animagus affect your views on love then?" Lily questioned and James looked up at her in shock.

"You heard that conversation?" he questioned and Lily nodded. "I love you, so much in fact Lil and you shouldn't question that because of a theoretical conversation I had with Padfoot."

"Then explain it to me James because I sure don't understand it," Lily spoke, lowering her gaze and looking at Willa.

"It comes back to Snow, while her and Padfoot were doing research on Dreamers and any possible children, hoping to find something that will help them with Willa they in fact couldn't find anything on children of Dreamers, making them think that maybe they've never existed before. After Willa was born Snow had one of her future dreams and had a conversation with the first Dreamer and during that dream the Dreamer revealed that no Dreamer in history has had children despite trying, they believe it's because both Snow and Padfoot are Animagi."

Lily looked up from Willa, unsure as to where James was going. "How does that come into everything?"

"I was getting there, it's said that when in an Animagus form they view things as they would as an animal. Snow and Padfoot's animal forms see their mate in each other, both human and animal form."

"But when you look at me as an Animagus you don't see a mate because I'm not an Animagus?" Lily spoke, cutting James off and he nodded.

"My love for you won't change, ever, I've seen your Patronus and it's a match for mine and I honestly believe your Animagus form will be the same. I don't need you to be an Animagus to know you are my one true love because I know it regardless." James reached over and placed his hands on Lily's face, giving her a small smile.

"Okay, it makes sense or it could just be O and Sirius, being O and Sirius?" Lily's commented caused a laugh from James. "Okay so if Willa's here because they are both Animagus and O is a Dreamer, how is this all affecting this precious little girl?"

"As you said, she's only a couple months old, they haven't said anything yet, nothing to show she is exceptional or different. Even Dromeda says Willa is travelling along like any other baby should be, time will tell."

"I don't know how they do it," Lily's voice was quiet as she spoke, moving the toy Willa was reaching for closer to her. "I don't know how they can be such amazing parents to this little girl and yet fear for what may come to her."

"Because Padfoot and Snow are incredibly strong and are such fighters at everything they do despite the moments of weakness we have all seen in them both, they love Willa and will accept her for who she is because it's who they are. They will take every curveball in stride as they come." James reassure Lily and she nodded, not removing her gaze from Willa.

"Do you ever think of having children James?"

"One day Lily, Padfoot and Snow fell into a mistake and the same with Moony and Lilith." James spoke and she finally looked up at him, worry filled him wondering if he was following his friends. "You aren't pregnant are you?" James gulped waiting for his girlfriend's response.

"No James, I'm not, just curious because looking at our friends we can see that mistakes happen." Lily spoke, reassuring him and he let out a sigh of relief.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Ginny702 and revathi for reviewing, it means so much to me.**

 **Revathi, hopefully the storm as past and there wasn't too much damaged caused by it. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter.**


	95. Returning of Friends

Chapter 94: Returning of Friends

 **October 1978**

Octavia let out a squeal as she opened the front door to her house and saw who was standing on the other side of the door, she quickly threw her arms around the other girl and hugged her, it being way too long since she last saw her.

"I've missed you too O, but I can't breathe," Marlene spoke, struggling to breath.

Octavia pulled away, "sorry, I didn't know you were back or even knew you knew where Sirius and I lived."

"I got back last night and Gideon told me you where you two lived, can I come in?"

"Of course," Octavia stepped aside and allowed Marlene in, letting the girl take in everything that was different about the house.

"Definitely different to a standard magical home," Marlene commented as she walked around and Octavia laughed.

"The more muggle the house is, the less likely the Ministry can pick up on our magical traces," Octavia shrugged and Marlene turned and looked at her.

"Who would have thought that the incredibly shy girl who was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin like the rest of her family would end up here of all places," Marlene mused, walking over and hugging Octavia once more. "Where is Sirius by the way?"

"He's upstairs along with someone I want you to meet," Octavia grabbed Marlene's hand and pulled her through the house, heading upstairs to where Sirius was attempting to bathe Willa.

Marlene laughed as Willa soaked Sirius with a splash of water, "so you really were pregnant? I thought Gideon was pulling my leg in his letters."

Octavia raised an eyebrow at Marlene, but decided to leave the topic of Gideon for the moment. "No actually, we found her on the side of the road."

"You think you are so funny O, she is adorable but is bath time always like this?"

"Always, she gets excited for bath time and it makes it kind of difficult at times," Sirius responded before letting out a growl at being splashed once again.

Octavia couldn't help but laugh before walking over and softly kissing Sirius' cheek hoping to calm him down. "Be good for daddy baby," she kissed Willa's forehead before leaving the bathroom with Marlene following behind her.

Octavia waited until her and Marlene were sitting at the table in the kitchen, each with a drink in their hands.

"So you've mentioned Gideon a couple of times, anything I should know that you decided to keep out of your letters?" Octavia questioned, smirking when Marlene's eyes went wide for a moment.

"Don't know what you are on about," Marlene muttered, taking a sip of her drink.

"Honestly Mar, I don't why you are attempting to lie, just because I haven't seen you in a year doesn't mean I still don't know when you are lying."

"Well if you hadn't of skipped my New Year's Eve party it wouldn't be a year now would it?"

"Oh I'm sorry but me being pregnant and afraid of how Sirius would react was more pressing at the time," Octavia responded, lowering her gaze and it was then Marlene reached across the table and grabbed a hand in hers.

"How did Sirius respond to the news? I know he's here now but he didn't look to impress with bath time up there."

"He's just annoyed that he was getting wet, he adores Willa just give it 10 minutes to when he's meant to be putting her down for her nap but instead he's playing peek-a-boo with her. But when I first told him, it wasn't the best reaction."

"Well he's here now that's all that matters, are you two still all good?"

Octavia placed a smile on her face, "never better."

Marlene raised an eyebrow, "hm, if you say so but who would have thought that Octavia Carrow and Sirius Black would have been the first two to buckle down and have a family, the house and all." She teased and Octavia laughed.

"You're avoiding my question about Gideon," Octavia pointed out and Marlene shrugged.

"Her and Gideon are shagging," Sirius spoke as he entered the kitchen.

Octavia opened her mouth to speak but no sound left, she just stared at Marlene who had a glare on her face.

"Sirius!" Marlene hissed.

"What, blame your boyfriend and his brother, they were talking about your return when I was right there with them, as if they knew I knew," Sirius defended himself against Marlene only to have Octavia turn on him.

"You knew she was returning and you didn't tell me," Octavia snapped but Sirius just grinned at her before walking over and kissing her.

"I did baby, I wanted it to be a surprise," Sirius spoke when he pulled away still grinning at her and grateful to see a smile on her face. "I know how much you've missed Mar, I figured you would be ecstatic when she turned up here, speaking of which it is good to see you Mar," he turned and flashed Marlene a smile and she shook her head.

"Glad to know some things never change around here," Marlene commented and they both grinned at her. "I am really happy for you two, I'm happy to see you two made it through everything you've been through."

"Thank you, so you and Gideon are dating?" Octavia questioned hoping she would be able to get the full story now.

"I'm going to leave you two to talk, will you be alright if I go see Prongs?" Sirius questioned and Octavia rolled her eyes.

"I will be fine with Willa for a couple of hours, just don't come home drunk again this time."

Sirius grinned at her before softly kissing her, "no promises Snow."

Octavia hit him over the arm, "just go already." Sirius nodded and handed over the baby monitor before he left them alone.

Marlene waited until Sirius left before she looked at Octavia, "still as sickening as ever," she mused with a smirk.

"You and Gideon?" Octavia questioned and Marlene took a deep breath.

"We aren't dating as such, it's been hard with me checking in with the family contacts in other countries and him teaching at Hogwarts."

"Speaking of teaching, why aren't he and Fabien going back?" Octavia questioned and Marlene shrugged.

"I tried to question Gideon but he just said how he and Fabien aren't cut out for teaching and it was only meant to be for a couple of months till the school year was up, doing a favour for Dumbledore."

"Okay but now you're back in London and he's no longer teaching at Hogwarts, surely that means something?"

A small smile appeared on Marlene's face as she thought about what Octavia pointed out, "I sure hope so."

"Does Gideon know about you and Sirius?" Octavia questioned, more concerned with having her own secrets out in the open.

"Knows we've had sex and that we dated briefly at Hogwarts, that's it. I didn't see the point in telling him about the fake relationship as that is yours to tell and I was unsure as to if they knew about the abuse."

"Thank you," Octavia whispered.

The two girls fell into an easy conversation, catching each other up on what they had missed out on in the year apart. Marlene was filling Octavia in on the things happening outside of Hogwarts while Octavia filled her on the small number of things that happened within Hogwarts that Fabien and Gideon hadn't told her about.

"O?"

The two girls looked at each other at the sound of the voice, they knew who it belonged too but were both surprised at hearing it.

"In the kitchen Fab," Octavia responded while waiting for the redhead to appear. She gave him a smile when he entered the room.

"Where's Sirius?" He quickly questioned.

"You call out for me but ask where Sirius is?"

"Some of the Aurors got called out to investigate an incident amongst the Muggles, some police officers are going on about flying motorbikes and cars. I don't know about you but I only know of one flying motorbike," Fabien explained.

Octavia stared at him before she stood up and walked over to the door that led to the garage, she waved her hand to unlock it so she could see if his motorbike was still in there or not.

But the garage was empty and the motorbike was gone.

"I was told he was going to visit James, I didn't even hear the bike start." Octavia responded, "Any of the Muggles hurt?" she quickly added.

"No, but-" Fabien started but Octavia cut him off.

"But what? If no one was hurt why do the Aurors care? Them showing a little bit of magic is nothing compared to what the Death Eaters are doing," Octavia defended her friends, she knew there had to be more to it since they had ventured into Muggle London many times and didn't expose themselves and even now that Sirius and Octavia had Muggle neighbours, no one suspected anything yet.

"O you don't understand."

"I don't understand that we have to keep our magic hidden from the Muggles? Bit silly that I'm living amongst them if that's the case, as you said no one was hurt and plus, you obviously haven't questioned Sirius about what happened." Octavia snapped and it was then when she heard Willa crying upstairs. "If you're going to keep jumping to conclusions, you may as well leave Fabien." Octavia spoke harshly, leaving the room.

Octavia returned to the kitchen with Willa in her arms, discovering that Willa didn't want to sleep any longer, but in her return to the kitchen she discovered that Fabien and Marlene haven't left.

"Before you jump to more conclusions, hear me out." Fabien quickly spoke, holding his hands up. "I'm not here to yell at you or blame Sirius for what happened, I'm not even here to find out where he is or even plan on arresting him. I came here to warn you and Sirius, the Ministry is up in arms over what happened. At the moment the Ministry have no idea who owns the flying motorbike, I came here to warn Sirius about that, that he needs to keep his motorbike locked up for the moment just until the heat dies down."

Octavia nodded, "I'm sorry for snapping, it's just I don't believe for a second that James and Sirius would have purposely used magic in front of the Muggles."

"It's fine O, no harm done. I have to head off anyway, I only came here to warn you about what happened. You coming Mar?" Fabien questioned and Marlene nodded before looking at Octavia.

"I have a date with Gideon tonight, I will be back O, I'm not going anywhere any time soon, I promise." Marlene spoke, walking over and carefully hugging Octavia, not squishing Willa in the process.

"Have fun tonight," Octavia responded with a wink and Marlene laughed. "Bye Fab," she smiled at Fabien and he nodded before he and Marlene turned and left the room, heading towards the office to Apparate home.

.oOo.

Octavia was currently sitting at the table attempting to feed Willa her dinner but she was spitting more of the mushed food out than she was eating, Octavia had a frown on her face as she held the spoon in front of Willa's mouth.

"Come on baby, the food doesn't taste that bad," Octavia spoke, it was true though. Every night when Octavia made Willa's dinner she tried the food herself, making sure it tasted fine before feeding it to her daughter.

Since her and Sirius have moved into the house and they had to cook all their meals the Muggle way, they quickly discovered that Octavia had a knack for cooking while Sirius didn't, he would burn water, however that was possible.

Octavia threw her head back and let out a huff of annoyance when Willa once again spat her food out, it was when she looked back at Willa she noticed Sirius leaning against the wall with an amused expression on his face.

"Not funny Pads," she growled but Sirius just laughed before walking over.

"You being a good girl princess?" Sirius questioned as he kissed the top of Willa's head before softly kissing Octavia. "What about you baby, you been a good girl?" he teased.

"Well compared to you, yes I have. Fabien was over earlier, talking about having to clean up an incident with the Muggles over flying motorbikes," Octavia raised an eyebrow and Sirius just grinned at her.

"Well you see the thing is Snow, James convinced me to increase the speed that we were going and then the Muggles decided to pull me over and well I don't have the appropriate Muggle documents."

"So what happened?" she questioned, letting out a sigh of relief that Willa was finally deciding to eat her dinner.

"Well what do you think happened, I flew over them and we took off into the sky." Sirius shrugged and Octavia shook her head.

"The bike has to stay locked up in the garage for a while now, the Ministry is going to be on the hunt for one and I know Fabien and Gideon won't hand you over."

"That's alright, it's making a weird noise and I have to look at it anyway. You mad at me for what happened?" he questioned softly.

Octavia looked up at him and shook her head, "no, no one was hurt, I'm just annoyed you went out on the bike but you know that anyway."

"I do baby and every time I come home perfectly fine, when are you going to stop worrying?"

"When you stop going out on the bike," she responded with a smirk and he laughed.

"Do you want me to finish feeding her so you can make a start on dinner?"

"Thank you," Octavia smiled up at Sirius before handing him the bowl and spoon.

.oOo.

 **November 1978**

"Is that Prongs?" Octavia questioned in confusion.

Octavia and Sirius were currently sitting in their bed, about to go to sleep for the night but it was then that Octavia heard James' faint voice.

"Sounds like it," Sirius spoke as he climbed out of the bed.

"What's he doing here so late?" Octavia questioned, all their friends knew better than to turn up after a certain time because Willa was down for the night, it was only during dire circumstances that it was accepted and their friends accepted the fact that Willa needed to stick to her schedule.

"He might not be," Sirius spoke as he walked over to the desk in the corner and began rummaging through looking for something.

"What's that?" Octavia questioned, noticing the mirror he pulled out.

"Prongs and I made these towards the end of sixth year to communicate during detentions when they began splitting us up, they rarely spilt us up but Prongs and I, all the time. I used the spell you used to create the linked parchments, I had no idea it would work with the mirrors." Sirius explained and Octavia's mouth fell open. "Prongs, what's up?" he looked into the mirror.

"You made them and didn't tell me?" she questioned.

 _"She said yes!"_ James spoke happily from the mirror and a large grin appeared on Sirius' face.

"You didn't tell me!" Octavia snapped, crossing her arms in a huff when Sirius looked up and smirked at her before looking back at James.

"Congratulations mate, I'm really happy for both you and Lily, I'm pretty sure Snow is as well if she just got off her high horse," Sirius remarked and Octavia rolled her eyes before patting the spot beside her on the bed.

"Yes Prongs, I am really happy for both of you," Octavia spoke when she saw James in the mirror clear as day, keeping her thoughts to herself until her and Sirius were alone again.

 _"Thanks guys, I wanted to tell you both first, I know you are both struggling with your own situation despite telling us you are fine with it,"_ James spoke and the two of them shared a look. _"Look I get it, it would suck being in your position but you have each other, that's all that matters."_

"Says the guy getting married," Octavia muttered which caused Sirius to elbow her. "Sorry," she apologised and James waved her off.

 _"I get it, Padfoot you'll be my best man?"_

"Of course, shocked that you have to even ask," Sirius replied.

 _"Perfect, I have to go, I'll see you both soon."_ James bid them goodbye before the mirror went blank allowing them to see their reflections.

Sirius turned and looked at Octavia, "tell me again you're fine with us not getting married, that you're fine with putting your happiness over Willa's well-being."

"Don't start on this again, if you want to talk, let's talk about that fancy mirror of yours."

"Oh come on, so I had a secret with Prongs, I have plenty with you and I'm pretty sure you have secrets with Lilith yes?" Sirius responded.

"Not the point, that is different, that is magic that could have allowed us to communicate easier than the parchments."

"Why are you this upset over not having been told about something Prongs and I did together? I never once said anything about the things you and Lilith did, even the many number of conversations I overheard, I kept quiet about it all." Sirius spoke, laying down in the bed and waiting for Octavia to lay down beside him.

"But that's the point, you still knew and I thought we had no secrets," she responded quietly causing him to frown, realising what was really bothering her.

"You don't care about the mirror, you care that I kept something from you. If we're talking about keeping things from each other, what about you refusing to tell me about your dreams showing early on that we come to have a child together, long before we left home and began dating. Want to continue talking about secrets?" Sirius retorted.

"That's different."

"How so? You kept something big from me, something I deserved to know because it involves me."

"What so you think I should tell Prongs, Lily and Wormtail that they get killed at some point during this war?" she snapped.

"No, that's beside the point."

"No it's not, it's the same thing. I didn't tell you because it affected you, just like we aren't telling them." Octavia snapped as she climbed out of the bed.

"Where are you going Snow?" he questioned as she walked towards the door.

"I'm sleeping in the guest room." Octavia responded before she walked out of their bedroom, leaving Sirius in the bed shocked at what just happened.

Both Sirius and Octavia were unable to sleep, both of them laid there staring up at the ceiling unable to sleep after their argument that transpired after they were told about James and Lily becoming engaged.

Sirius climbed off the bed and grabbed the baby monitor before he too left the room in search of Octavia, unsure as to which guest room she was sleeping in but he found them empty so he went downstairs, hoping she hadn't left the house.

He was grateful to find her sitting in the living room watching the television that was in there, "Snow," he spoke softly hoping not to startle her and that she wasn't still mad at him.

She turned and looked at him, "hi, can't sleep?" she questioned and he nodded, walking over and taking a seat on the couch.

Sirius was grateful when she turned around and rested her back against his chest, snuggling deep into him.

"I'm sorry baby, I know at first I was mad that you never told me about Willa, that you kept her from me and as much as I was mad I am glad you didn't tell me. I do wonder how different our relationship would have been if I knew the truth. I get that we've always had the no secrets policy but sometimes we need to have secrets, we are also allowed to have secrets between our friends." Sirius spoke, apologising and explaining his reasons behind the secret with James, wrapping his arms Octavia holding her close.

Octavia stayed silent for a moment as she lifted Sirius' hand towards her mouth and softly pressed her lips against his knuckles before bringing his arms tighter around her.

"Baby?" Sirius questioned when she didn't responded, it was when he heard a sniffle from her that he realised she was silently crying and he pressed his lips into her hair.

"It was bad enough I knew, there are parts of my dreams where I am glad I saw them because it gives me the chance to change the future, like how I saw Amycus die or what may or may not happen to Prongs, Lily and Wormtail or how you supposably betray us. But there are things I hate, finding out about my own future, especially things I want because then I worry every step of the way as to if we're going in the right direction to get what I, we, want. It's partly why I put off us having sex for so long and I hate that I'm using that as an excuse, I was terrified that maybe Willa came along earlier than later and I just-"

"Shh baby," Sirius spoke softly, cutting her off. "I get it, I can't imagine what it's like to go through seeing those moments from the future. I just always thought that you came to me when it came to your dreams, even before we found out you were pregnant I was shocked to discover that Prongs knew something over me and now knowing you kept something from me entirely. After everything we've been through together, I was shocked to hear you felt like you couldn't trust me with the information."

Octavia twisted around in his lap so she could face him properly, "I do trust you and I'm sorry you feel that way Padfoot, I never wanted you to feel that way."

Sirius lifted his arm and placed his hand on the back of her neck, allowing him to lean down and kiss her, deep and hard. "I love you baby, both you and Willa. We've been through so much, so many obstacles that have tested our relationship and it's only made us stronger in the long run. We're both considered adults in our world while pretending to be adults within the Muggle world, we are involved in a war and we can't have secrets because of it. From here on out no more secrets that are vital."

Octavia raised an eyebrow, "what do you deem vital?"

A smile appeared on his face, "well what if I want to plan a romantic night for us, dinner, candles, flowers, the works, wouldn't you want me to keep that a secret from you?"

Octavia shook her head in response while a small smile appeared on her face.

Sirius placed his fingers under her chin and caught her before she lowered her gaze, feeling embarrassed about what he was saying. "How about me go back to bed baby and get some sleep before Willa wake us up?"

Octavia twisted around fully so she was straddling his lap, "the baby monitor is there and Willa is sound asleep, do we have to go upstairs just yet?" she suggested, pressing her body closer to his.

Sirius placed his hands on her hips, bringing her closer to him. "not at all baby," he whispered before he placed his lips against her neck, softly kissing her.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Revathi, glad you enjoyed the previous chapter and that there wasn't too much damage from the storm you had.**


	96. One Day

Chapter 95: One Day

 **November 1978**

"So Snow, when are you and Pads getting married?" Lily questioned, Octavia let out a sigh and stayed silent for a moment, watching Willa play on the floor. "You have spoken about marriage, haven't you? I mean you two have a little girl."

"No, we have it's just more complicated than what you would think." Octavia looked at Lily, wondering how much she would understand. "There is so much you don't understand about Purebloods."

"James has been explaining it to me, what else could there be to it?"

"It's the differences in the families, it's the types of families that Pads and I come from. Let me put it this way to begin with, if Prongs was from one of those families and he married you they would be out for blood. He would be disowned and they would be out for blood in this war."

"But what makes it so hard that you two can't get married?" Lily questioned again and Octavia looked back at Willa, "Don't tell me it's Willa?"

"What about Willa?" Octavia watched as Willa looked up at the sound of Sirius' voice and the look of pure excitement on her face, made her smile.

"Lily's asking why we haven't gotten married or engaged and I'm trying to explain, she thought maybe Willa was the reason why we haven't." Octavia explained and Sirius nodded as he made himself comfortable on the floor with Willa.

"She's part of the reason but it's not like we're hiding her from them, they know we have a child but as far as we know they know nothing else." Sirius looked at Octavia, she could read the question in his eyes.

"I haven't heard from Am, so I wouldn't know."

"Who's Am?" Lily questioned.

"She's technically family now Snow."

"I know and Dumbledore already knows, Lily Am is my brother Amycus, he's a Death Eater."

"You're in contact with a Death Eater and Dumbledore knows?"

"He's seen memories of various conversations that have happened over the years between Amycus and I. He's the reason Pads and I are safe, this house he organised the moment he graduated, it's completely unaware to the Ministry. Am and I don't share locations or information, it's just to make sure we're still okay."

"But he knows you're here!" Lily exclaimed.

"And we've been here for a few months and nothing bad has happened." Octavia explained.

"But how can Dumbledore be okay with a Death Eater knowing where you are?"

"We don't have Order meetings here, members don't turn up here, we have to go to them and if they do turn here, they get told in advance about the risk of being here. Dumbledore said it's our choice to trust him and I do fully, he's the reason my parents let me walk away at the end of Fifth year. Until we get attacked while we are here, I trust my brother completely."

"I'm assuming the others know?"

"Yes."

"But this still hasn't told me why you two can't get married."

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck, "we're worried of what will happen once we get married. Both of us had arranged marriages before we were disowned, Snow was set to marry my younger brother for various reasons but we're worried that now they've received word of us having a child together we think that they would have changed the contracts and have it set between the two of us. If we have a magical wedding like you and James will it will activate the contract and since we don't know what's in it, we don't want to risk it."

"But I thought you were both disowned?" Lily questioned but Sirius was distracted by Willa to respond.

"We were, when we first ran away but I was reinstated when my parents found out I was pregnant, Willa even has her trusts set up but they have no idea who she is or her name, we've made sure of that with the goblins." Octavia responded instead, both of them have had this conversation on a number of occasions and were still no closer to getting what they wanted without risking Willa's safety.

"What about Pads though, it's his daughter, won't his parents be as happy as yours?"

"It all depends Lily, our parents are completely different. Amycus convinced my parents to let me go, that I was a lost cause while Sirius chose to run away, if he was reinstated he can still be a family member without receiving a trust, they may also just want the heir and not him. Without getting a lawyer and having someone look at everything regarding our family, we're being careful."

"What's wrong with getting a lawyer?"

"Then our parents find out we're planning on getting married, they will find out who Willa is and they may even find out where we are. There is no way I'm risking any chance of Snow's parents getting a hold of Willa." Sirius spoke from the floor and both girls looked at him where he was pulling faces at Willa.

"How could Snow's parents get a hold of her?"

"They'll show Snow's rare magical ability to prove that she is unstable and try to get her and because Snow and I aren't married I may lose the battle. Neither of us work Lily, we both stay at home living off the gold we've inherited and the small amount of gold that Snow now receives, and when Snow is ready to join us on missions we will get someone we trust completely to look after Willa."

Lily nodded, slowly taking in the information she was being given by the two Purebloods. "Could you really lose her though?"

"There is a chance, if my parents really want her especially if for some reason they think she's a boy then they would. He's the heir, the one meant to take over the company one day. It's why they were so set on Regulus and I getting married, why I was reinstated once they found out I was pregnant because there was a chance that it would be a boy, they thought I was redeeming myself by getting knocked up by Sirius."

"But they won't Snow, they know we had a girl." Octavia turned and looked at him with her mouth hanging open.

"How and why?" she gritted through her teeth, trying to not lose her temper.

"I may have sent our parents a copy of Willa's birth certificate, except I blacked out her name. They know she's a girl and won't try and claim her for the company."

"I'm just going to go and get Willa ready for her bath…" Lily spoke as she got up and walked over to where Willa was, noticing the look on Octavia's face.

"Sirius!" Octavia yelled out and Sirius winced at it, not expecting her to be that angry.

He got up and walked over to sit beside her on the couch, he placed his hand on her neck and softly stroked her cheek. They sat like that for a couple of moments, Sirius doing the same action and watching as her anger slowly disappeared.

"Ever since you received that letter from Gringotts stating that your trust had been reinstated as well as one set up for Willa, you've been paranoid that they are going to find her in hopes that she was a boy. I sent them a copy of her birth certificate with hope that they will realise that she is in fact a girl and they will leave us and her alone, I wanted to be able to do something in the middle of this war that can help ease your worries. Don't even get me started on that nightmare you had."

"You should have told me what you did but instead you kept it from me, were you ever planning on telling me? What happened to no secrets?"

Sirius didn't say anything in response and Octavia took that as his answer, she pulled her head away from his hand and stood up.

"You can sleep on the couch," she stated calmly and it worried him.

"Snow, don't walk away from me." Sirius rushed after her and wrapped an arm around her waist to prevent her from walking away again.

"Just let me go…" she growled while pulling against him.

Sirius crouched down and picked up, throwing her over his shoulder. "Lily can you bathe Willa for us." he called out and carried Octavia outside, heading towards the hammock that was set up in the backyard.

He placed Octavia down on the hammock before climbing in beside her and putting an arm around her shoulders, happy to see that she rested an arm across his stomach and rested her head on his chest. Even more grateful when she warmed them both up, he didn't realise how cold it was out here when he carried her outside.

"You went behind my back Pads, we might not be married but we have a child together and it's always been us against the world, why did you go behind my back?"

"I just wanted to help, you were so worried that they would randomly turn up and try and take her from us."

"But why wouldn't you tell me? Wouldn't you telling me help erase my fear?" she questioned and felt Sirius shift underneath her until they were face to face.

"Because I'm an idiot who is more afraid of his girlfriend," he spoke and Octavia laughed.

"As you should be," they both looked up and found Lilith standing there with Willa in her arms, still unbathed.

"When did you get here?" Octavia questioned.

"Moments ago and Lily handed Willa over, I see she hasn't had her bath."

"You know Moony will be mad if he sees you carrying her." Sirius spoke and Octavia whacked him across the chest.

"I swear you two are as bad as each other, you were exactly the same when I was pregnant." Octavia muttered before climbing off the hammock and walking over to where Lilith was standing with Willa, "you're still sleeping on the couch." Octavia called out and Lilith laughed at the look on Sirius' face.

"I will help you with Willa, I need to talk to you about something anyway." Lilith spoke softly and Octavia looked worried as she grabbed Willa.

"Is everything alright, did Dromeda say something was wrong?"

"We'll talk inside…" Octavia was instantly worried at the look on Lilith's face, she was worried something had gone wrong with her best friend's pregnancy.

"What did Dromeda say? I told you, if you felt more comfortable having your dad look after your pregnancy she wouldn't take it to heart."

"No, no it's not that, I'm extremely comfortable with Dromeda, especially more so than what I would be with dad. It's just…" Octavia could see the tears building up in her eyes before she averted her gaze.

"What did Dromeda say, remember I've been through a pregnancy while attempting to finish my NEWTs." Octavia spoke softly while focusing back on Willa.

"The baby is currently under developed not at the size it should be this far along and I'm anaemic, Dromeda is just worried that there could be complications when it comes to giving birth. She said it's because I'm under so much stress and it's understandable with the war we are in, she said my stress levels are higher than what yours were."

Octavia couldn't believe what she was hearing, she couldn't believe that her best friend was now going through this after everything and the fact that Remus was gone at this point in time was even worse. If it wasn't for the fact that she was holding Willa up in the water she would have leaned over and hugged the girl.

"Is there anything you can to do help make the rest of your pregnancy easier?"

"Dromeda has given me a bunch of potions to take before the next visit, hopefully they will help, they aren't a permanent fix but it's the best she can do without admitting me to St Mungo's."

"You'll get through this."

"I know, it's just hard without Moony here."

"Understandable, but once your little girl is here everything will be worth it."

"You still claim I'm having a girl," Lilith laughed and Octavia grinned.

"I told you, I'm 75% sure I've seen her and she's beautiful especially now I know that her and Willa will be a similar age."

"What were you and Padfoot going on about?" Lilith questioned, hoping to forget about her pregnancy issues for the time being.

"He went behind my back and told my parents that we had a girl," Octavia explained, growling at Willa when she began splashing around while Lilith just laughed.

"But that's a good thing isn't it? Your parents don't want a girl, they can't do anything with a girl, they wanted a boy because he's the heir. You don't have to worry about them randomly turning up now because they know the truth," Lilith spoke and Octavia snuck a glance at her.

"He went behind my back and didn't even tell me, wouldn't telling me that he told them erase my fears?"

Lilith shrugged but quickly realised that she wasn't seen, "I can't tell you that one, but honestly don't stay mad at Padfoot. I would give anything to have Moony back."

"Where is he anyway? He's been gone for a few days now," Octavia questioned.

The group of friends had spoken amongst them about Remus' disappearances but no one knew where he was, but they also haven't had the chance to question Lilith about it either as she was barely around, claiming her pregnancy was really taking it out of her.

"Just out on a mission for the Order, it's not the first time Dumbledore has sent someone out for days at a time. I seem to recall Marlene being gone for a couple of months." Lilith snapped and Octavia was shocked at the hostility coming from her best friend.

"You can tell me anything, you know that right?" Octavia pulled Willa up out of the bath and grabbed the towel from Lilith to dry her.

"Yeah, I should be getting home anyway. Dromeda also said as of next week I'm no longer allowed to Apparate." Lilith spoke before quickly leaving the room, not even giving Octavia the chance to speak or object to her leaving.

"Is it just me or was that really weird?" Octavia asked Willa but Willa just made a babble of noises as response and Octavia smiled at her daughter.

Octavia walked through to Willa's bedroom and got her dressed before putting her down for her nap.

She walked downstairs in search of Sirius and found him sitting in the living room.

"Everything alright Pads?" she questioned.

"I know I should have told you I told our parents about Willa, I should have told you to get rid of your fear but I didn't see the point, it seemed as though you were past it and weren't worrying as much anymore."

"I probably shouldn't have reacted the way I did," Octavia walked over and took a seat beside him on the couch. "Why are we arguing so much more since we graduated?"

Octavia was worried that things were getting worse for her and Sirius and they weren't actually improving as a couple and that things were actually getting worse, she was worried that they won't be able to make it like they thought they would.

Sirius moved closer to her on the couch and placed his hands on her waist, "I've been thinking about it as well but think about it, with us living together this is the first time we've spent so much time together because of Willa. At Hogwarts we had a couple of separate classes and even the ones we shared, we didn't always sit with each other and we did do separate activities as well and when we were at the Potter's you were sometimes off with Lilith and Marlene."

"It makes sense Pads," Octavia's voice wavered.

Sirius lifted his hand and placed it on her neck as he leaned his forehead against hers, "baby what's wrong?"

"I'm scared Padfoot," she whispered and he softly kissed her.

"If we want this to work then we will, we can get through anything because we want to. I love you so much and that's what we need to remember." He responded.

Octavia nodded, "I love you too Pads," she whispered.

.oOo.

"Pete?" Dorcas questioned as she placed her menu down.

Dorcas and Peter were currently out for lunch, sitting in one of the limited restaurants left opened in Diagon Alley.

"Yes love?" Peter responded without looking up from his own menu.

"I was curious, with all your friends getting engaged and having babies have you thought about our future together?" Dorcas questioned and Peter finally lowered his menu and looked over at her.

"What was that?" he stuttered out.

Dorcas swallowed the slowly rising lump in her throat, she was nervous about having to ask Peter about this particular topic but she was curious, it seemed as though the rest of his friends and hers were moving ahead in their lives while their relationship seemed to be at a standstill.

"Our relationship, do you see it going anywhere?" she questioned once more feeling the heat increase in her cheeks as Peter studied her.

"Oh, do we have to have this conversation here in public?" Peter responded, picking up his menu.

Dorcas just nodded as she picked up her own menu, wondering what the smallest thing she could order was as she was no longer hungry, instead she was scared as to why Peter didn't want to have the conversation about their future in public, she feared he was going to break up with her.

.oOo.

Peter's whole body tensed up when Dorcas questioned where he saw their future going, when he honestly saw it going nowhere. He was hoping she wouldn't bring up that particular conversation but he supposed with everyone around him getting engaged and having children that she was getting ideas in her head.

He didn't know what he was going to tell her and he was taking the moment of silence while she had left to use the bathroom before they leave the restaurant.

He didn't know if he should break up with her and deal with the fallout or lie and say that he saw the relationship going somewhere but it never actually going anywhere but also in turn having the ones around him harass him as to why he hadn't proposed to Dorcas yet.

Peter feared how his father would react if he pushed the relationship that far, if he proposed but never intended on marrying Dorcas.

When Dorcas appeared beside the table he flashed her a smile as he stood up and held his hand out for hers, lifting it and brushing his lips across her knuckles when she laced her fingers with his.

"Love you," Peter whispered, putting a grin on his face when she looked up at him.

"I love you too," Dorcas responded and Peter quickly Apparated the two of them to her flat that she shared with Mary MacDonald.

Peter was unsure as to why Dorcas had moved out of home with Mary when he knew that she had a good relationship with her parents, it didn't make sense to him.

He didn't understand why Dorcas was choosing to work for the Daily Prophet, he didn't understand anything when it came to her choices.

"Did Mary say how long she was going to on her mission for?" Peter questioned, unsure as to if he wanted to be interrupted in the middle of whatever conversation he decided to go with.

Dorcas shook her head, "no, I don't even know what the mission is because I had to miss the meeting and she didn't fill me in before she left."

"She's off with Emmeline Vance, they're looking into rumours about something that potential Death Eaters are doing within the Ministry." Peter quickly explained, thankful that he wasn't given that mission, that Mary and Emmeline took it since they both work in the Ministry.

"You mean the Death Eaters being Malfoy, Carrow, Crabbe, Goyle and possibly Black?" Dorcas questioned and Peter just nodded.

He was unsure as to how he would sound if he responded verbally, he knew his father went to Hogwarts with all those names, ran in the same circle as them and most likely shared a dorm with them but for whatever reason once they all left Hogwarts he went a separate way to them, everyone forgetting that Peter Pettigrew Senior was once a part of the original Knights of Walpurgis.

Peter still hadn't been told as to why his father left Voldemort's side, unsure as to why his father went the way he did within the Ministry and he would be lying if he said he never once thought how different his life would be had he grown up in the world he should have.

"And those are the names that are unconfirmed Death Eaters, hence why Dumbledore wants us to investigate them right?" Peter responded, not looking at Dorcas when she hummed in response.

"Drink?" she questioned, breaking the silence.

Peter looked up and found Dorcas standing there with a bottle of Fire Whiskey in her hand and two glasses, he nodded before resting his head back against the couch.

"Love?" Peter spoke, breaking the silence.

"Are you breaking up with me?" Dorcas' timid voice caused Peter to open his eyes and face his girlfriend.

He found her sitting there with tears clouding her eyes, it was then he realised that for now he needed Dorcas, he needed to keep her as a cover because he didn't know how the others will react when they find out he's single.

"No love, I am not breaking up with you, why would you question that?" Peter questioned and it was then the tears ran down her cheeks.

"You were so cold at lunch, requesting that we spoke in private about our future."

Peter stayed silent for a moment, trying to find the right words and not screw it up completely. "Not at all love, I'm terrified for what our future holds. I just want us to focus on the present and focus on staying alive, I may have been in Gryffindor and have done reckless things with my friends but I can't go making rash decision like the rest of them."

"Are you saying marrying me is a rash decision?"

Peter quickly shook his head, "not what I meant love, I love you but James and Lily haven't even been together for a year and are now getting married, Octavia and Sirius had a child thrown upon them. I don't want to make rash decisions because I'm scared of what's happening outside, I want to make decisions because it's what I really want."

"So you don't want to get married?"

Peter moved closer to her on the couch and hesitantly placed a hand on her cheek, repeating an action he had seen James, Sirius and Remus all do with their girlfriends by running his thumb along Dorcas' cheek.

"I do love, one day, but for now why can't we focus on staying alive?" Peter spoke.

He averted his gaze as he leaned over and grabbed one of the glasses sitting on the table, downing the Fire Whiskey.

"One day?" Dorcas questioned.

"One day love," Peter replied, refusing to look at Dorcas before he stood up and walked towards the kitchen where he knew Dorcas left the bottle of Fire Whiskey wanting more of it.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or any other holiday that my readers may participate in and if it is a normal weekend for you then I do hope that it is filled with joy.**

 **Thank you to Ginny702, Raven that flies at night and revathi for reviewing, as always it means a lot to me.**


	97. First Mission

Chapter 96: First Mission

 **December 1978**

Octavia opened her eyes and took in the scene in front of her, she rolled over and pushed herself off the ground and stood up.

She wanted the ringing in her ears to stop so she could think back on what happened, she couldn't remember what happened for the village to end up like this.

The buildings were on fire and there was a cloud of smoke all around her and she was struggling to breath because of it.

She looked at the ground in search of her wand but couldn't find it in sight, her quickly spinning around in search of it caused her head to spin and in turn she quickly bent over to help straighten the world out.

She stretched her hand out and waved her fingers, hoping she could feel the magic that is her wand as her fingers moved around. It took a while but her wand eventually found its way into her hand and she let out a sigh of relief.

She felt someone place their hands on her shoulder and spin her around, she quickly came face to face with Gideon as the world began spinning again.

She could see his mouth moving but she couldn't hear anything except the ringing in her ears.

 _24 hours earlier_

"Baby you agreed to this," Sirius spoke.

Octavia turned and faced him, still holding Willa close to her chest hoping to remove some of the panic that had filled her at the thought for leaving Willa for this long, for risking her life.

"This is the longest we will both be gone from her, Dumbledore wants the two of us along with Gideon and Marlene to investigate some remote community in the south of Scotland because he received wind that some Death Eaters are hiding out there." Octavia responded.

Sirius stepped closer to her, softly kissing the top of Willa's head, "you don't think I'm liking that we are going to be away from her for this long?"

"I never said that."

"I know Pads," Octavia spoke softly as she reached over and tucked his hair behind his ear with her free hand. "You know your hair is getting rather long these days, I like the long hair on you don't get me wrong but this is getting rather ridiculous."

"I think you're ridiculous for not liking it this long," Sirius commented as he flicked his hair over his shoulder. "Okay, the fact that that actually work says it all."

Octavia laughed, "do you want me to cut it for you?" she questioned and he pulled a face at her.

"What were the words you said to me when I offered the same?" Sirius tapped his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. "That's right, 'you honestly think I will let you anywhere near my hair with a pair of scissors or a severing charm'."

"Now you're being childish," Octavia remarked as she turned and left the room.

When Octavia was downstairs, she placed Willa on the floor on her stomach giving her the required tummy time she needed and allowed her to play with her toys.

A pair of scissors appeared in her field of vision and she turned her head to grin at Sirius before grabbing them.

"A quick trim and then we have to leave."

Octavia nodded in response and quickly set to work cutting Sirius' hair, she knew he said a trim but she brought it back to length he regularly kept it at when they were still at Hogwarts. She knew him well enough to know that this length was something he wanted and preferred.

She ran her fingers through his hair, messing it up making sure her cuts were straight and it didn't look like a mess.

When she was done she placed the scissors on the couch beside her and leaned forward wrapping her arms around Sirius' neck, "all done Pads," she spoke softly in his ear.

"Thanks baby, I'm sure it looks perfect. Is Willa's bag all packed?"

"It is, is Dromeda still fine with looking after her for the night?"

Sirius pulled away and turned to look at Octavia, he could see how scared she was about what was going to happen while they were out, he was as well but she was the one who threw her hand up for this mission and in turn bringing him with her.

"You and I both know Dromeda hasn't changed her mind, come on baby."

Octavia averted her gaze from Sirius and looked over at where Willa was on the floor attempting to reach out for one of the toys.

"Let's get this over with then," Octavia spoke softly as she stood up, picking Willa up on her way back upstairs.

.oOo.

"How are you doing O?"

Octavia turned her head and saw Marlene standing there with two mugs in her hand, she quickly handed one over to her.

"Thanks," Octavia gave her a smile before she looked back out on the street, wondering which of her 'new neighbours' were Death Eaters.

"Why did you sign up for this mission, there are other couples with the Order who haven't been caught showing alliance to Dumbledore yet?" Marlene questioned, stepping in beside Octavia. "Is this why Sirius is so in love with you, the heat you generate?" Marlene spoke with a smirk and Octavia laughed.

"I'm sure if you ask him, he'll say it's a definite perk to the relationship," she responded.

She learnt quickly that all the Order members knew the truth about her, they never asked questioned and she never questioned how they knew, although she suspected that Dumbledore had informed them.

She knew trust was a big aspect of the Order, they had trust in Dumbledore and each other because outside when they were fighting the Death Eaters they had to trust that they had each other's backs.

Growing up Octavia was always terrified of what other people would think of her if they knew the truth about her, terrified that they were going to look down on her for being different, for being something that they all feared but yet the members of the Order didn't treat her any differently and she was grateful.

"How is it that Gideon hasn't been exposed yet?" Octavia commented and Marlene laughed.

"Fabien and Gideon aren't friendly within the Ministry, for now they refuse to work together when it comes to Auror work, Fabien works with Benjy Fenwick and Gideon sticks to the office, pretending to be annoyed at being benched and seeing who walks up to him offering something better. There are so many suspected Death Eaters within the Ministry and we need to keep as many as we can off the suspected Order list."

Octavia nodded, "I felt guilty for not having been out here and done my part yet, I put my hand up without even realising what I was agreeing to." She spoke softly, sneaking a look at Marlene in time to see the other girl nod.

"I have a feeling this will either be a bust or a lot easier than we except, look around, it's all cars and Muggle technology. I think you being here on this mission will be a blessing, Gideon spoke of how you can feel the wards and magic surely with you having spent so much time around the three of us you can differ between our magic and whoever else is out here?"

Octavia nodded, this was something she had thought about already. She wondered if she would feel the presence of new magic when she was used to the three she was currently living with but she was still unable to differ between the different wards on properties.

Over the last couple of weeks she was working with both Fabien and Gideon on differing between the wards without a wand, she wanted to be able to wave her hand at the edge of the property and instantly know which wards were surrounding the property especially if they were doing a raid, it could potentially save lives in the future.

"What's the matter O? I've seen that look on your face a number of times over the years," Marlene spoke but Octavia didn't respond, she just turned around and looked through the window where she could see Sirius and Gideon on the other side, laughing about something and not paying them any attention.

"I feel like there is a weight on my shoulders, I feel like everyone believes I will be the one to take Voldemort down because of what I am," Octavia looked down at the mug in her hands, she let out a sigh. "What if I can't do it, what if I fail and don't live up to the expectation that everyone has of me."

"You can't know what everyone thinks of you," Marlene spoke and Octavia laughed bitterly.

"You obviously don't read the Daily Prophet," Octavia looked at the other girl just in time to see a raised eyebrow. "It's alright Sirius and I don't either. The Ministry still has me listed as living with the Potter's with thanks of some friends in the Ministry," Octavia spoke but she knew it was Amycus pulling favours.

A couple of weeks ago there was an article within the Daily Prophet releasing the information that Octavia was in fact a Dreamer, along with her being Dumbledore's secret weapon.

It didn't take long for the owls to start turning up at Potter Manor with letters for her, they all spent hours shifting through the letters trying to figure out what people were thinking.

Some of them stated that she would be the savour of the wizarding world while others stated she would be its downfall, while the rare few went as far to say that they knew she was a spy for Voldemort and that she hadn't actually pulled away from her family.

It didn't take long for Amycus to reach out and state that he had Artemis pull some strings to state that she was still living with the Potter's and not look into where she was.

Octavia also knew that Amycus did it to save his own skin, if people started looking into where she was living it wouldn't take long for them to start looking into how she afforded the house.

She still couldn't believe Artemis was helping Amycus with all of this, that Artemis was still taking the money in order to keep his mouth shut.

"What happened with the article?" Marlene questioned and Octavia shook her head before she pushed off the railing and headed back inside.

.oOo.

"Can you feel anything?" Sirius questioned as he and Octavia walked through the neighbourhood in the dead of night.

Octavia shook her head and Sirius wrapped an arm around her, softly kissing her forehead.

"I miss her too baby, so much," Sirius whispered.

"Maybe I need to find the trail alone, I still can't distinguish between wards, maybe the feel of your magic is blocking whoever else is out here."

"I'm not leaving you alone out here, we aren't even going to consider having this conversation," Sirius snapped.

Octavia looked up at him before shaking her head and pulling away from him, she could feel magic when she focused on it but there was a part of her that assumed it was Sirius standing beside her.

It was with the two of them walking in silence for a few minutes that Octavia felt it, something cold and dark but looking at Sirius, it was obvious that he didn't feel what she was.

"What's wrong?" he questioned, noticing the look on her face.

But she quickly shook her head in response before pressing a finger to her lips.

Octavia stepped forward holding her hands out, hoping that the cold and dark feeling she was getting was just because she was cold, out in the snow and her internal heating charm had stopped working.

But it was when she turned the corner a gasp escaped her lips as she placed a hand over her mouth as she looked down at the dead body laying there in the middle of the snow, it made her feel sick that it was just a child, an innocent child who wouldn't have done anything to anyone.

"Come on baby, let's go back to the house, it's why Gideon came out here with us," Sirius wrapped an arm around Octavia's waist and pulled her away from the body.

"But it's just a child Pads, a poor innocent child, what if it was Willa?"

Sirius turned and looked at Octavia, tears building in her eyes. "We can't think things like that, I miss her so much, I do but picturing her where we see dead children isn't the way to go about it, it will just ruin the focus we need to stay alive, to stay alive for that beautiful baby girl we left with Dromeda."

Octavia just nodded, staying silent as she didn't know what would happen if she voiced the thoughts running around in her head right now, she didn't even know if they were being watched and it was all a trap, a trap for her and Sirius.

Octavia couldn't sleep after she returned to the house, she couldn't get the sight of that poor child out of her head.

Gideon and Marlene both left to go and investigate the scene, to see if they could find out what exactly happened to the child.

"Here," Sirius spoke and she looked up at him to find that he was standing there with a glass of amber liquid in his hands.

"How long does it take?" Octavia whispered and Sirius placed a hand on the back of her neck as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"I don't know, I'm not an Auror and didn't end up taking the offer to join the program. Come on baby, you need sleep."

Octavia shook her head before looking towards the front door where she heard voices on the other side, she quickly stood up and looked at Sirius, grateful that she wasn't the only one hearing the voices.

"Go get your wand baby," Sirius ordered.

Octavia did as he requested and quickly retrieved her wand from its hiding spot in their room before walking out and finding that Marlene and Gideon have returned.

Gideon looked at her and noticed the wand in her hand, "good we have to go, we'll discuss the child later."

Octavia was confused but followed them outside and it was then she caught sight of the smoke in the distance, so much for fact that their mission was meant to be a gathering of information not this, not what it's turned into now.

Now the small village they were in had turned into chaos, it was no longer the quiet village it was when they first arrived, now there was Muggles running around terrified at what was happening.

It was also in that moment that Octavia saw all the Death Eaters running around in their masks and cloaks terrorizing the Muggles.

Octavia turned to Sirius as fear set in, there was only four of them with no way to contact Dumbledore about what was happening, she also knew that the four of them wouldn't leave and leave the Muggles to die at the hands of the Death Eaters.

She stepped closer to Sirius, wrapping an arm around his neck and kissed him hard. "Stay safe."

"I love you baby," Sirius responded and the two of them set off into the chaos.

It didn't take long for the Death Eaters to take off, making the work for the four of them much easier.

It confused Octavia, she was unsure as to if they were fresh faces amongst the ranks of Death Eaters or if there was something else going on in the middle of all of this.

She wanted to start looking for Sirius and make sure he was okay but she had to have faith in him, have faith that he can look after himself while she looked after the defenceless Muggles that couldn't.

Octavia tucked her wand away and headed towards where the loudest screams were coming from, there was little things she could do to help without her wand without alerting them to the fact that she was a witch, they would think she was a miracle worker.

Most of the Muggles were fine, just frightened at having heard the noise and see the flames in the dead of night, despite her being a stranger who only arrived a mere 24 hours ago, they took solace in the fact that she was calm with everything going on in their small village.

It was then it happened, what the Death Eaters were planning and there was a loud explosion followed by screams and it wasn't long until everything went black for Octavia.

.oOo.

Octavia's brow scrunched as she tried to focus on what Gideon was saying but she couldn't hear him, just the ringing in her ears.

"I can't hear you," Octavia spoke, barely hearing her own voice inside her head.

Gideon nodded before he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her along, she had no idea where he was leading her and she just hoped wherever they ended up was that Sirius was there.

Despite her not being able to hear anything, she just wanted to be able to see that Sirius was safe and sound.

It wasn't until Gideon had pulled her from the wreckage of the house that she was previously in that she noticed that the sun was coming up over the horizon and she then realised how long she was unconscious for and she looked over at Gideon.

It was then Octavia also noticed the rest of the Order members had arrived, tending to the Muggles and cleaning up the accidents along with some of the Ministry officials that have come out to help take statements and help with clean up as well.

It was when she spotted the rest of her friends, minus Sirius, that her panic in regards to his safety increased, if he wasn't with them, where was he?

They all spotted her and rushed over to where her and Gideon were standing as Octavia took in the scene and the events that must have taken place after she blacked out.

She frowned once more as she noticed that they were all speaking and she still couldn't hear them, she didn't realise how much she depended on her hearing, especially more so since she became an Animagus and her hearing improved thanks to her wolf counterpart.

"She can't hear anything," Gideon spoke, explaining to the others why there was a strange look on Octavia's face. "I don't know what happened to her, I was checking out the wreckage of the house that blew up to see if maybe there would be any survivors and I found her standing in the middle of the rubble."

"Did any of the Muggles survive?" James questioned and Gideon shook his head.

"But then how did Snow?" Peter spoke and they all looked at Octavia but she just raised an eyebrow, having not heard their conversation.

"She's produced her shield in the past, maybe she did it subconsciously to protect herself when the house was coming down on her, she seems to be perfectly fine aside from her hearing which could be caused due to the sound of the explosion," Remus offered an explanation and they all looked at her curiously.

"It makes sense when you think about it, she produced her shield against Voldemort when it was needed and she's done it to protect Sirius," Gideon spoke and James nodded.

"Come on, let's get her to Padfoot, she's probably worried about him," James spoke as he grabbed Octavia's other arm, waiting for Gideon to let go of the other before he led her to where Sirius was.

When James led her inside the house they had moved into she stopped in tracks at the sight of Sirius on the couch, his shirt was off and there was a bandage on his chest indicating that he had a gash there.

She lifted a hand to her mouth as the tears built up at the sight of him, terrified at what happened to him but it was with him shifting on the couch that she knew he was still alive and in that moment that's all that matter.

She walked over and knelt on the ground beside the couch as she brushed the hair out of his forehead, allowing her to softly kiss him.

She felt a hand come down on her shoulder and she turned her head to find James standing there, he held up a piece of parchment.

 _He will be fine, the Healer said so herself but couldn't heal him. They believe it was Dark Magic that caused the gash._

She nodded and looked back at Sirius, hoping he would wake up soon.

.oOo.

Remus led the Sarah Kent, the Order's Healer into the house where he knew Octavia would be with Sirius, hoping maybe now that Sarah would also be able to help Sirius as well as work out why Octavia couldn't hear them, seeing the worry that the two had for each other reminded him of how he left Lilith at home because she was pregnant, too far along to start Apparating all over the country to help with the Order.

He could see the worry on her face at the mention of something going wrong in the village that four of the Order members had set out for the previous day, the four of them including two of their best friends but he assured her that Sirius and Octavia would be fine, they were both skilled duellist after spending countless hours working with Fabien and Gideon.

Remus walked over and placed a hand on Octavia's shoulder, slightly shaking the girl awake when he noticed she had fallen asleep. She opened her eyes and faced the Sarah, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Is she the one that can't hear anything?" Sarah questioned.

"Yes, please tell me you can help her."

"Let me have a look," Sarah spoke walking over and kneeling in front of Octavia, waving her wand trying to get a read as to what was wrong with Octavia.

When she was done, she turned and looked at Remus. "What happened to her?" Sarah questioned.

"I was told she was found in the wreckage of the house that exploded," Remus responded, he was unsure as to how true the story was, he just had to go off what Gideon said and what they assumed to be true, without Octavia being able to hear them it was hard to communicate and there was only so much that could be said written down.

"That would explain the damaged ear drums but how did she walk away without a scratch?" Sarah stood up so she could face Remus properly.

"You know what she is, she can produce a shield to protect herself or those she wishes to protect, can you fix her ear drums?" Remus looked over at where Octavia was still sitting, looking up at them completely confused.

"No, she needs to take a potion to fix her ear drums. The explosion should have killed her like the Muggles, her shield literally saved her life but instead she walks away with damaged ear drums, they aren't just damaged they are completely ruined." Sarah spoke before turned and looked at Octavia, holding her hands before she knelt back down in front of the girl, she moved aside her hair and it was then Sarah noticed the dried blood beside the girl's ears.

"Is that what I think it is?" Remus questioned but Sarah merely nodded in response.

"What's going on?" Octavia questioned and Remus reached over to grab the quill and parchment that James had left behind.

 _Sarah says your ear drums are damaged, there is also dried blood showing that your ears were bleeding at one point. The only way to fix your ear drums is for you to take a potion, so we have to take a trip to St Mungo's._

"What about Sirius?" she questioned and Sarah grabbed the quill and parchment from Remus.

 _The cut is deep and caused by Dark Magic, for now I can't do anything. I'm hoping after a few days rest the cut will slowly begin to heal on its own and then I will be able to heal it the rest of the way._

Octavia nodded, turning back and facing Sirius, she knew all about cuts caused by Dark Magic and how painful and annoying it can be to heal them fully. Her hand automatically went to her forearm where the scar laid that Voldemort had given her.

"I have to move on Remus, she will be fine once she has been taken to St Mungo's and can take the potion," Sarah spoke and Remus nodded, letting the girl leave.

Remus walked over and sat beside Octavia, wrapping an arm around her knowing she was worried about Sirius.

.oOo.

Before Sirius even opened his eyes the pain in chest came back to him and he held in his groan, he also felt a warm soft hand wrapped around his own.

"Snow," he groaned as he opened his eyes and found her sitting on the floor beside the couch, her head resting against him as she slept. "Snow," he repeated again but she didn't budge.

"She can't hear you," Marlene's voice came from behind him and it wasn't long until she was around in front of him.

"What do you mean?" Sirius questioned.

"We believe she was in the house that exploded and that her shield protected her but the sound of the explosion damaged her ear drums and she can't get them fixed until we're allowed to leave the village because she needs to go to St Mungo's and take a potion," Marlene explained.

Sirius turned and looked at his girlfriend, completely horrified that she ended up in the house that exploded. They still don't know how the Death Eaters managed to get the house to explode like it did, it's why they weren't allowed to leave yet.

"She's perfectly fine otherwise, just can't hear anything. You should wake her up so she can see you are fine, she was really worried about you," Marlene suggested and Sirius nodded.

He waited until Marlene was gone before he softly shook Octavia awake, he could see the relief on her face at seeing him awake.

Octavia didn't even say anything before she leaned over and kissed him, resting her forehead against his when she pulled away.

Sirius didn't say anything, knowing there was no point since she couldn't hear him, he just softly ran a thumb over her cheek hoping to calm her down.

"I love you," she whispered and Sirius just kissed her in response.

Sirius pulled away as he heard the approaching footsteps and he found Dumbledore standing there and it wasn't long until everyone else entered the room.

"I'm glad to see everyone has made it out of this alive, it seems as though the Death Eaters had gotten a hold of some explosives and set them up in the house that Octavia was in. Gideon you said something about a child?" Dumbledore spoke, addressing everyone.

"Yes, Octavia and Sirius came across the child when they were doing their rounds hoping to find sign of magical traces within the village. It was on the way back to the house that Marlene and I saw it happen, the first of the Death Eaters arrive and they began setting houses on fire and causing panic amongst the Muggles. We spilt up to try the best to calm them down and fight the Death Eaters the best we could as we had no way to contact you or the other Order members."

"Very well, once we are all returned home and back in full health we can begin working on ways to communicate easier. You may all leave, Sirius I will be requesting a visit from you and Octavia once she has her hearing back."

"Of course Dumbledore," Sirius spoke before grabbing the quill and parchment Octavia held out, asking him to write down what was said.

 _Let's just go home, get Willa and you can take your potion, then we can talk._

Octavia nodded and helped Sirius stand up so she could Apparate the two of them home.

.oOo.

"What happened?" Andromeda questioned as she found Octavia standing there in the guest room with Willa pressed closely to her body.

"I should be dead," Octavia spoke not even looking at Andromeda.

Once Octavia returned her and Sirius back home she helped him upstairs to their bed and made sure he was settled before she left for St Mungo's unsure as to how long she would have to wait until she was given the needed potion.

Once she was given the potion by the Healer and her hearing returned she left, not even bothering to wait for a Healer to discharge her. She planned on getting Andromeda check her out when she picked Willa up.

"What do you mean you should be dead, where is Sirius?" Andromeda questioned and Octavia finally turned and looked at her.

"Sirius is fine, at home resting. I still haven't gotten the full story on what happened to him. A house exploded and I was inside the house, the only reason I survived is because I'm a Dreamer and I managed to produce a shield subconsciously, no one else in the house survived." Octavia explained.

"Oh O," Andromeda spoke softly as she stepped closer to the younger girl and hugged her.

"I just missed Willa, being away that long and having to see a dead child, it was harder than I thought it would be."

"As you can see she is perfectly fine and she was an angel to watch," Andromeda spoke and Octavia nodded in response, just continued to stand there holding Willa.

"Thank you for watching her, it means a lot to both Sirius and I," Octavia finally spoke.

"You're family, we do anything for family and are happy to watch her at any time in the future but speaking of this little girl's father, maybe he would like some reassurance that she is perfectly fine as well," Andromeda spoke.

Octavia faltered for a moment, she was so busy calming herself down after being away from Willa she completely forgot about Sirius.

Andromeda just laughed before she handed Willa's bag to Octavia, "go home, I will come by and see you both later."

Octavia Apparated both her and Willa home, dropping the bag in the kitchen with the idea of going through it later before she headed upstairs to where she had previously left Sirius.

She stopped in the doorway of their bedroom and noticed that Sirius had fallen asleep, she looked down at Willa and couldn't help but smile at the bright smile on her daughter's face. It didn't take long for Octavia to realise there was a connection between Willa and Sirius that was different to the one that Octavia had with her, it didn't bother her because she was glad that Willa loved both her parents and for all she knew Willa acted the same way towards her when she wasn't looking.

"Now baby we have to be careful with daddy, he's in pain and we don't want to make it worse," Octavia spoke but Willa didn't do anything in recognition.

Octavia walked over and placed Willa on the bed before she sat down as well and what surprised Octavia was when Willa sat there on the bed looking at Sirius for a moment before she leaned up and placed a hand on his face.

That small action shocked Octavia, in the past when Willa had been placed on the bed with them she instantly began crawling over them hoping for attention but what she just did made it seem like she understood what Octavia had said perfectly fine.

Sirius' eyes opened and he looked at Octavia before looking at Willa, "hi princess," Sirius gave her a smile and in response she let out a little squeal before crawling closer to him on the bed.

Octavia laid down on the bed and positioned herself so Willa was comfortable between both of them.

"Can you hear me now Snow?" Sirius teased and Octavia rolled her eyes.

"I can, can we talk about this later?" she questioned and he nodded.

He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, "just glad you're alive baby."

"Me too Pads," she responded, smiling at where Willa was playing with Sirius' hair.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **I know I skipped parts of the mission but I'm not the greatest at writing these types of chapters and even with stories I've read previously I've found that they are usually the same thing just slightly different so most of the time I will brush over the missions and battles with Death Eaters.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	98. A Change of Plans

Chapter 97: A Change of Plans

 **January 1979**

Ever since the attack on the village that Octavia travelled to for her first mission things had been somewhat quiet for the wizarding community and they believed it was the explosion as to why.

Order members were still going out on stake outs, watching potential locations for Death Eaters or even watching them while they travelled through Knockturn Alley, but it was usually the Aurors that went on those particular missions.

Octavia and Sirius were shocked at how quickly Willa was growing and they didn't realise it was happening until Octavia was going through the clothes they had, planning on passing them onto Lilith who was due to give birth in a two months' time.

"What are you doing baby?" Sirius questioned as he spotted Octavia sorting through a pile of clothes on their bed.

"Going through all of Willa's old clothes, I'm thinking of giving them to Lilith and Moony, she's not far off from her due date."

"How is she coping with her stress levels?" Sirius questioned, walking over and sitting on the bed knowing he would be no help at helping her sort through the clothing.

"I honestly believe her stress levels will be better if Moony was around more often but every time I question her she brushes me off, I feel like there is a part of me that thinks he's taken off and she's protecting him. We haven't seen much of Moony since she found out she was pregnant."

"I don't know what to think, you've seen more of her than I have. Do you honestly believe Moony took off though?"

"When was the last time you saw him?" Octavia questioned and Sirius stayed silent, "she's hiding something from me and I know it's got to do with where ever he is going."

"Don't you think maybe he's doing his part for the Order, Prongs and Lily are getting married in a couple of months and Lilith is due to give birth, don't you think he will come back then? If he doesn't then we can look into what he's been doing, but we know there are Order members we haven't met because they are constantly out doing secret missions for Dumbledore." Sirius pointed out and Octavia just gave him a look before she continued going through the clothes.

"It's not right, I can only imagine the fears she has going through her head and remember I was her 12 months ago. I remember the fears I had at the beginning of my pregnancy when I thought you had left me, if Moony has left I need to be there for Lilith."

Sirius looked over at Octavia except she wasn't looking at him, too busy with the clothes in her hands. "Just let this go, Moony and Lilith have always had their issues and we have never gotten involved unless they let us in, it's always been this way now just drop it already."

Octavia finally looked up, shocked at how harsh he sounded.

"I'm sorry baby, I didn't mean to sound so harsh." Sirius apologised and Octavia nodded averting her gaze again. "I know you're worried about Lilith but until we get told something is happening don't go butting into their relationship, it may just push her away and she'll never tell you what's going on."

"How did Willa ended up with so many clothes?" Octavia questioned and Sirius laughed.

"I believe Dromeda gave us a heap after you gave birth, her having a heap of girl clothing from when Nymph was born, there is also the fact that we've all gone a little crazy when it comes to buying her outfits," Sirius responded knowing it was true.

Octavia looked up at him with a grin, she knew it was risky buying Willa so many clothes but she found them all so cute and with her now receiving her share of the Carrow wealth now they wouldn't struggle as much as she thought they would 12 months ago. They were able to buy clothes for their constantly growing child as well as feed themselves.

"But she looks so cute in them," Octavia spoke and Sirius shook his head as he stood up and walked over to where Willa was in the play pen in the corner.

Sirius stepped over the barrier that prevented Willa from getting out and sat down with her and instantly began playing peek-a-boo with Willa.

Octavia smiled at the sight of the two of them playing as she went back to placing the old clothes in a bag, keeping a small number for herself in case her and Sirius decided to have another child or another mistake happened.

Sirius had seen from the corner of his eyes that Octavia was placing a bag of clothes in the back of their wardrobe and it spiked his curiosity.

"What are you doing with those?" he questioned, turning away from Willa to look at Octavia but it just caused Willa to complain and he put his focus back on her.

He worried that one day all this attention they were giving Willa will back fire on them but for now while she was under a year old the attention was good, Andromeda had told them giving babies attention was a good way to form a connection with their parents.

"Putting some aside for a rainy day Pads, what does it look I'm doing?" Octavia explained, walking over and taking a seat on the bed watching Sirius and Willa together.

"Okay, why?" he rephrased his question and she laughed.

"I'm not pregnant, I just thought maybe if we decide down the track to have another child or another mistake happens it would come in handy to have some clothes already. I kept mostly gender neutral ones along with some of the girl outfits I couldn't part with." Octavia explained, worried as Sirius stayed silent for a moment.

Sirius adored Willa and couldn't imagine his life without her now but he hadn't thought about him and Octavia potentially having any more children any time soon and her speaking of what may happen if another mistake happened in the coming months or years and it shocked him.

"Pads?" Octavia questioned softly, still worried at the lack of response coming from him.

Sirius looked over at her before he stood up, walking over and taking a seat on the bed beside her, "It was just the mention of another child that shocked me, we haven't spoken about it and now you're saving clothes just in case."

"I'm happy with the life and family we've made with Willa, I'm not saying I need another baby considering we have our hands full with this one. We still don't know what is different about her, everything has been normal so far." Octavia was looking at Willa, who was previously was playing with her toys not paying her or Sirius any attention but as soon as she said Willa's name the girl looked up at her parents.

"But last month you swore she understood what you were saying about me being injured," Sirius pointed out.

Octavia shrugged before looking over at him, taking her attention from Willa. "It was a once off, it could have been a coincidence. She could have noticed you were different, you may have been asleep but you were laying there pretty stiffly. She knows what her name is and who mummy and daddy are, she knows who we are talking about and is slowly learning the rest of our friend's names. It's normal for babies to start to recognise words and associate them with what they represent."

"I just wish we knew what we were getting with her, what was going to be so different about her." Sirius spoke and they both fell silent watching Willa playing with her toys.

They have had multiple conversations over the last few months since Willa was born about how she would potentially be different but they had no idea as to how different she could be since she was the first of her kind.

There was a part of Octavia that was still a little sceptical about her dream involving the first Dreamer, there was a part of her that believes she made the thing up, that she was so sleep deprived that her brain invented something to help ease her worries and at the time it was what she wanted to hear but after having a normal amount of hours of sleep again and not having a visit from Florence, she was unsure about it all.

If they take the conversation about Florence out of the equation there was no literature that showed the existence of a child like Willa in the past, a child that was born of a Dreamer and it worried both of them to wits end.

In recent weeks they had even gone as far to research the children of Wandless and how different they are but the research was a dead end.

There were many incidents were Wandless have had children and they all turned out to be perfectly healthy and no differences, none of them turned out to be Wandless like their parent and their magic wasn't different, they weren't considered more powerful than a normal witch or wizard, the only thing unusual about Wandless was that a single one of them had never produced a Squib as a child.

Octavia let out a sigh before she laid back on the bed and placed her hands over her face.

Sirius followed her actions but laid on his side so he was half hovering over her, he placed his free hand on her arm and softly ran his fingers up and down.

"Baby we will work it out, maybe we just need to wait until she is a little older to work it out, maybe she won't be different at all."

Octavia moved her hand allowing her to look at him for a moment before she went back to covering her face, "I'm scared Pads, I don't want her to be obviously different, I don't want to lose her."

A frown appeared on Sirius' face before he lifted her hands and removed them from her face, he leaned down and softly kissed her forehead. "I know baby, I'm scared as well but we won't lose her. You are a Dreamer for Merlin's sake, the most feared thing out there in terms of magical beasts-"

"I hate being classified as a magical beast," Octavia muttered, cutting him off.

It was only the other week that the current Minister for Magic, Harold Minchum, turned up at the Potter's looking for Octavia. Turns out she did in fact have to be listed in a registry stating what she was, in fact Octavia was surprised at how long it had taken after the article in the Daily Prophet, she was also surprised that the Minister himself turned up requesting her. The only upside to her being on the registry was that she didn't have to inform the Ministry of her being an Animagus.

James had lied and said she was visiting Lilith and went to collect her, not informing the Minister of where she was truly living.

Both her and Sirius had left items at the Potter's to make it seem like they were living there as well as transfiguring some old furniture to look like baby furniture.

It didn't take long for her to fill out the forms, it was easy enough, a drop of blood on a magically charmed parchment, weighing of her wand as well as a note of what her wand was and the last thing was proof that she could wandlessly perform magic.

It was all simple enough and Octavia had a feeling it would come in due time but the thing that shocked and annoyed her was that she was now classified as a magical beast and not a magical being like she thought she would be.

"I know you do baby but I still love you all the same. Now what I was getting at was that if you can grow up and attend Hogwarts of all places and manage to keep the secret then surely we can do the same with Willa, we will keep her safe."

"We can't lose her," Octavia repeated softly.

Sirius softly brushed her hair out of face, "we won't baby, we will protect her, keep her safe all because we love her and we have so many people who will try and help us."

Octavia nodded, pushing against Sirius so she get off the bed and she walked over and picked Willa up with the idea of giving her a bath before she was put down to sleep for the night.

Octavia stopped when she reached the door to leave the room, turning back and looking at Sirius, "if something happens, if we discover anything that will be linked to her being different because of me I don't want to tell our friends, I want to keep it a secret until we work it out for sure."

"They're helping us every step of the way, why would we keep a secret now?" Sirius questioned, shocked at what she just said.

"Because I'm worried for how different she will be, what if she's something completely new and different and that no one in the magical community has seen before. I don't want to scare our friends until we know sure, promise me Pads."

Sirius stayed silent as he walked over and stood in front of her, he placed a hand on her neck before softly kissing her, "whatever you want baby, if you want to start having secrets again then I will respect your wishes."

"Why not? Moony and Lilith are obviously keeping secrets, why not the rest of us." she snapped bitterly before turning and leaving.

Sirius softly banged his hand against the doorframe before leaving the room as well, going to help Octavia bathe Willa knowing how much harder it was getting the older she got.

.oOo.

"Snow this amazing, you didn't have to give me these," Lilith spoke as she looked through the bag of clothes that Octavia had brought over.

"Willa doesn't need them now and I cannot tell you how many times Pads and I had to change Willa's clothes," Octavia responded, she leaned over and placed her hands on Lilith's. "Take the gift, Dromeda gave me a heap of Nymph's old clothes and now I'm doing the same thing with Willa's. I'm always here for you, you know that right Lil?"

Lilith gave Octavia a smile and nodded, "Of course Snow and it means a lot to me that you've given me Willa's clothes and I'm sure it will mean a lot to Moony when I tell him."

Octavia bit her tongue, she wanted to question once again where Remus was, she didn't want to push her best friend away and Sirius had reminded her that it would happen if she kept pushing the topic with Lilith.

Sirius had to remind her that Lilith obviously trusts Remus and that she should trust her best friend, they all knew Remus and knew that he would never do anything to hurt Lilith.

"How are you fairing with your pregnancy?" Octavia questioned instead knowing Lilith will happily talk about her pregnancy, as well as any fears she has.

"Better, the potions Dromeda gave me are helping but I'm still anaemic and that's not improving. She said it can happen from time to time with pregnancies," Lilith spoke but there was something off with her voice that Octavia picked up on.

"What's wrong? What has you so worried?" Octavia questioned and when Lilith looked up at her, her eyes were filled with tears.

"Do you remember that promise you made me make? The one about if something happened to you that I would make sure Padfoot raised Willa."

"Yeah what about it?"

"I need you to make the same promise Snow, that you will make sure Moony raises this baby." Lilith's voice broke as the tears ran down her cheeks.

Octavia leaned over and hugged her, she remembered how terrified she was after the conversation with Andromeda not long before she was due to give birth and now that Lilith was having the same fears, she didn't want her best friend to have to go through the same fears and she couldn't even comprehend the chance of losing her best friend.

"What did Dromeda say?"

"She said that the potions are only helping prevent my iron levels from dropping any further they aren't getting any better, if I lose too much blood when I give birth it could end badly. Please promise me."

"I promise Lilith, but you will be fine, I don't know why you are so worried. We are magical and it is so rare for witches to not make it through labour." Octavia spoke, hoping to reassure her best friend but she knew it wasn't working.

"I'm scared," Lilith whispered.

Octavia softly ran her hands up and down Lilith's back, "I know, I was scared as well but look I'm right here and I know you will be there to raise your daughter."

Lilith pulled away and looked at Octavia, "I have a daughter?" she questioned with a smile.

"You do, remember that dream I told you about where I know Moony stays. You have a daughter and that friend I saw with Willa that I swore was your child, I believe even more so now that it was her since you are pregnant and so close to giving birth. They may not be in the same year at Hogwarts but they will be close, we will make sure of it."

Lilith wiped away the tears staining her cheeks, "what was her name, surely you know her name?"

"You really want to know?" Octavia questioned and Lilith nodded, "her name was Clary." Octavia gave Lilith a smile, knowing it was the name of the grandmother she was so fond of.

Lilith had a smile on her face but wasn't able to respond as Remus took that moment to enter the room.

"Everything alright in here?" Remus questioned, seeing the familiar signs on his fiancé's face indicating that she had been crying.

"You should tell him, I have to head home anywhere." Octavia placed a hand on Lilith's before standing up to leave the room. "It was good to see you Moony," Octavia gave him a smile as she passed him and within seconds she was gone.

"Okay why do I feel like Snow hates me?" Remus questioned, walking over and sitting beside Lilith on the couch.

"She's still questioning as to where you have been going, I'm actually surprised no questions were asked today." Lilith responded and Remus leaned over to kiss her in greeting.

"You know very well why we can't tell them, they will try and convince me it's a stupid idea, that I'm risking my life but you know why I'm doing this."

Lilith placed a hand on Remus' cheek, giving him a smile. "I know, Dumbledore received word that this particular pack haven't aligned themselves with either side and you are trying to show them that Dumbledore is the way to go, you both hope with convincing this pack they may be able to convince others. I trust you, so very much."

"That means everything," Remus breathed, a weight being lifted off his shoulders. "It's about to get worse with our friends though, the pack are asking questions as to why I'm not spending the Full Moon out there. There are only so many times I can say I have a safety zone out here."

"Well you do, Snow worked incredibly hard to place the wards about Padfoot's Uncle's house. I didn't even know those wards were possible, to prevent animals from crossing but we all stood there and watched as both Padfoot and Prongs attempted to cross the ward in their animal forms and failed countless times."

A smile appeared on Remus' face as he remembered that event, "that was a sight, I still can't believe Snow got away with not telling Padfoot what she had done. The only reason they were possible is because of her magic, she was able to change the original slightly."

"It was worth it but you know if you start disappearing on Full Moons they're really going to start asking questions," Lilith spoke.

"I know Lil, but what am I meant to do, it's a complete lose/lose situation. I tell them what I'm doing and they freak, I disappear on Full Moons and they begin asking more questions and if I don't start spending the Full Moon with the pack they'll turn on me."

"We'll work it out together, I'm just glad you told me."

"Always love," Remus shifted and wrapped an arm around Lilith's shoulder, softly kissing her temple. "What does Snow think you should tell me?"

"Just what Dromeda said in my last appointment, how things may turn when I go into labour."

"You'll be fine love, I know both you and our baby will be fine." Remus placed a hand on her stomach, softly rubbing it.

"I think we've changed something about the future though."

"Why is that?"

"I asked Snow what gender she thinks our baby is and their name, but the name she said we aren't even considering."

"Tell me what she told you so we can be on the same page love," Remus commented knowing full well that Lilith brought this conversation up on purpose.

"She says we have a girl named Clary."

"You're right, we haven't considered that name. For a girl we decided on Emerson, what do you think has changed?"

"I'm not too sure, maybe originally your mother didn't die. We don't know how Snow's dreams work, maybe because your mum wasn't sick, she wasn't dead in that future and we didn't consider Emerson, or even Hope like we did to begin with. But now your mother is dead, I really am sorry I shot down Hope though, I just doesn't feel right with me."

"I know Lil, it's fine don't worry. I'm just glad you pointed out Emerson as an option."

"Because I love you Rem, your mother meant everything to you and you were devastated when she passed away. I may have adored my grandmother but I have her ring which means everything to me."

"I love you too Lil, if only figuring out what to do in regards to the pack was as easy as picking a name for our child."

"We'll work it out, we still have a couple of weeks until the next Full Moon. Now do you want to see what Snow gave us?"

Remus nodded as he reached over and picked up the bag that had been placed on the floor, "I see Snow is dead set on us having a girl," he mused as he started pulling the clothes out.

"She said there is some gender neutral ones in there just in case, she said if they don't get used it's no harm. She was grateful for Dromeda giving her Nymph's old clothes and thought we would appreciate the same thing." Lilith spoke as she stretched out, placing a hand on her stomach.

Remus looked over and caught the action, "you alright love?" worry filled him as he saw the discomfort written on her face.

"I'm fine, just kicking really hard today." Lilith hoped to reassure Remus but knew it was a lost cause when his expression didn't change. "I'm fine, we're both fine."

Remus just nodded before looking at his watch, "it's time for your Potion anyway, I will be back with in a minute love." Remus leaned over and kissed her cheek before he stood up and left the room.

.oOo.

A worried expression appeared on Remus' as Octavia stormed out of the Potter's kitchen, the door slamming shut behind her.

Remus had just told the rest of his friends that he didn't want their help come the next Full Moon.

After many days of discussing between Remus and Lilith they decided the only way for this to work was to just out right tell them that he didn't want their help anymore and he appreciated the help they have given him in the past.

Remus looked over at Sirius hoping he could explain the girl's reaction but Sirius just held a hand up.

"I'm holding Willa otherwise I would have followed Snow, you're insane Moony!" Sirius yelled, quickly kissing Willa's head when she complained at the noise level. "We all spent years trying to find anything that could help make your transformations easier on you, we've risked out lives and not to mention the laws we are breaking by continually helping you but you throw it all back in our faces, she was the one that spent months in the library researching." Sirius responded and it was then Remus that looked around at James and Peter, noticing that they too were annoyed.

"I can't keep risking your lives, as I get older the wolf gets stronger. Wormtail has almost been stepped on a number of times because of his size, I've thrown Snow into a numerous number of trees. You have all been hurt so many times and I can't keep doing it anymore, the wards Snow put on Alphard's property work wonders and I appreciate that but I can't bear the thought of seriously causing you all harm. Snow and Padfoot have a daughter, Prongs you're starting a family with Lily and Wormtail, you and Dorcas have spoken about a future together. I don't want to be the reason I ruin that for any of you, I can't keep putting you guys at risk anymore." Remus explained, hoping to remove their anger.

When no one said anything Remus looked to Lilith hoping she would be of help, "this decision killed Moony to make, he didn't make it light heartedly. He's doing this because he loves you all and doesn't want to risk your lives anymore. It's not like we're all 15 and have no concern for our safety, Prongs has Lily to worry about while Snow and Padfoot have each other and Willa to worry about and Wormtail has Dorcas. Imagine what would happen if something happened to one of you, how would your loved ones react, how would they feel that you were badly injured or worse killed, how would that affect Moony?"

"It makes sense," James spoke as he turned to face Peter and Sirius. "Moony's doing this because he loves us, Padfoot he's making sure that Willa grows up with both of her parents. He's removing one of the factors that may drastically affect our lives."

"I hate it but I suppose there isn't much I can do, it's your choice Moony," Sirius spoke, standing up as he handed Willa over to James. "Go to Uncle Prongs Princess, I'm going to go calm Snow down."

"What about you Worms?" Remus questioned the one boy who had stayed quiet.

Remus took James speaking first, helping convince the other's that he was okay with it, even Sirius partly agreed and even went to calm Octavia down but Peter hasn't said anything yet.

"If they agree to stay away from you on the Full Moon not much I can do, I'm a rat, and there isn't much I can do to keep a werewolf under control." Peter finally spoke and Remus nodded.

"It means a lot to know you all understand, Lilith was right when she said this was such a hard decision to make. I don't want to be the reason anyone gets hurt anymore, I can't take it."

"Snow will come round, if you got Padfoot to see reason he will make sure that Snow sees reason."

"I hope so," Remus spoke, Lilith placing a hand on his arm at hearing his voice waver.

It was at that moment that Octavia entered the room, she gave Remus a dirty look before grabbing Willa from James and Disapparating from the room.

Sirius followed shortly behind, "I'm trying mate but I should follow after her."

Remus just gave a nod in Sirius direction, letting him know it was fine.

"Snow always comes round Moony," James spoke. "Are you all staying for dinner? Lily said something about her chicken casserole."

"Snow's cooking is better," Peter spoke and Remus laughed.

"Yes but after today I have a feeling Padfoot will be lucky if Snow cooks," Remus pointed out and they all nodded, he looked over at Lilith. "You alright to stay for another couple of hours or do you need to go home?"

"Snow might be the better cook but Lily's chicken casserole is to die for, I'm fine to stay for a little bit longer Moony," Lilith spoke with a smile and they quickly all agreed.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Ginny702, Raven that flies at night and Wizard Howl for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Wizard Howl, I'm glad you are enjoying my story, I love hearing how my readers enjoy it. As for the transition from Hogwarts to the real world, I'm glad I did it justice because I was worried I was doing it right. The dreams, I have a lot of fun writing them and as to what does and doesn't get changed you will just have to continue reading.**


	99. Communication

Chapter 98: Communication

 **February 1979**

"Hands up those of you who have managed to cast a corporeal Patronus?" Fabien questioned, looking around and counting the raised hands. "Alright those of you who haven't managed the spell, don't stress, follow Gideon and he will help you work on it."

Most of the Order members were currently gathered within the McKinnon ancestral home, they weren't having an Order meeting as such but Dumbledore had finally found an easy way for them to send messages, Dumbledore had hoped that enough of the Order members were able to produce the complex Patronus charm and in turn making them corporeal as well.

Dumbledore had been testing with his own Patronus and found that he was able to send messages and so far Dumbledore had only found one limitation to using a corporeal Patronus and that was the length of the message it was carrying. He found that it was only useful as a message carrier in emergencies.

Fabien looked around and wasn't entirely surprised by the small crowd that was standing before him, he waited until Gideon led his group out of the room and into another part of the house before he spoke.

"Alright now, what we are about to work on can be very difficult to master but once mastered can be very useful. It has been discovered that a corporeal Patronus can also deliver messages, not full length essay type messages but short messages. It's so if another event happens like the explosion down in the south Scottish village then you can quickly call in reinforcements."

"How?" Remus questioned.

The Marauders were all in attendance plus Lily and a small number of the other Order members that the group of friends didn't really associate with except for the number of meetings where they were attendance together.

"It varies from person to person, to begin with it is hard to communicate with your Patronus but over time, the more times you conjure it the more easily accepted it is to your wishes." Fabien explained and they all nodded. "Now Marlene is hidden somewhere in the house and the idea is to send her a message, it can be something as simple as 'hi, where are you?' anything you want."

It didn't take long for the room to become bright and warm as a number of corporeal Patronus' appeared within the room.

Octavia stood back as she watched her friends as they attempted to communicate with their Patronus' and sending them off in search of Marlene.

"Why aren't you even trying?"

Octavia turned her head at the sound of Remus' voice and slightly narrowed her eyes before looking back over at where Sirius was standing with a wolf Patronus.

She was still annoyed at Remus' decision to no longer have his friends in their Animagus forms helping him through a Full Moon, she thought he was an idiot to try and do it alone. They all broke Wizarding Laws and countless Hogwarts rules in attempts to help him every month and now it feels like he had thrown it back in their faces, especially hers considering how much time and effort she put into research and mixing all the required potions.

"The others all understand my decision why don't you?" he questioned.

"I spent months researching a magnitude of ways to make the Full Moon easier for you, I made those potions we had to take to become Animagi a number of times. It took me a minimum of four goes to actually get the process correct or what did you think I'm incredibly gifted at Potions as well?" Octavia snapped and Remus took a deep breath.

"How many times do you think your body can handle being thrown into a tree or a solid brick wall, how many times until your body says it's enough despite you having a higher pain threshold as a wolf? How are you going to feel when you can no longer pick Willa up because you've been thrown into one to many walls?" Remus spoke softly, knowing it had hit the right nerve when Octavia's face softened.

"Why won't you take our help anymore?" Octavia questioned softly.

Remus walked over and hugged her, knowing she wasn't truly angry anymore, "because I can't keep hurting you all, it kills me every time I hurt one of you."

"I just hate after us helping you for so long that it may be worse than ever next week, that the wolf will be angry at being alone and without its pack," Octavia responded.

"I know but there are plenty of Healers around us that will be able to heal me if something terrible does happen, please don't be mad at me anymore. I'm doing this so Willa has the chance to grow up with both of her parents, I know we are in the middle of a war but I'm removing one of the factors." Remus explained, hoping once and for all that Octavia will no longer be mad at him and that she will take his excuse as it is.

"Time will tell I guess, now why aren't you attempting this?" Octavia questioned sternly.

Remus couldn't help but laugh in response, despite her being angry at him mere moments ago she was now moments from scolding him for not attempting something that could save his own life one day.

"I'm a werewolf that has a wolf as my Patronus, not something I'm proud of."

Octavia shot him a look, "um, hello, are you forgetting that I turn into a wolf?"

"You also have two different Patronus' and are a Dreamer."

"But that's not the point Moony or do you not remember all the things everyone said that was different about me compared to Pads after it was discovered I turned into a wolf instead of a dog like him? I may be a lot like Padfoot but obviously there are similarities between the two of us or are you forgetting we both arrived at Hogwarts with very dark secrets?" Octavia spoke and Remus stayed silent, averting his gaze to where Lilith standing with her fox.

"It's still very fitting that she is a fox isn't she?" Remus spoke softly.

A smile appeared on Octavia's face as she saw how much love and adoration written on Remus' face and it made her happy. Both Remus and Lilith were very private when it came to their relationship, they weren't well known for their public displays of affection, even less than Sirius and Octavia.

As Octavia got older and the relationship between her and Sirius last longer she relented on her views on public displays of affection, allowing the chaste kiss or hug here and there before seventh year where they were actually caught snogging each other senseless in the less used corridors, the one rare occasion also in Hogsmeade.

"Yes we all have animals that link back to our rebellious streak while at Hogwarts, honestly Moony you should really try and do this. My Patronus is different to everyone else's and I may not be able to use it as a communication tool."

Remus didn't say anything, just placed a hand on Octavia's shoulder before walking over to where Lilith was standing, starting a conversation with her that caused Lilith to look over and give Octavia smile, quickly mouthing 'thank you' before focusing back on Remus.

Octavia knew why Lilith was thanking her, it was for trusting Remus and letting go of her anger. Octavia knew it would have been hard for Lilith to choose between her best friend and her fiancé and she instantly felt guilty when she realised how much stress she was putting on her already heavily pregnant and stressed best friend who has been warned on a number of times to calm down and rest.

She walked over and wrapped her arms around Sirius' waist, liking the look of a smile on his face as he watched the wolf run around both of them.

"What are you thinking about Pads?"

"So many things baby," Sirius responded, picking up her hand and pressing his lips against the back of her hand.

"Despite the war, we've been blessed," she responded softly, thinking of her love of Sirius before allowing her own Patronus to appear resembling the black shaggy dog that Sirius turned into as an Animagus.

"Does your lengthy conversation with Moony mean you have finally let go of the anger you were holding towards him for his decision?" Sirius questioned but Octavia smirked at him before pulling away and facing her Patronus.

"Tell Marlene 'I miss her'," Octavia spoke hoping her Patronus will disappear in search of Marlene.

She turned and had a smug grin on her face as she faced Sirius and she quickly noticed he didn't look too impressed.

"I can't even get mine to leave the room yet," he muttered sound incredibly displeased.

"I noticed most people haven't been able to get their Patronus to leave the room yet, I've always been different and my Patronus is also different. For all we know you may be able to send anyone and everyone messages with your Patronus but what if I can only send messages to the people I love?"

"Where did the horse come from?" Sirius questioned first, noticing the horse Patronus appear in the room that wasn't previously in attendance.

"Could be Marlene responding," Octavia pointed out and Sirius nodded as they both watched it head that way.

 _"Congratulations O, I miss you too,"_ Marlene's voice came from the horse before it disappeared completely.

"Alright everyone that is enough for today," Fabien's voice came across loud and clear in the room signalling everyone to stop. "Don't be discouraged if you were unsuccessful today, as I stated at the beginning it can be a difficult thing to master and we are still unsure as to how everyone manages it, it just takes time. Go home and practise when you can but do not overdo it and exhaust yourselves."

Sirius turned and looked at Octavia, "ready to go home baby?"

"I'm going to go and see Marlene, I will meet you at home if you go get Willa and Nymph?" Octavia responded.

"That's fine," Sirius quickly kissed Octavia before Disapparating from the room while Octavia headed upstairs in search of Marlene.

Octavia wasn't with Marlene for long when Gideon came rushing into the room.

"What's going on Gid?" Marlene questioned noticing something wasn't right with him.

"There's been an attack at Diagon Alley, Fabien's been requested there by the Ministry but I'm assuming they won't say no to a few more hands. You two coming?"

Fabien didn't need to ask the girls twice and it wasn't long until all three of them were standing in the middle of Diagon Alley.

"Sirius is going to kill me for not telling him," Octavia spoke to herself when they arrived and Marlene turned to look at her.

"You could still tell him, you succeeded in getting your Patronus to send me a message," Marlene responded.

Octavia shook her head, "we promised our babysitter we would watch their daughter tonight so they could have a night alone."

Marlene didn't say anything else as they both ran off into the commotion hoping to help the Ministry in any way that they could.

No one told Octavia that she wasn't meant to be there helping, no one told her to go back home and no one seemed afraid of her because in that moment it was the Death Eaters in the sky that the innocent victims were afraid of.

It was then Octavia caught sight of the Death Eater standing off to the side, as if he was watching the whole scene with curiosity and she quickly ran towards said Death Eater but it only took seconds for them to notice and they turned, running away.

It confused her that a Death Eater was running away from her, not starting a duel with her or even Apparating away.

Her confusion spiked even further when the Death Eater finally stopped running only to turn around and face her holding their hands up in a defensive manoeuvre, she had a feeling this would be one of the two Death Eaters who still cared for her, who still loved her and the last she heard one of them was still a Hogwarts student.

Octavia stowed her wand in her holster and hoped it didn't bite her in the ass, and that she wouldn't end up defenceless and as a result end up dead as she still to this day was unable to cast her shield every single time on command.

"I won't hurt you, I would never hurt you," the Death Eater spoke and relief filled Octavia as she heard her brother's voice.

"Why did you lure me out here?" she questioned and she watched as Amycus finally removed his mask, hoping more than anything none of the Ministry officials came looking for her, so far Amycus had been careful, he had been keeping his name out of the Auror's must watch list.

"Hearing you're okay is completely different to the proof in front of me that you are okay, I saw you standing there and wanted to see for myself." Octavia nodded, knowing she felt exactly the same.

It didn't matter if every few weeks she was getting a message from Amycus saying two little words, 'we're okay', it didn't matter if those two little words meant so much to her, it meant more to see her siblings in person, standing across from her but she knew it would be hard when they were on two different sides of the war.

"How's Al?" she questioned, hoping she could have a small conversation with her brother before they both had to leave.

"Getting worse, she won't take it easy on you O, Merlin O, she killed Ronnie because she didn't want children. She didn't want to be taken from the warzone, she wanted to keep fighting and would do anything to keep that chance including killing her husband, she's not the same girl anymore, she hasn't been our sister for a while."

Octavia's heart broke hearing that the same loving girl she knew when she was 10, before she was even sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts, or even the same girl when she 12 and Alecto had helped her with her back after their father had ripped it to shreds, it broke her heart hearing that the Alecto she knew and loved when younger was gone.

"I should get back before they start questioning my disappearance," Octavia spoke, her voice incredibly low as she attempted to hide the fact that she was on the verge of tears.

"Stay safe," was all Amycus said before he disappeared.

Octavia stood there for a moment while she took a couple of deep breathes, trying to calm down and show that she was on the verge of tears as it would spike Marlene's curiosity.

She returned to the main strip of Diagon Alley and was quickly pulled into a duel with a Death Eater, her earlier concerns about her siblings were pushed from her mind as she focused on the duel.

She had no idea who she was duelling, it could have been any number of the Death Eaters she knew to exist before she left her family behind and moved in with the Potter's or it could have been the any number of Death Eaters that were inducted after she left. She didn't know how many Death Eaters Voldemort had in his control and if she was being honest, that's what worried her.

.oOo.

"Do you want me to take a look at your arm?" Gideon questioned as he took notice of the blood on Octavia's arm.

It took a couple of hours but they had finally managed to clean up what happened in Diagon Alley and Octavia was fairing okay against the Death Eaters until one snuck up behind her and sent a cutting hex her way and affectively slicing her arm open.

Octavia twisted her arm around to allow her a better look at it, she knew it would worry Sirius when she returned home but she had seen the botched healing spells the Prewitt brothers had done on each other and it was safe to say she trusted Sirius more than those two.

"No thank you, Sirius can handle this just fine when I get home," Octavia smirked at him as he laughed.

"Very well, I suppose I deserve that considering how many scars Fabien and I have. I have to get going, let my sister know everything is fine and we aren't dead because we were meant to baby sit tonight."

"Bad brother," Octavia scolded but he just grinned at her before he disappeared.

When Octavia returned home she stopped in the office for a moment, knowing that Sirius would be worried at how long it took for her to return.

She finally left the office in search of Sirius, hoping he was coping while he managed the two girls. This would be the first time they were babysitting for Andromeda and Ted and were unsure as to how Willa would be, for once not having all the attention on her as they had to spilt their attention between the two girls.

She could hear the T.V going in the living room and hoped that they were in there, she couldn't help but smile as she entered the room and found Nymphadora having a nap on one of the couches while Sirius played on the floor with Willa, but it was the large smile on Sirius' face that confused her.

"You look incredibly happy sitting there," Octavia spoke.

Sirius quickly turned and looked at her, "you missed it baby, quick come here." He patted the spot beside him.

She did as he requested and walked over, taking a seat beside him, still utterly confused as to what was going on but something must have happened while she was gone, something big for him to not worry about her or even notice the cut on her arm.

"Come on Willa, say it again."

It was those words that caused Octavia's mouth to fall open as her eyes widened, she missed her baby girl's first word. The happiness she had over seeing Amycus and knowing he was perfectly fine disappeared instantly.

"Dada."

Octavia couldn't help but smile as Willa spoke, it was a happy moment, hearing her daughter speak for the first time but she was devastated she wasn't there with Sirius as she first spoke.

Sirius looked over at Octavia and it was then he noticed the single tear run down her cheek, he reached over and wiped it away with his thumb. "Snow?"

Octavia could tell he was now worried but she gave him a smile before turning her head and kissing Sirius' hand that was still resting on the side of her face.

"I'm happy, truly I am, our baby girl is finally talking. It's just been an emotional day. After you left Gideon informed us that there was an attack on Diagon Alley, I ran into Amycus there and then coming home and hearing that I missed my baby's first word, it all added up." Octavia explained.

It was then Sirius finally got a good look at her, noticing the blood on her arm and a frown was etched on his face. "What happened here?"

"A Death Eater managed to sneak up on me, I know I should know better but I was busy duelling another one but I am honestly fine, it's just a gash that you will be able to easily heal," Octavia explained.

Sirius lifted her arm and took a good look at it, grateful when he saw it was just a simple cut that was mostly likely made by a cutting hex.

"Let me get my wand baby." Sirius quickly kissed her before standing up and going to grab his wand.

"Can you say mama Willa?" Octavia spoke softly, hoping to get Willa to speak.

"Dada." Willa responded and Octavia shook her head.

Octavia knew it was only a matter of time before Willa would start speaking more words, Andromeda had told her that the first one was the hardest.

Octavia sat there watching Willa play with her toys, unsure as to what was taking Sirius so long to grab his wand but her arm wasn't bothering her so she wasn't fussed but it was when Willa caught sight of the cut that she tried to reach out and touch it.

"No baby, no touching," Octavia spoke.

Willa didn't say anything or look up at Octavia she just went straight back to her toys.

"Alright give me a look at your arm," Sirius spoke as he sat down beside Octavia.

Sirius didn't say anything as he picked up her arm and pointed his wand at the gash to heal it.

"What happened with Amycus?" Sirius questioned once Octavia's arm was all healed up.

"What do you want for dinner? I don't feel like cooking, maybe we can order Chinese or something?" Octavia spoke as she stood up and headed into the kitchen.

It didn't take long for Sirius to follow Octavia, he walked up and wrapped an arm around her waist preventing her from getting away from him but when it was she began to struggle that he spoke. "Careful baby, I'm holding Willa."

Octavia turned around and faced Sirius, a frown etched on her face since she wasn't happy that Sirius was using Willa to make sure she didn't fight him.

"What happened with Amycus?" Sirius questioned once more, worry filling him as he saw her eyes glass over indicating she was on the verge of tears.

"He said Alecto is completely gone, she's no longer herself. She killed Ronnie just because she didn't want children."

Sirius softly kissed Octavia's forehead, "Alecto hasn't been herself for a long time, long before we left them behind. What is really bothering you about this?" He questioned, knowing there was more to it than hearing the news of Alecto.

"What if I follow Alecto, Amycus must have seen similar signs in himself to stipulate him being placed in St Mungo's following the end of the war, what if I end up like my siblings?"

Sirius placed his hand on the side of her face, a small smile appearing when she leaned her head into his hand. "Never baby, I'm here to keep you sane, Willa is here to keep you sane. I will never let anything happen to you and even if you did follow your siblings, I have your permission to put you in St Mungo's for your own safety yes?"

"Yes but-"

Sirius cut her off with a kiss, resting his forehead against hers when he pulled away. "No buts baby, just have faith in me, just like I have faith in you to do what is best for me if the time comes."

"Why do we have to come from such messed up families like ours?" Octavia could see the same thing she felt in Sirius' eyes, hatred and fear.

"We'll be okay baby," Sirius whispered.

Octavia didn't say anything in response, just nodded before she grabbed Willa from him, heading back into the living room where they had left Nymphadora asleep on the couch. For now she didn't want worry about the war or the consequences of being born of people related to each other, for now she wanted to focus on the family she had and cherished.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	100. Merging Family Lines

Chapter 99: Merging Family Lines

 **April 1979**

There was a loud crash in the living room of Sirius and Octavia's house and it successfully woke up Octavia up in the middle of night as well as waking up a heavily pregnant Lilith who was beside her. Sirius and Remus were out for the night and they both felt safer if they were in the same house since Lilith's parents were visiting family in a different part of the country for a few days.

They both sat up and looked at each other, there was another loud crash causing Willa to wake up screaming.

"I'm pregnant and shouldn't be involved in whatever is going on downstairs, I'll get Willa and you check it out." Lilith suggested.

"Thanks," Octavia climbed off the bed and headed downstairs.

Octavia couldn't believe the sight when she got downstairs.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" she yelled causing all five boys to halt their actions, slowly turn and face her.

Sirius, Remus, James, Peter and Frank were all standing there, looking incredibly sheepish and it was obvious they had been drinking.

"Snow, I love you." Sirius spoke, his voice slurring and Octavia knew that they were in fact drunk.

"Hand your wands over," she held her hand out but none of the boys moved.

"I think I'm going to find Lilith," Remus spoke as he headed for the door but ended up walking into an invisible wall. "Guess not," he mumbled walking back to where he was originally standing.

"Wands now," she growled and when no one moved she pulled them from them one at a time. "Right, you lot are sleeping in because I swear if you wake up my daughter one more time I won't be happy."

"Can I see Willa, she's my daughter too." Sirius spoke stepping closer to Octavia and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't even think about it, you lot are ridiculously drunk and I had enough trouble getting her to sleep to begin with. Now don't you dare think about turning into Padfoot and spend the whole night howling again because you can explain to Mrs Bakersfield this time where our dog went once again." she ordered and Sirius nodded.

"Come on Snow, don't you think you are being a little bit ridiculous about this?" James questioned and Octavia just waved her wand to shut all the blinds.

"I'm being ridicules? You lot burst in here at god knows what time in the middle of the night when I have a baby upstairs trying to sleep, we have Muggle neighbours and one of them includes Mrs Bakersfield and as it is we're already this close in having to Oblivate her! So no I don't think I am being ridiculous!" She yelled at them but they all began laughing at her.

"Are you bloody kidding me!" She yelled, annoyed that they were all laughing at her. "What about this, how would you feel if you were woken up in the middle of the night by two loud crashes while we are in the middle of a war!"

Sirius stepped closer to Octavia but the invisible wall prevented him from getting closer to her.

"Snow, we're sorry." He spoke softly but she shook her head.

"Don't, you lot are sleeping in here." She snapped before turning around and leaving the room, waving her wand and sealing the room so they couldn't get out.

When she entered Willa's bedroom she found Lilith pacing in the room with her in her arms.

"She's not going back to sleep?"

"Nope, who was downstairs?" Octavia walked over and took Willa from Lilith.

"The boys' and it looks like they had lots of fun at James' stag party because they are all drunk. Even Frank is downstairs."

"Alice would probably kill him for going home drunk and James isn't allowed home, so that explains as to why they came here. I don't understand why Lily didn't want to do anything like that."

"Lily said she doesn't really drink, doesn't see the point in going out and getting drunk like they did. She was perfectly happy with the movies we watched with Marlene and Alice until they went home at a respectable hour."

"I know, where are they now?" Lilith questioned but then they heard a banging downstairs. "You locked them in the living room didn't you?"

"Merlin no, that's inhumane. I locked them in the dining room." Octavia spoke with a smirk on her face before looking down at Willa in her arms. "Come on baby, please go back to sleep."

"I can't believe you locked them in the dining room Snow."

"Yes well they woke up my impossibly hard to put to sleep daughter at the moment and woke us up as well and Lilith you are eight months pregnant, what would have had happened had you gone into labour?"

"Speaking of which, I need more sleep. Are you going to be alright?" Octavia nodded and gave Lilith a sleepy smile as she left and headed back to the bedroom.

"Come on baby, let's get you a bottle, hopefully that will put you to sleep."

Octavia headed downstairs with Willa in her arms, ignoring the door opening when she entered the kitchen and went straight to the fridge grabbing out a bottle that was sitting in there.

"Snow, let me out and I can help." Sirius spoke and Octavia noticed the look of recognition on Willa's face.

"Dada," Willa spoke and Octavia just smiled, despite what was happening she was still thrilled that Willa was now speaking.

"No Padfoot, you are drunk. Who knows what will happen, just get some sleep and I will handle Willa." Octavia knew it was a mistake, bringing Willa downstairs with her because she knew Sirius wouldn't be asleep and knew that Willa would instantly recognise Sirius' voice.

"I'm sorry we scared you, will you please let us out of the dining room so we have somewhere to sleep." Octavia hung her head before carefully waving her wand and moments later she heard Sirius walk up behind her.

"Is she still being fussy?" he questioned, wrapping his arms around Octavia's waist, kissing her neck.

"Yes and I don't even know what's wrong with her, I'm hoping Dromeda can help when I go visit her tomorrow before the wedding."

"Baby we have things to do before the wedding and I'm in the wedding party."

Octavia pulled away from him and turned to face him, "I know this, and plus Lily was the one that suggested we get her checked out, said she would manage without me for an hour while I visit Dromeda. I wasn't telling you to come with me, she's obviously in pain for something and I want to get it checked out before it gets worse." Octavia snapped before turning around and heading back upstairs, placing Willa in her crib with the bottle hoping it was enough to put her back to sleep.

"I can't even sleep in my own bed?" she turned and found Sirius standing in the door way.

"Share with Moony?" she teased and walked over to him. "Goodnight Padfoot." She patted his chest before slipping past him and entering her bedroom and climbing into the bed beside a sleeping Lilith.

.oOo.

"Thought you two had a wedding to attend?" Andromeda spoke, shocked at seeing Sirius and Octavia standing on the other side of her front door.

In the end Sirius decided to join Octavia and find out what was wrong with Willa, he was just as worried as her after seeing how distraught Willa was this morning before they left.

Sirius didn't even have to ask James for permission to bail on best man duties for an hour, James just told him to go and take care of his family because James was just as worried as the rest of them, they all sat there during breakfast and could tell something was wrong and bothering Willa.

"We do but there seems to be something wrong with Willa, we were hoping you could check her out before we attend the wedding," Octavia explained.

Andromeda didn't say anything, just stood to the side and allowed the couple to enter.

They all walked into the living room, taking a seat on the couches just as the hot pink haired girl came running into the room.

"Mummy, I thought we were playing." Nymphadora complained and Octavia couldn't help but laugh.

"Not now sweetie, right now I need to make sure Willa is okay, then we can play again," Andromeda spoke.

Nymphadora nodded as she walked over and had a look at where Sirius was holding Willa, she placed a hand on Willa's head and softly stroked her head. "Better?"

"No sweetie, it may take a bit more than that. Now be patient while I take a look at her."

They all stayed silent as Andromeda examined Willa, Octavia was giving Nymphadora attention attempting to appease the girl and keep herself distracted from what was happening.

"There is nothing wrong with her, she is perfectly healthy," Andromeda spoke when she was done.

Octavia turned around and looked at her confused, it was clearly obvious that something was wrong with her daughter. "Then what's wrong with Willa, something is clearly going on with her."

"She's teething, it's a normal part of a growing baby. All babies handle it differently, teething rings work wonders for them to chew on and I found with Nymphadora that if I put the toy in the freezer first the cold helped numb the pain a little as well."

"So it's normal then?" Octavia questioned, breathing a sigh of relief. She had been so worried that whatever was wrong with Willa was her fault because she was a Dreamer.

"Yes O, it's completely normal for a baby to go through teething and feel some discomfort or pain that I can assure you of. Now I know that you two have the wedding today and I have no plans, I have the day off and was planning on spending it at home with Nymphadora, I am more than happy to watch Willa if you think that will be easier on you both." Andromeda spoke, offering up a suggestion for what they could do for the day.

Sirius and Octavia shared a look before Sirius brought Willa close to his chest, softly kissing the top of her head.

"We have such a busy day ahead of us, if she's going to be fussy all day like she was last night then it will just make everything harder." Sirius pointed out and Octavia nodded, leaning over and grabbing Willa from him.

"I know, I hate leaving her in general but leaving her when she's in pain, I feel worse."

"O it happens from time to time, you are allowed to have a life, it's why you have friends and family who care deeply for you both and Willa, that you trust whole heartedly to look after her while you can't, while you are busy saving the world so she doesn't have to grow up in the same environment that we did." Andromeda spoke, hoping to reassure the young couple.

"I know but we haven't packed a bag for her or anything."

"Which would contain clothes, some food and maybe a few diapers which I can handle by making a trip to Diagon Alley or transfiguring some things. It's not that big of a deal, you two have a big day ahead of you. Go have fun with your friends and come and pick Willa up tomorrow."

Nothing else was said as Sirius and Octavia looked at each other, both wondering if they could leave Willa while she was clearly in pain and suffering by her teeth attempting to come through.

"We've left her before Snow," Sirius pointed out, clearly seeing the struggle Octavia was going through. "We promised both Prongs and Lily we would help with so much of today's preparation."

Octavia didn't say anything in response, she just nodded before softly kissing Willa's head and passing her off to Andromeda while she seemed to be focused on the faces Nymphadora was morphing her face into to keep her entertained.

Octavia knew the moment Willa began fussing again it would be harder for her to leave, "come on Padfoot."

Octavia quickly disappeared, leaving Sirius sitting there to wonder if she was actually okay with leaving Willa with Andromeda.

"Sorry Dromeda," Sirius quickly apologised.

"Nonsense, I remember there was one night Ted and I planned to have a romantic night, just the two of us with his parents agreeing to watch Nymphadora when she was about 18 months but she ended up with a fever and I hated leaving her but both Ted and his parents reminded me that we are allowed our own life."

"Thank you, for everything Dromeda." Sirius leaned over and kissed Andromeda's cheek before he too left in search of Octavia.

.oOo.

Octavia felt like she was sitting there for hours in that chair while a muggle stylist played with her hair and did her make-up.

When she arrived at the church where James and Lily were getting married, Lily quickly ushered her into a chair so the stylist could get to work.

Octavia was still a little unsure about how it would go having so many witches and wizards around Muggles for a wedding but James was respecting Lily's heritage and allowing them to have a Muggle wedding which will follow by a tradition Magical reception.

She was finally allowed to escape and go help the boys and Lilith with the decorations in the church, leaving Lily with her bridesmaids. Dorcas, Mary and Emmeline were Lily's bridesmaids and it was once again that Octavia realised just how much she didn't notice when it came to Lily at Hogwarts, she knew that Lily was friends with Dorcas and Mary since she shared a class with both of them but she didn't realise that Lily was friends with Emmeline.

Octavia was a little preoccupied with her own thoughts and she didn't even realise that Sirius had walked up behind her and she was startled as she felt his warm hands rest on her sides.

"Something wrong love?" Sirius teased, absolutely pleased that he was able to sneak up on her once again.

"Not at all Padfoot, I still find it rather odd that they are having a Muggle wedding. I didn't think Lily had any family left but her parents and sister and they all know the truth." Octavia responded, turning around and facing him.

"Prongs said something about things already being tense with her sister and wanted it to be as normal as possible with hope that she and her husband would turn up, apparently Lily is still broken up that her sister refused to be a bridesmaid. Prongs also said something about many family friends that Lily has known for years that she wanted to invite."

"Maybe Lily should cut her loses, honestly that girl sounds completely vile from what I've heard." Lilith cut in, interrupting the conversation and Octavia turned her head and looked at her best friend. "How's Willa?"

"Dromeda said she is teething and that is why she was acting like she was, so something you have to look forward too."

"Honestly I would take that right now, I feel like a house and cannot wait until my baby is here." Lilith spoke as she placed a hand on her stomach.

Octavia was feeling sorry for the girl, she doesn't even know how Lilith is feeling as she didn't make it this far in her pregnancy since Willa decided to arrive early.

"Come on, let's get you off your feet before Moony has a heart attack at seeing you standing for so long," Octavia commented, quickly noticing that Remus was nowhere in sight but once again Sirius' voice popped into her head and reminded her to stay silent on this topic.

"You look beautiful by the way Snow," Sirius called out as the two girls walked away from him.

Octavia looked over her shoulder and smirked at Sirius, for the first time taking notice of him in the Muggle suit James got the boys to wear. "You don't look so bad yourself." She winked at him before leading Lilith over to one of the bench seats.

"How about this Snow, I pretend I'm in labour and we clear all the Muggles and then you can wave your hands and magically put all these decorations up." Lilith complained and Octavia let out a laugh.

"That would just make things worse I believe, the Muggles will want you to go to a Hospital instead of home where your dad and Dromeda are on call for when you do go into labour. And are you honestly telling me that none of us have our wands on us?"

"Touché," Lilith responded before letting out a sigh.

"What's wrong?"

"It seems like so much effort just to have Lily's family here, I've heard Prongs speak of her parents and they sound like lovely people who accept Lily for who she is but it's her sister and that husband that make her life hell every time she and James visit them."

Octavia looked over at where James and Sirius were attempting to lift one of the heavy vases in place, smiling at the sight.

"Would you do the same for Moony? He has the same heritage that Lily does." Octavia questioned.

The only thing that Octavia has heard about Lilith and Remus' wedding was that Lilith wanted Octavia as her maid of honour, nothing else had been said as yet but everyone knew they were waiting until Lilith had given birth.

"I told him as such but it doesn't matter, they don't associate with Hope's family. They turned up at the funeral to say goodbye but other than that nothing, Moony said he heard mentions of the ties between the families being broken not long after his attack from Greyback. Hope's family wouldn't believe the lie they came up with for his condition because it wasn't like they could tell a bunch of Muggles that werewolves existed." Lilith explained and Octavia was shocked.

Octavia always believed that Remus' family knew the truth or that they didn't think that Remus was ill but hearing this now from Lilith it changed a few things. Remus had his own family turn on him inadvertently because of what he is.

.oOo.

Despite Octavia's earlier concerns about James and Lily have a Muggle wedding ceremony she believed the entire ceremony to be beautiful and James and Lily didn't deserve any less. She was happy that two of her friends were able to find happiest in one of their darkest times, that they were able to celebrate without any infiltration from the enemy.

She was just worried for how the reception was going to go, the ceremony was only close friends and family of both the bride and groom whereas the reception, everyone the newly wedded couple knew were invited, including most of the Order.

It was when her and Sirius arrived at Potter Manor and saw just how many people were in attendance she was glad that Willa wasn't with them, that she stayed with Andromeda to be kept safe.

Sirius looked over at his girlfriend and worried about what could be wrong with her, on a day like today it could only be one of two things. One, she was worried about Willa and two, she still wanted her own wedding one day.

But it was during James' wedding that Sirius noticed something that both James and Lily had to sign two marriage certificates and it made him wander what would happen if one of them was never signed.

"What's the matter baby?" Sirius questioned, lifting their joined hands and softly kissing the back of her hand, earning a smile from her.

"There are so many Order members here, what if the Death Eaters receive word of what is happening here. I'm grateful we made the right decision and left Willa with Dromeda because if they turned up I wouldn't be able to help fight, I would be too busy worrying about her."

"Her safety is our number one priority right now, even if that means lowering her happiness when she is in pain and all she wants is us. Prongs and Lily knew the risk with throwing such a large reception like this, they knew what could possibly happen but still chose too."

"I know," Octavia responded softly.

Sirius pulled on Octavia's arm and spun her around, wrapping his arms around her. "Remember what we promised, today we have no worries or concerns, we have fun with our friends and forget what is happening out in the world."

Octavia leaned up on her toes so she was eye level with Sirius and smiled him before softly kissing him, "come dance with me then," she whispered before pulling away and making her way through the crowded room.

"Right behind you Snow," Sirius called out before he chased after her.

.oOo.

"How are you coping Lilith?" Octavia questioned as she took a seat at the table beside the heavily pregnant girl.

"I could definitely use a nap but to see Lily and Prongs that happy means everything," Lilith responded.

Octavia nodded in response and looked over at where the happy couple were dancing in the middle of everyone else, not even caring that they were slow dancing to an upbeat song, they were just in their own world.

"I think this is just what we needed, we needed to see we can have the happiness we deserve in a moment of turmoil like this."

"Snow you and Padfoot have a little girl and that shows you can have happiness."

Octavia leaned over and placed her hand on top of Lilith's, who had her hands resting on her swollen stomach. "You will have yours soon enough."

"I have two weeks left and I feel like a house," Lilith complained and Octavia let out a laugh.

"I could honestly say everything that you all said to me when I complained about being huge but I know it exactly what it feels like but honestly the moment you hold your baby in your arms once you give birth, it means everything and you forget how bad you ever felt during the pregnancy, it makes up for all of it." Octavia spoke hoping reassure her best friend, she remembered how she felt during her pregnancy but she remembered how much it meant when she finally got to hold Willa.

Lilith's response was cut off by the sound of a loud explosion, she looked over at Octavia and quickly noticed how her best friend had her wand.

"You need to leave, get to the floo and go home," Octavia ordered before she stood up and ran off towards the noise.

Octavia just hoped that Lilith did as she requested and rushed to the fire place so she could head home, she knew the rest of her friends wouldn't want to be worried over the one pregnant friend if she stayed to fight.

Octavia didn't even know if there was going to be a duel between anyone but the sound of an explosion wasn't a good sign but with most of the Order here, the Death Eaters that showed up wouldn't stand a chance.

Pushing Lilith to the back of her mind she went in search of friends, hoping they were fine while seeing what she could do to help against the Death Eaters.

There was a part of her that was concerned as to how the Death Eaters found out about the party at Potter Manor, everyone knew about the marriage between James and Lily and knew what a big deal it was to happen between a Pureblood and a Muggleborn at this point in time with the war going on.

The marriage between the two of them showed just how much James was against what Voldemort was fighting for.

Octavia quickly jumped into a duel helping out Marlene against a Death Eater.

Marlene was able to disarm the Death Eater due to their shock at Octavia arriving and it wasn't long until the Death Eater was gone, in fact most Death Eaters chose that point to disappear leaving everyone to stand there, confused as to what was going on.

Everyone gathered in the living room to make sure everyone was okay and that there were no casualties or injuries.

Octavia was confused as everyone standing before her in perfect health, not a single injury or death. She was unsure as to what the Death Eaters plan was, or were they just hoping to show confusion?

It was then Octavia noticed she couldn't see Sirius, she pushed her way through the room in search of him hoping more than anything that he was okay, she couldn't lose him, not now.

She turned her head when someone grabbed her arm and saw James standing there, "Padfoot." Was all she needed to say and James let go of her arm before they both went in search of Sirius.

They finally found him, lying on the kitchen floor unconscious. Octavia quickly dropped to the ground and pressed her fingers against his neck hoping to feel a pulse, grateful when she felt a pulse, it may have been faint but it was still there and it meant everything to her.

"It'll be alright Snow, we'll get him help." James spoke from behind her.

Octavia didn't say anything, she just rested her forehead against his for a moment, attempting to keep the tears at bay before she sat up and conjured her Patronus.

"Tell Dromeda that Padfoot is injured and we're coming now," Octavia spoke hoping her Patronus would leave.

She hadn't done much practise sending messages with her Patronus, she had only sent one message and that was the original one she sent to Marlene.

"And if Willa see's Padfoot injured like this, won't it traumatize her?" James questioned.

"Why do you think I sent the message ahead, go make sure no one else is hurt and find out why they left like they did, surely something else is going on. I'm taking care of Padfoot." Octavia snapped before she gripped Sirius' shoulders and Apparated the two of them to Ted and Andromeda's hoping she got the message and Willa wasn't in attendance for what she may witness.

"You know the girls were very fascinated with the bright shiny light," Andromeda spoke when Octavia arrived.

"Something we've been practising with, where's Willa?"

"Upstairs, Ted is reading the girls a story."

Octavia let out a sigh of relief as she positioned Sirius on the couch, the last thing she wanted was for Willa to see Sirius like this when she herself had no idea as to what was wrong with him, she didn't want Willa to worry when he wouldn't wake up.

"Can you check him out while I go check on her?" Octavia questioned as she left the room, knowing full well that Andromeda would check on Sirius without her even asking too.

She stood in the doorway of Nymphadora's room, grateful that Ted barely looked her way when he noticed her standing there, the last thing she needed was for Willa to notice her.

It was the same thing every time there was an attack, Octavia had to always make sure Willa was perfectly fine. She trusted Ted and Andromeda whole heartedly, it was just that feeling of dread she had because Willa was such an unknown in the magical community.

She went back downstairs and found Andromeda standing beside Sirius, fear filling her at Sirius still being unconscious.

"Please tell me he's alright," Octavia spoke softly causing Andromeda to look up at her.

"He's perfectly fine O, nothing to worry about and will wake up in due time but for now I have to go, it seems all the excitement you all had at the wedding caused Lilith to go into labour. I'm going to tell Ted where I'm going and you can decide if you're going to stay here or come with me."

Octavia stood there, she was completely torn as to who she wanted to be with. Andromeda stated Sirius will be perfectly fine and Lilith was in labour, she knew how terrified her best friend was about going into labour and not making it out alive, she was terrified she wouldn't be there to raise her child, just like Octavia was.

In the end, the unknown circumstances that surrounded Lilith made Octavia's decision, she went with Andromeda to be there for Lilith. Sirius would understand when he eventually woke up and if she was lucky, it wouldn't be until she returned.

.oOo.

When Sirius woke up he instantly heard the giggling that he knew belonged to Willa, he opened his eyes and found said daughter on the ground beside him.

It was when he attempted to sit up that the pounding in his head became worse, he placed his head in his hands as he attempted to straighten the room out.

"Dada," Willa spoke softly, having noticed that Sirius was awake.

Sirius lifted his gaze and gave Willa a smile, "hi princess," he spoke, leaning over and picking her up. "Where's mummy?" he questioned knowing that she wouldn't be able to answer.

"Ah, I see that someone is finally awake," Ted spoke as he entered the room, seeing Sirius sitting there with Willa in his arms.

"Where's O?"

"She's perfectly fine, she was able to bring you here to have you check out. It seems as though what happened caused Lilith to go into labour early, both her and Dromeda are with her now."

Sirius shifted Willa before he stood up and walked over to Ted, shaking his hand. "Thanks for looking after Willa, I'm going to catch up with O but I have a feeling after the day we've had we would both feel better having Willa close by."

"You're family Sirius, anytime. Look after yourself, O was beside herself when she brought you here." Ted explained.

Sirius nodded, completely forgetting that he was knocked out by a Death Eater and how that would have affected Octavia.

Sirius arrived at Longbottom Manor and searched the spacious manor for his friends, unsure as to where they could be. He remembered Octavia telling her about Lilith's fear and concerns and he hoped for everyone's sake that the worst concern didn't come to be, he doesn't know how they would cope without one of their own. How Octavia would cope without her best friend and how Remus would cope without his fiancé and the mother of his newly born child.

He finally found them all standing around in what he assumed to be Lilith's bedroom, "mama." Willa spoke shocking Sirius and in turn everyone else as they turned and looked at them both.

"Did she just?" Andromeda questioned.

It had been almost two months since Willa said the word 'dada' and no matter how hard they tried they couldn't get her to speak another word.

"Hi baby," Octavia spoke as she appeared in front of Sirius with a large smile on her face, happy that Willa finally said the word mama.

Sirius allowed Octavia to take Willa from him as he looked over at the bed and saw both Remus and Lilith sitting there, Lilith didn't look too great but she was awake.

"I see a congratulations are in order for you two," Sirius spoke when he stood at the end of the bed, giving the new parents a smile.

They both looked up and finally noticed Sirius standing there, "Padfoot, meet Emerson Clarity Lupin." Remus spoke with a rather large smile on his face and Sirius hasn't seen the werewolf look this happy in a long time.

Sirius looked over his shoulder at Octavia, she had told him that she believed they were going to have a daughter named Clary but instead they named their girl Emerson. Sirius was curious as to what has changed.

"We know Snow saw a girl named Clary and it was Moony's daughter," Lilith spoke, pulling Sirius' focus back to her. "We assume something has changed and it could be so much between when she had the dream and now but we have so many reasons for why we named our daughter the way we did."

"Exactly, now would the Godfather like a hold?" Remus questioned as he stood up with Emerson.

"Wait, what?" Sirius questioned, completely shocked at what was just said.

"We want you and Snow to be the Godparents, it was always you two helping us along the way with our relationship and we couldn't think of anyone else to look after Emerson if anything happened to us." Lilith explained.

All Sirius could do was nod before he accepted Emerson from Remus, looking over at where Octavia was standing with Willa. Despite all the turmoil that was happening in their lives, they were slowly becoming blessed.

"Where are the others?" Sirius questioned, hoping someone knew.

"There was an attack at Diagon Alley, it's why they attacked us at Potter Manor. They had hoped they could keep us distracted while they did what they wanted, the others are there helping. The only reason I came here was because I knew how scared Lilith was." Octavia explained, placing Willa on the bed so she could have a hold of Emerson.

Sirius just nodded, he has no idea how long he was unconscious but he just hoped no one was hurt or worse, killed.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to both Ginny702 and Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	101. Can We?

Chapter 100: Can We?

 **May 1979**

Remus stood there and stretched out his muscles, they were incredibly sore after last night's Full Moon.

He has now spent a couple of Full Moons with the werewolf pack and he believed he was getting somewhere with them, it didn't matter if only a couple of them spoke to him it was the fact that he always woke up covered by a blanket that showed they were slowly accepting of him.

He was always grateful that he was accepted by his friends, after seeing how hard werewolves can have it when they are shunned by a community like the magical one.

He was startled when a set of young boy twins came running over him.

"Hi," they both chirped while waving a hand at Remus, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Hi there, what are your names?"

"Clarke and Peter," they both responded and Remus nodded.

It was then Remus noticed Jack heading towards him, Jack was the Alpha of the pack, the one Remus was working with in regards to getting him to make sure they didn't side with Voldemort or any of the Death Eaters that may come their way.

"Jack," Remus spoke while nodding his head, giving the Alpha the respect he deserves.

"I thought you two would be down for the count by now, I know you two were up again all night." Jack spoke, addressing the two boys instead of Remus.

But it was that comment that spiked Remus' interest, as far as he was aware the only werewolves of the pack were adults, no children.

"Head home now," Jack ordered and it only took seconds before the twins took off running. "I seem to have spiked your interest," Jack commented and Remus nodded.

"I admit I am curious as to how they would have been up all night."

"Surely you never once wondered how your own condition would affect your own daughter, I heard word from some of the others that your mate gave birth a few weeks ago."

Remus was shocked, he never once considered what would happen to Emerson because he was a werewolf.

"Don't worry yourself, both Lana and I are werewolves. Clarke and Peter aren't werewolves themselves but when there is a Full Moon they usually spend the whole night awake terrorizing the non-werewolves of our pack. Because your mate isn't a werewolf it is very likely that your daughter will be perfectly fine and you shouldn't have to worry at all."

Remus couldn't speak, he was beside himself. He looked at Jack before shaking his head, "I should get some rest," he muttered before turning and heading towards where his own bed was situated, needing a good night's sleep.

He couldn't believe of all the things to pass through his mind when he found out Lilith was pregnant, he didn't once comprehend what his condition would do to their baby. Now seeing Emerson and being able to hold her, he couldn't believe he put her at risk, that he put Lilith at risk. Maybe his condition was the reason Lilith had so many issues with her pregnancy.

So many concerns ran through his mind as he laid there in his bed attempting to get some sleep.

.oOo.

Lilith stood there in Emerson's nursery as she attempted to get Emerson to stop crying, she was almost at her own wits end.

Remus had been gone for almost three weeks now, the longest he had been gone without hearing from him and she was truly worried about if something happened to him.

She was grateful for her parents, they understood he was out doing Order business and didn't ask questions past that, knowing that without them being in the Order they couldn't know the full details and they were helping her when they could when it came to Emerson.

But their help couldn't remove the fear she had about his safety.

Lilith headed downstairs after Kelpie informed her of the guest they had with Emerson in her arms, her parents were currently out, Liam was at St Mungo's and Augusta was visiting her supposed book club.

Lilith was shocked at Dumbledore standing there in the living room waiting for her.

"Dumbledore, what can I do for you?" Lilith questioned. There was a part of her that hoped the headmaster knew where Remus was and what was keeping him from coming home.

"Just checking in, I know what your reasons are for not attending the Order meetings but I was under the assumption that Remus would still be attending but I have not seen him at one."

Lilith nodded, softly bouncing Emerson in her arms. Her friends had also been asking where Remus was, but she would just lie and say he was staying at home with her, not able to leave both of them alone yet. She still couldn't tell them the secret mission Dumbledore had Remus on.

"I haven't heard from Remus in almost three weeks, he went for the Full Moon and hasn't returned when he normally has by now in the past."

"I'm sure he is perfectly fine, we have no reason to believe otherwise," Dumbledore quickly responded but it didn't erase Lilith's fears.

"I feel worse because he hasn't checked in, that I'm the one here caring for Emerson and I can't even tell our friends what he is doing."

"I know Lilith but the three of us spoke at great lengths before he began this mission and you both knew the risks but you deemed it important enough that the risks didn't mean anything. I'm sure Remus will check in soon enough, if not be home before you know it. I must be off, I can't be away too long from Hogwarts." Dumbledore spoke and Lilith just nodded allowing him to leave knowing how busy the man could be.

Once Dumbledore was gone Lilith walked over and took a seat on the couch, keeping a hold of Emerson. She was truly scared for what could have happened to Remus, she didn't even want to think of the possibility that he was refusing to return home for whatever reason. That the concern she had for originally telling him she was pregnant was now something she should worry about.

.oOo.

 **June 1979**

Lilith sat there on her bed, rubbing her face with her hands, stopping for a moment when she caught sight of her engagement ring. Remus still hadn't returned home and the longer his disappearance went on the more she worried.

No word had been said as to if he was alive or not, but there was a part of her that now worried that he wasn't planning on returning, that he was leaving both her and Emerson behind.

She eventually climbed out of her bed and walked over to Emerson's crib and picked up her daughter, having a feeling that she was hungry before walking over and taking a seat in the rocking chair that Octavia and Sirius had given to them after Emerson was born, already grateful for the present.

Lilith sat there rocking the two of them, waiting until Emerson had her fill of milk before she was able to get some sleep.

"Please tell me you aren't mad," Lilith looked over at the sound of Remus' timid voice.

She stared at him for a moment before looking back down at Emerson, noticing that she had finally giving up on the breast milk and fallen back asleep. She stood up and walked over to place the sleeping baby in her crib, all without saying a single word to Remus.

"Lil?" he questioned, unnerved by her silence.

She finally turned and looked at him, allowing him to see the tears that had built up at the sound of his voice due to relief. "I was terrified something had happened to you and then I stupidly thought you weren't returning."

A guilty look appeared on his face and it said it all, said everything she needed to know and she was shocked. "You weren't planning on it were you?"

"Just please let me explain," he spoke sounding hopeful, hopeful that she would hear him out.

Lilith nodded in response before walking over to the bed and patting the spot beside her, "can't go waking my parents up," she explained.

Remus nodded, unsure as to how she would respond to everything. He was silent for a moment collecting his thought as they both sat there on the bed.

"I always knew there were children in the pack, but I never once though how their werewolf parents would affect them until I met the Alpha's children. They've been affected because of the condition both their parents have and I just panicked thinking I had done something to Emerson and I couldn't come back to face you thinking I had done something so harmful to our baby girl. I was terrified you would hate me for what I could potentially do to her." Remus explained and the whole time he refused to look at her, stared down at his hands where they played with a loose thread of his shirt.

Lilith shifted closer to Remus and placed two fingers under his chin and forced him to look at her, she couldn't believe how much this was bothering him. "Rem, I have spent enough Full Moons with her to know there is nothing seriously wrong with her. If she had inherited the condition from you then we would know, we would know if there was a tiny werewolf running around the house. I would never be mad for something you have no control over, for now Emerson is perfectly healthy and that's all that matters, that she is healthy, no?"

"But what if she is affected?"

"If she hasn't transformed by now she most likely won't, so what is the worst that could happen?"

"The twins I met are usually up running around annoying the non-werewolves most of the night, they also prefer meat that isn't fully cooked." Remus explained what he witnessed with the twins in his time there as well as what he heard from the other werewolves.

Lilith couldn't help but laugh, "Your meat isn't always fully cooked anyway and I'm almost always awake during the Full Moon, what you think the others are the only ones who stay awake? I always scared of what could potentially happen to them while out with you, I usually stayed awake waiting until they returned so I could hear it all went okay. So if I'm up with her, it's no different. What is the issue here?"

Lilith placed a hand over Remus' mouth when he opened it to respond.

"It was rhetorical, I wasn't expecting an answer. There is no issue here what so ever and you can't say she won't be normal because look at us and our friends, we aren't exactly normal and her Godparents are the least normal of us all since both of them are Animagi and Snow is a Dreamer, let's also not forget that those two spent the most amount of time in detention because of a stupid bet they started first year."

"So you aren't mad?" Remus questioned.

"You refused to come home, to face me and tell me your concerns for our daughter. I get that there are the nights surrounding the Full Moon where you are no help when it comes to raising her, I get that you will struggle to find work once this war is over with and won't be able to contribute financially when it comes to our daughter and our family. But Remus I love you, for who you are and remember I fell in love with you knowing you were a werewolf and I knew what to expect, I knew everything when I agreed to marry you. I'm just mad you thought you couldn't face me."

Remus lifted his hands and placed them on her neck, cupping her face. "I know and I'm so sorry Lil, I hate myself for doing that but I honestly panicked." He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. "Please forgive me, I love you so much, both you and Emerson." He whispered, hoping more than anything that she would forgive him.

He couldn't believe it took him this long to return home, both Jack and Lana were asking numerous questions as to why he hadn't returned home but for so long he would brush them off quickly changing the conversation.

They had eventually worn him down earlier today and managed to convince him to return home before it was too late, before he truly lost the family he had. They thought he was incredibly lucky to have a mate that loved him for who he was and accepted him as a werewolf.

Most of the couples in the pack that had only one werewolf were already together when the werewolf was first bitten, unable to leave them despite what happened.

"Just don't leave again, always come home to me Remus, always come home to me and Emerson." Lilith finally responded.

"I promise Lilith," Remus breathed before he closed the gap and kissed her.

.oOo.

Sirius was currently out on an Order mission while Octavia was at home with Willa, she was meant to be resting after once again being badly attacked by Death Eaters while out on a mission. It seemed as though they had kill orders against her, if not to mane so she was easier to transport back to Voldemort.

Octavia knew Sirius would kill her if he found her doing what she was doing, but she was so damn curious.

James had been making all these snide comments that heavily reminded her of the moments leading up to before her and Sirius finally did something about their feelings and it made her question what Sirius had planned.

She was on her hands and knees in the walk in wardrobe digging through a box in the corner that belonged to Sirius, holding a bunch of crap that they didn't really need but they hadn't thrown away.

It wasn't until her hand wrapped around the small box that she pulled it out, a small gasp escaping her lips in the same action.

She placed the small box on the ground in front of her and stared at it.

Her and Sirius had spoken about marriage, it having come up more than once in the past and more so since the word marriage first got brought up amongst their friends. They were both afraid of what would happen if they had a magical wedding, they were afraid of the chance that their parents had put a marriage contract in place between the two of them since Octavia was no longer disowned.

Octavia instantly noticed the set of feet appear in her vision, "whoops," she spoke softly before looking up and coming face to face with Sirius who was leaning in the doorway, looking down at her with an amused look on his face.

"What are you doing baby?" he questioned and she smiled while batting her eyelashes at him.

"Nothing Pads."

"Really, because to me it looks like you were digging through my things." He pointed out and she shrugged.

"Not at all."

"Care to explain the jewellery box sitting on the floor in front of you?"

"It was here when I came in here," she grinned at him and he laughed.

"Open it Snow." He ordered and she looked at him in shock, "open it." He spoke again and she reached out grabbing the box.

She was disappointed to see that the box was empty.

"You honestly thought that if I was going to propose I would leave the ring hiding around in the house somewhere? Where my extremely curious and mischievous girlfriend could find?"

Octavia nodded as she threw the empty box back into the original box it was in.

Sirius took a deep breath before kneeling on the ground in front of her, "baby I know you too well, I'm not stupid enough to leave the ring hiding around the house."

"Why not just propose?" she questioned softly and he placed his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him.

"You mean come up with a plan where I'm able to do one over you? Let's see, I thought of doing something romantic, just the two of us but I knew the moment you realised Willa was gone for the night and we weren't needed for an Order mission that something was up, actually anything just the little bit romantic with the way our lives are at the moment, you would realise something was up. But I guess us sitting in the middle of our wardrobe is probably the least romantic thing I could have thought of so maybe it worked out perfectly."

"What?" Octavia questioned, becoming stunned where Sirius pulled a small jewellery box out of his pocket.

"You have been my best friend for long as I can remember, I've probably been in love with you for just as long. I know our lives aren't the best right now and we aren't in any situation to get married given the unknown surrounding a potential marriage contract, but this," he opened the box and showed her the ring sitting inside. "This is a promise that I will do everything in my power to make you my wife the moment we can, the moment we can walk down the aisle and not have to worry about what our wretched parents have done, we will, even if it means dragging you down there myself. Will you marry me one day?"

Octavia was stunned, she couldn't speak. She looked at Sirius before looking down at the stunning white gold band with a ruby stone nestled in the middle surrounded by turquoise stones.

"Baby?"

Octavia looked back up at Sirius, seeing the worry on his face. "Of course I'll marry you, you goofball. The fact that you even has to ask is ridicules."

Sirius pulled the ring out of the box and slid it onto Octavia's finger, kissing her knuckles once the ring was on.

"Why the ruby and turquoise stones?" Octavia questioned, looking back at where she wiggled her fingers examining her ring.

"What disappointed I didn't get you a diamond?" Sirius teased but Octavia just laughed. "The ruby is to represent our love for Willa, it's her birthstone baby. I know despite some of the more archaic traditions our families followed I know you were always fascinated by the fact that the engagement rings the females receive had their future husbands birthstone to help symbolize who they were meant to love, I also remembering you complaining at one stage that Regulus' birthstone was a diamond. I didn't do my birthstone for a number of reasons, one being that I found particular that tradition highly stupid and two for my reason as to why I chose the turquoise stones."

"If this is some remark about my eyes," Octavia commented as she looked up at him, both of them still having large smiles on their faces.

"Well yes and I do wish Willa had gotten them instead of mine but going with the stones to reference certain months and events, turquoise stones are for December, the same month we left our families behind."

Octavia was in awe at how much thought Sirius had put into her ring, but then she remembered her rant after helping James find a ring for Lily about how she kept going on about how the ring had to be perfect for Lily and not just any old thing and it was now obvious that Sirius took everything she said and put it to use. Sirius found a ring that meant everything to her, that gave her something to smile about every time she looked at the ring and saw the stones, remembering what they referenced. They referenced Willa and when they finally left their families behind.

"It's perfect Padfoot, so bloody perfect." Octavia whispered as she leaned over and kissed Sirius once more, still completely shocked that Sirius actually proposed.

Sirius would do anything he could to make Octavia happy and smiling like she was after he finally proposed, despite knowing she will be mad when she finally hears what he has been planning, it was all worth it to see her this happy after everything they've been through.

"Why was there an empty ring box in that box though?" Octavia questioned when she pulled away.

Sirius shrugged at, "hell if I know, maybe it was Prongs'?" he responded, standing up and holding his hands out for her. "Come to bed baby," he spoke, his voice husky and Octavia nodded.

.oOo.

If you asked the group of friends they would all agree that it had been way too long since they were all together, there was nine of them currently sitting in the dining room of Potter Manor catching up over a meal and it felt like old times, like they were back at Hogwarts and didn't have to worry about risking their lives as they took part in the Order helping to take down Voldemort.

James and Lily were so busy helping with Order missions as well as enjoying their newly married lives, they had even brought a flat in London, wanting a small place of their own despite Fleamont continuously saying he didn't mind having them around, he in fact enjoyed it.

Remus and Lilith were focusing on their daughter as well as planning their wedding to the way that Lilith parents wanted it to be, confusing Remus as he never knew just how complex a traditional Pureblood wedding could be and now understood completely as to why James opted out and went the Muggle way.

Peter and Dorcas had recently moved in together and seemed to be in love more than ever and the others were curious as to when Peter would propose.

And Sirius and Octavia were being themselves, still raising Willa while going out on missions, trying to do their own part.

And then there was Fleamont, grateful to have them around as he considered them all his children and when he had them around he didn't miss Euphemia as much. He would always miss his deceased wife, nothing would change that but him seeing James grow up and make a life and family for himself, he couldn't be proud of the type of man his son turned out to be.

"What is that?" Lilith questioned, pointing at Octavia as she lifted her wine glass to take a sip of the elf wine that James had pulled out from the family cellar.

"What is there something on my face?" Octavia questioned as she picked up her napkin and wiped at her face.

"No, that right there. The ring on your left hand," Lilith pointed out.

A smile appeared on Octavia's face before she turned her hand to look at her ring before holding it up and showing her best friend who was sitting across from her. "You mean this engagement ring?" she questioned innocently.

Octavia's question caused everyone at the table to drop their cutlery and stare at the couple.

Every single one of them in the room had heard from one, if not both, about how they couldn't get married and they weren't even considering it because they were protecting Willa. But now, to hear that they were engaged, it meant something had been worked out.

"Congratulations you two, I'm really happy for you." Fleamont spoke, the first one able to recover from his shock.

"Thank you Fleamont, it means a lot." Sirius responded, giving his true father figure a smile of appreciate before he looked at his friends.

"So you two worked it out, worked out how you can get married?" Lily questioned.

But the couple shared a look before answering. "Not exactly, it's more a promise that the moment we can get married we will." Octavia answered first, placing her hand in Sirius'.

"As long as you two are happy that's all I can ask for." James spoke, "congratulations, obviously I'm the best man yeah?" James patted Sirius on the shoulder and they all laughed.

"Why would you be my best man, you didn't give me a goddaughter." Sirius teased, looking over at Remus who just laughed in response.

"Don't look at me like that James," Lily spoke causing everyone to laugh in response.

"Congratulations guys, if you excuse me I just have to use the bathroom." Peter spoke as he pushed his chair away from the table and left the room.

He was beside himself, now with Sirius and Octavia getting engaged the only ones left were him and Dorcas, he knew that she would bring up the topic of their future again. It was the only reason he finally relented and agreed to move in with her, to get her to shut up on the topic of their future. She was really starting to get on his nerves and he didn't know how much longer he could keep this up, especially now they were living together.

He needed a way out, and soon.

.oOo.

Octavia shot up on the couch where she had fallen asleep, she was out the previous night on a mission for the Order and instantly fell asleep on the couch, not even making it up stairs to the bed she shared with Sirius.

But what had her worried wasn't what happened the previous night, no it was what she just saw when she was asleep.

This was the first time she had seen a moment from the future that was going to happen within hours.

"Snow?" Sirius' voice came from behind her and when she turned and looked at him he could see the fear on her face.

"What did you see?"

"The Hogwarts Express is going to be attacked on its why back to London today."

"How do you know it's today and not next year or the year after?" he responded.

"Unless Regulus failed and has to repeat his Seventh year, it's today Padfoot." Octavia stated and they both fell silent, letting it all sink in.

"He's a Death Eater isn't he?" Sirius questioned.

"I didn't see anything to prove he was, come on we have to tell Dumbledore what I saw."

"We'll drop Willa of with Dromeda and then we will go together. May as well send word ahead to others and get them ready." Sirius responded and Octavia nodded, standing up from the couch.

It wasn't long until they were gone from house, both of them unsure as to what the Death Eaters had planned for the Hogwarts Express.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	102. Attack on the Train

Chapter 101: Attack on the Train

 **June 1979**

Regulus quickly made his way back down the train to the compartment he had at the back of the train, slamming the door shut behind him.

He couldn't believe this was happening, this particular train ride of all times. He doesn't understand as to why it can't be on a different day, a different day when he wouldn't be on the train and suspicions wouldn't turn to him like they have in the past.

He ruled Slytherin and all the students listened to him as a result, they may not have physically seen his Dark Mark but they all suspected as such because they expected the youngest Black son who was now the heir to become a Death Eater, to make his parents proud.

He was lucky, making it to his graduation without Dumbledore having to take action against him while some of his friends weren't so lucky, Nixon Tavers wasn't so lucky. He was caught actively harming a Muggleborn while claiming that they didn't deserve magic and should stay away from the magical community. If it wasn't for one of the Prefects catching him there was a very high chance that the Muggleborn would be dead.

Regulus ignored the opening of the compartment door, he hoped that whoever it was would realise it was him in there and promptly leave. He hoped that's what happened when he heard the door shut once more.

"Reg?" the soft voice belonging to Bridgette spoke and he looked up at her.

"You shouldn't be here, you shouldn't be here with me, not today of all days." Regulus responded as he placed his face back in his hands.

Bridgette knelt on the ground in front of him and placed her hands on his, slowly pulling them away from his face. "What's going on, please don't shut me out after all this time." She spoke softly and he looked into her eyes.

"You should leave Bridge, please, you can't get wrapped up in this."

Bridgette placed her hands on his face, "I love you Reg, I don't know why you keep trying to push me away when I know what you signed up for. Please tell me what is going on."

"He wants something done on the train today, a trial mission for some recruits." Regulus responded quietly.

"What does he want done and what does he want from you specifically?" She asked, knowing she couldn't be mad at the man she loved. She fell in love with him knowing the truth, that he was a Death Eater and had a Dark Mark burned into his left forearm, that he may kill people once they were off the train and out in the world. But she knew him better, she knew he wasn't this person, the one his parents wanted him to be and he was trying so hard to not be that person.

"There's a first year and a second year on the train that he wants, I was just meant to watch over the potentials while they do everything. Because I'm a Prefect it won't look suspicious as I walk up and down the train, locking the compartments one by one, except three of them."

"Alright, we'll do that." Bridgette spoke softly, running her thumb along his cheek softly. "We will take over from the current Prefects and do a patrol, locking the compartments along the way. If locking the students in the compartments will prevent students from getting hurt or killed then we will do it. Two is better than a couple dozen."

"Bridge, one is your sister's best friend." Regulus pointed out and Bridgette's hands dropped from his face.

"Fuck, who is the other student?" Bridgette questioned as she stood up and took a seat on the bench opposite him.

"The Muggle Relations Minister's daughter. I don't even know what he plans with them, I have a feeling for Carrow but it doesn't make sense to me."

"When are they crashing the train?" Bridgette questioned.

"Two hours before we are due to reach London."

"We have some time, we will figure it out. I won't let you do anything that will make it look like you are at fault, I'll help you Reg." Bridgette spoke as she sat up to move beside Regulus, taking his hand in hers. "I won't leave you alone in this," she leaned over and kissed him.

"If this goes pear shaped, you could be listed as a Death Eater or even a sympathiser, you may lose your family." Regulus pointed out.

"Nonsense, my parents love me and will hear me out when I go and explain what happened. Now, let's work out a plan to make sure no one gets killed and they don't get those two girls." Bridgette spoke.

Regulus leaned over and kissed his girlfriend, "I'm so incredibly lucky to have you, I love you Bridge." He spoke quietly when he pulled away, he felt incredibly grateful that Bridgette hasn't left yet, after everything he has done and may continue to do in the future, she trusts him and believes he will turn it all around.

.oOo.

Octavia and Sirius walked through Hogwarts, amazed at how quiet and empty the Castle feels when there isn't a single student roaming the corridors. They also both had a feeling that most of the Professors were already gone for the summer, if not packing up their last remaining items before leaving and they hoped that Dumbledore was still present, they needed to warn him as to what could happen to the train.

They tried checking the map but they didn't have it, didn't know who had it either

They had no idea how to track the train and if they start at either Hogsmeade or Kings Cross station and follow the tracks, it could take too long and Octavia was unsure as to how long they have until Death Eaters got on the train.

They were surprised when the Gargoyle instantly moved aside at their presence, wondering if only it had a password during the school term or was so accustomed their visits when they were still students.

"Enter," came from the other side when they knocked and Octavia pulled the door open.

"What can I do for you both?" Dumbledore spoke when he looked up from where he was seated at his desk.

"I had a dream this morning, I have reasons to believe Death Eaters are planning on attacking the Hogwarts Express," Octavia explained. Becoming confused when Dumbledore didn't say anything, he just stood up and walked to a set of draws positioned behind his desk, looking through them all for something.

"Ah, here it is." Dumbledore spoke as he pulled out something before walking back towards them and handing over what he pulled out.

"A compass?" Sirius questioned, unsure as to what Dumbledore was on about.

"A compass that will lead you to the Hogwarts Express, I would suggest rounding up some others and then getting on your brooms allowing you to track the train. I will send a message along to the others telling them to meet you at Potter Manor with brooms in hand."

"Thank you for believing me Professor," Octavia stated.

Dumbledore nodded in response and Sirius and Octavia quickly left his office heading towards Potter Manor to meet with the others and grab their own brooms.

.oOo.

"So, why are we all gathered here?" Fabian questioned when Octavia entered the room where they were all waiting.

Sirius suggested he would grab their brooms from the storage shed out the back while she went and filled them all in, but now as Octavia looked around the room she was a little concerned as to how well they would do against Death Eaters if there was a large number of them.

Standing in the room waiting for her and Sirius was only James, Remus, Fabian, Gideon, Marlene and Emmeline. She assumed these were the only people who felt that they could properly all duel while flying on a broom, they were also the only people she knew that definitely played Quidditch while they were at Hogwarts. She wasn't even surprised that Peter wasn't here, he wasn't the best on a broom and would sometimes struggle when they had friendly matches.

"Dumbledore's message just stated those who feel they can manage duelling on a broom to come here." Gideon spoke up before Octavia could.

"I had a dream that showed me that the Death Eaters will be attacking the train today, before you ask I caught sight of a couple of the seventh years indicating that it could only be today. Dumbledore has given Sirius and I a compass that will lead us to the train." Octavia explained.

"Where do we start?" Emmeline questioned.

Octavia was thankful that no one was questioning her but then again when she looked around the room Emmeline was the only person she didn't know as well as the rest of them.

"All I know is that the train goes from Kings Cross to Hogsmeade, does anyone know anything more?" Marlene questioned.

"No one does, it's the whole point."

"So what it means that there are Death Eaters already on board the Hogwarts Express and the students are already in danger?"

"Or we're running into a trap."

Octavia hung her head as an argument broke out in the room, she didn't expect this to happen, she just wanted it to be quick and easy to get everyone out there and help protect the train.

"Shut the bloody hell up already!" Sirius bellowed as he entered the room and saw an argument happening between them all. "Honestly this is ridicules, we have a train for of students, most of which won't be able to defend themselves. Who cares if we have no idea what their plan is or where the train is."

"Exactly," Lily agreed, who had entered the room behind Sirius. "Start at Hogsmeade and go from there, the train is closer to Hogsmeade then it is London at the moment. Just get on your brooms and leave already and figure out everything else out when you get there, the longer you stand around here arguing the longer it will take to find the train." Lily ordered and it only took seconds for everyone to start disappearing towards Hogsmeade.

"Be safe, I love you." Octavia heard Lily speak towards James as she disappeared and moments later she was standing under the sun at Hogsmeade station waiting for James arrived.

"Alright everyone is here, O has the compass so she will lead the group try and keep up because the quicker we can get there the quicker we can figure out what is going on." Sirius ordered before he jumped onto his broom and flew into the air, everyone following behind him.

.oOo.

"Stop checking your watch already," Bridgette commented as she caught sight of Regulus checking the time once again.

Regulus didn't say anything in response, just tugged down the sleeve of his robe before the two of them continued down the corridor of the train, slowly locking the compartments along the way.

He knew what he was getting into when he signed up to be a Death Eater, he did but now he just didn't feel the same anymore. He felt that the Dark Lord wasn't telling everyone everything, that he was planning on doing things differently to what he was telling them and he was unnerved by the much too mentioned key to immortality.

Last year before Octavia graduated from Hogwarts she told Regulus that she would always love him and consider him family no matter what, but would that still mean anything if she found out that he may be the reason as to why her own cousin was kidnapped, hurt or killed?

"Alright, get in." Regulus spoke.

Bridgette turned and looked at Regulus, this wasn't what they agreed to. "No," she crossed her arms over her chest.

Regulus looked up and down the corridor, most of the doors were locked and silenced so they couldn't hear what was going on. "Please Bridge, I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you, please get in your compartment with your friends."

"Stay safe," Bridgette whispered, softly placing a hand on his arm as she did as he requested and entered the compartment where her friends were waiting for her.

She sat down with her friends and plastered a fake smile on her face, she couldn't let her friends know she was terrified about what was going to happen, that something was going to happen to the boyfriend they didn't even know she had.

She knew what it meant falling in love with a Death Eater hiding out in Hogwarts but she truly believed that Regulus wasn't that person, the one everyone thinks he is because he was forced to do something he didn't want.

There's been a change in him more so than ever since Christmas break and he wouldn't let up on what happened, he would just claim it was a normal break for him.

She looked out the window, hoping to see some sign of everything go the way she wanted it to be, she wanted those two poor girls to be safe and she wanted her sister to be safe most importantly.

"Everything alright Bridgette?" Alex questioned.

It was then Bridgette realised that she was crying, she wiped away the tears and gave her friends a sad smile. "Yes, it's just now hitting me that we have graduated from Hogwarts and this is our last train ride back to London."

"Everything is going to change now," Marissa commented.

Bridgette moved so she was sitting on the same bench as the girls, their first year started with just the three of them in one compartment and it was how they wanted it to end. The three of them had been best friends for seven years and they didn't keep secrets, well Bridgette did, she kept Regulus from them.

Bridgette took one more look out the window and she caught sight of them and a weight was lifted off her chest.

She had heard rumours of a group of people working against the Death Eaters that weren't associated with the Ministry and she just hoped that the people she caught sight of, were those people and not the Death Eaters.

.oOo.

Octavia landed at the back of the train and looked over at Sirius, Octavia suggested that the two of them would check the train while the rest of them checked the air surrounding the train but she had another plan in mind, she had to check on Avianna.

Octavia made her may down the train, checking all the compartments in search of Avianna and she was incredibly grateful when she finally found her younger cousin sitting in a compartment with the rest of her friends.

She pulled the door opened and they all turned to look at her, "Anna," Octavia spoke and it only took moments for Avianna to stand up and walk over to her, hugging her.

"It's not a good thing that you are here is it?" Avianna questioned.

"You just need to stay in your compartment, okay? Stay in here and you will be safe, I won't let anything happen to you." Octavia spoke as she tucked Avianna's hair behind her ear.

"You stay safe, Sirius as well." Avianna responded pulled away from Octavia.

"We'll try, you stay safe as well Chloe, can't have anything happening to Anna's best friend." Octavia spoke, looking over at Chloe.

"What about the rest of us, are we chopped liver?" one of the boys spoke and Octavia spaced on the poor boy's name.

"Well actually, now that you mention it." Octavia smirked before she opened the door and left the compartment.

"Feel better now?" Sirius spoke when Octavia stepped out into the corridor.

She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "much, now let's figure out what they're planning and how they're getting on the train."

The two of them walked up and down the corridor of the train hoping to find something that would suggest what the Death Eaters were planning, they wouldn't attack a highly populated magical transportation without having a plan in mind, even when they've attacked Diagon Alley in the past they've had a key objective in mind, they planned everything out and worked out how to get who or what they wanted.

"I guess it's time," Sirius spoke as he spotted the dark figures head towards them.

The two of them were standing at the back of the train waiting to a see signal of some sort from their friends in the sky but they spotted the Death Eaters first.

"You should go and help them, I'll stay here on the train." Octavia suggested, sneaking a look at Sirius.

"I love you baby, stay safe." Sirius spoke, quickly kissing her before getting on his broom and going up to join the others.

Octavia headed back into the corridor and it didn't take long until she came across four students standing there, looking incredibly shocked at seeing her there.

"You should get back in your compartment, everything is fine." Octavia spoke, hoping to urge the students back into their compartment.

The four of them shot her a look but eventually re-entered their compartment, slamming the door behind them.

It was at that same point of the door slamming that Octavia heard a commotion down the end of the train, she turned and ran towards the end of the train hoping to cut of the Death Eaters before they could hurt any of the students.

What surprised her was when she only saw one Death Eater standing there, if they wanted the train, or someone on the train then wouldn't their be more of them? But then she realised something, the four students who were reluctant about going back to their compartment.

This wasn't one specific raid or kidnapping, no this was a trial mission for new recruits, freshly graduated students from Hogwarts or some of the older students.

She was completely torn as to what to do, an actual Death Eater was standing there in front of her while four potential Death Eaters were back in another carriage of the train, about to do who knows what.

"Has the beast worked it out yet?" The Death Eater taunted and Octavia glared at them.

"What is there to work out? That you've got four students on here doing Voldemort's dirty work because he can't set foot on the train himself." Octavia responded, moving her wand out of the holster and placing it in her hand just to be safe.

"You dare speak his name," they growled in response and it sounded so vaguely familiar and it bugged Octavia, she wanted to be able to place who this Death Eater was, she hated how they all wore masks.

Octavia shrugged, she knew it could end up biting her in the ass to act this way towards the Death Eater, making them angry was never a good sign.

"No I mean who those four students are after, the safety blanket you had over your little cousin last year disappeared when you graduated and the pardon the Black heir put on her ended the moment he graduated, which was yesterday."

Octavia's blood ran cold at that statement, she told Avianna she would be perfectly safe if she stayed in her compartment, but her compartment happened to be in the same carriage as those four students she suspected to be the ones this Death Eater mentioned and now she was scared for what would happen.

She looked over the Death Eater's shoulder and noticed where they were, where they were coming up to.

They were currently on the bridge and all Octavia needed was the right moment, all she needed was the right angle to send a gush of wind towards the Death Eater and send them flying from the train.

Octavia slipped her wand back into her holster and stood there for a moment while she waited, knowing it was only seconds away.

"What you thought your cousin would be perfectly safe while at Hogwarts? Remember you pissed off the Dark Lord and he wants you punished." The Death Eater spoke.

Fury ran through Octavia's veins, she had to protect her family and she just hoped that her friends that were up in the sky fighting against the Death Eaters were fine and they were coping because she had no idea what was happening up in the sky, one of the sides had conjured clouds to prevent them from being seen.

It was then Octavia spotted the bend in the tracks, "too bad for Voldemort, I protect the ones I love, you however may not live through this fall." Octavia threatened before she sent a gust wind in the direction of the Death Eater, standing there for only a second to make sure they went over the edge before she ran back down the train towards Avianna's compartment.

When she entered the carriage that housed Avianna's compartment she instantly spotted her cousin being pulled out of the compartment by her hair and the screams coming out of her mouth didn't nothing to stop the anger that was coursing through Octavia.

She waved her hand and everyone froze, no longer able to move and she moved closer to the group, taking in the students that had a hold of Avianna and when she looked at her cousin she noticed the tears in her eyes. It was then she realised that two of the students were missing.

She placed her hands on Avianna's hair and the other students hand and carefully pried her cousin free before unfreezing the students and placing an invisible wall between them.

Octavia glared at the two students as Avianna wrapped her arms around her, "where are the other two? Surely this isn't your only target if you spilt up." Octavia growled towards the two students but they didn't look too afraid.

"I've already pushed one of you off this train, I have no problem pushing two more." She threatened and this time the other two finally shared a look.

"They're getting the Muggle Relations Minister's Daughter," one of them responded.

"Please don't tell Dumbledore," the other spoke and Octavia couldn't help but laugh.

"Really? I catch you pulling my cousin by her hair and you don't want me to tell Dumbledore, that's a laugh," Octavia responded as she began pulling Avianna down the carriage with her.

"You don't even know our names you stupid bitch," one of them yelled out and Octavia stopped for a moment, looking over her shoulder at them.

"That's what memory recall is for, I don't need to know your names, just show your faces to Dumbledore and the Heads of House, one of them will surely know your name." Octavia spoke calmly, looking at the two of them.

She smirked at them as they both gulped, she turned ahead and pulled Avianna along the train.

"What did you mean by pushing one of them off the train O?" the younger girl questioned and Octavia looked down at her.

Octavia can't remember the last time she was this angry that her magic was buzzing inside her and she was worried as to what would happen if she became angrier or if she lost control.

"Don't worry about things like that Anna, come on we have another girl to save." Octavia looked ahead, trying to remain calm.

"What if more get on the train?" she questioned.

Octavia took a deep breath before she stopped walking and looked at Avianna, hating that there was tears in her cousin's eyes. "I can't promise you that they won't and I know I said you would be safe in your compartment but I didn't know that they were already on the train because they were students, that was a lapse in my judgement, I also didn't realise they would take you as punishment for me and I hate myself for that. I hate that I'm the reason that you were almost hurt today. We really need to hurry, I promise once we are home and everything is handled we can talk properly about what happened today."

Avianna nodded in response and followed Octavia down the train.

The two of them stayed silent as they searched for the Muggle Relations Minister's daughter, but it wasn't until they reached the front of the train that Octavia realised they were too late. "How comfortable are you on a broom?" Octavia questioned as she slammed the compartment door shut, looking in through the window it looked empty but she hoped that maybe they were trying to conceal themselves but it didn't take long for her to realise it was just empty and she was unable to save the second girl.

"You won't see me trying out for the Quidditch team any time soon," Avianna muttered and Octavia laughed, losing some of the anger she previously held.

"Maybe the goblin was wrong, maybe we aren't related." Octavia teased and a frown appeared on Avianna's face. "I have no idea about Bexley but Alecto, Amycus and I all played on our house teams, both Alecto and I were Seekers while Amycus was a Beater." She explained.

Avianna nodded but stay silent as she was deep thought and the two of them made their way back down the train. "I really do wish there was a way for me to learn more about my family."

"I know Anna, I'm trying but there is no way I am going to introduce you to the rest of the family. I get you never truly understood as to what is going on out in the magical community since you are either sheltered at Hogwarts or in the Muggle community but what happened today is because of it. The guy leading the other side, I made him furious and he must have found out that you are my cousin, someone I am willing to protect no matter the cost."

"How did you make him angry?"

"I refused to join him and stand by his side, I don't believe in what he is attempting to accomplish. I don't believe that Muggles are below us, I admit there are some things he is speaking about like the way they treat Magical Beasts and Creatures but what he is doing isn't the way to go about it."

"I've heard that Magical Beasts and Creatures are cruel people and the treatment they deserve is justice for what they do to people," Avianna spoke.

Octavia's step froze and she looked down at her cousin, she never once told Avianna the truth about her magic, about what the Ministry now claimed she to be. To begin with she was attempting to keep her secret, just that a secret and then afterwards with the article in the Daily Prophet she didn't see the point figuring it would be something everyone would eventually learn. But now hearing she didn't know the truth and what she may potentially thought about them, it worried Octavia.

"Who did you hear those things from?"

Avianna shrugged, "people at Hogwarts, it comes up a lot in Defence Against the Dark Arts at the moment, I guess it's because some students know more about the outside magical community then I do but Chloe always mutters about how they are idiots and are judging people for no good reason, that they're as bad as the tyrant running around. Is that tyrant the same person you angered?"

"I believe so, there are many people running around, some of them are preaching the same words as Voldemort, who is the guy I angered but not everyone is aligned with him. Now about you and brooms, will you be fine riding with me?" Octavia questioned as the two of them had now reached the end of the train and she pulled her broom out of her pocket and enlarged it.

Avianna's eyes widened and Octavia laughed. "We aren't taking the train back to London, we're going elsewhere first." Octavia explained as she climbed on the broom.

Avianna looked over her shoulder, she knew Chloe would be worried when she didn't return but her friends also saw her leave with Octavia, they would think she was safe with a legal adult.

"Where are we going?" Avianna questioned as she climbed on the broom, wrapping her arms around Octavia's waist.

"First we're only going to fly somewhere close by so I can Apparate us then we are going somewhere you will be safe until we figure out what to do, I will also send someone to collect your parents." Octavia explained before pushing off the ground and the two of them soared into the air.

.oOo.

Regulus had to stand there and ignore the screams of the two potentials who failed to capture Avianna Carrow and bring her with them to the Dark Lord's current residence at Lestrange Manor.

The Dark Lord was furious when he realised they were one victim short, the main victim he wanted and Regulus was surprised that they weren't killed for their mistake.

But Regulus wasn't going to be the one to tell the Dark Lord that Octavia was on the train, he saw her pass his compartment but he didn't want to open the door and tell her what the plan was with fear that he will lose her trust for the future.

"My Lord, we still have the other girl." Someone in the room spoke up and Regulus assumed it was one of the boys' fathers hoping to save their son.

But it wasn't long until the Dark Lord summoned the person who interrupted him forward and then he had three people on the fall screaming in pain.

Regulus closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and shutting out the screams once more.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **For those of you who were curious I have worked out a rough idea of when this story will be coming to an end and how many chapters will be in the story. In total there will 126 chapters or 127 including the Prologue.**

 **Thank you to Ginny702 and Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	103. Safety Precuations

Chapter 102: Safety Precautions

 **June 1979**

Sirius stood there leaning against a tree as Octavia paced back and forth in the woods behind Potter Manor, every now and then causing a tree to explode and he would have to duck to avoid flying pieces of wood.

He didn't even know what happened while she was on the train, she seemed to be perfectly fine except for her bad mood, and even Avianna was perfectly fine aside from a little shaken from whatever happened.

He didn't stay behind to ask questions as he was too busy keeping up with his furious fiancé as she stormed out of Potter Manor and towards the woods behind the Manor.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned when he noticed that Octavia had stopped pacing but her back was to him. It wasn't until he noticed her shoulders were shaking that he became worried, "baby?" he questioned softly as he walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"They were after her because of me, she was in danger because of me. I was so focused on saving Anna that I couldn't save the Muggle Relations Minister's daughter, some poor innocent girl may die because I was more focused on saving my family." Octavia broke down in tears.

"Baby you can't think like that, you don't know what would have happened had you found that girl before Anna, or what would have happened had you not had your dream or even if we didn't find the train in time. You can't think like that, just be grateful that we managed to save one person, regardless as to if they are family or not." Sirius spoke hoping he could improve the mood of his fiancé.

Octavia pulled away and turned so she was facing Sirius, she was terrified of how he was going to react when he found out what she did.

"I think I killed someone."

"What do you mean you think?"

"I mean I was torn between dealing with the actual Death Eater that appeared on the train or the students who were wanting to become Death Eaters, when we came up to the bend on the bridge I sent a gust of wind at the Death Eater, pushing them off the train. I was just so angry at everything that was happening, that they were after Anna."

Sirius stepped closer to her, only to have her take a step back from him.

"You were protecting people Snow, you were protecting someone we both love and I don't doubt for a second if I was in your shoes that I would do the same thing. We're in a war baby, there will be causalities."

Octavia shook her head, placing her face in her hands. "I don't think so, I'm becoming the dangerous Magical Beast everyone thinks I will become, you know Anna made a comment about how some people think we get dealt the justice that we deserve."

"No baby, you are not dangerous don't ever think you are, do you think you are any more dangerous than Moony?"

"Moony hasn't killed anyone and I have!" Octavia yelled as another round of sobs broke through.

Sirius attempted stepping closer to her once more, grateful when she allowed him to wrap his arms around her and hold her close. "We grew up in a different environment to the rest of our friends, you would never go out and intentionally kill people like the rest of our families but we will also do what it takes to protect our loved ones, having no fear about using some of the darker spells that we know."

"I hate that I may have killed someone Pads," Octavia whispered against his chest.

"And that's what makes us different to them, you did what you had to save someone you love and you feel remorse for what happened. Do you think Bella or Alecto feel remorse for the things they've done?" Sirius response as he softly stroked her hair, hoping to calm her down because he knew Avianna deserved some answers and they had to work out what to do to keep her safe.

Octavia didn't say anything in response, she just wrapped her arms around Sirius as she tried to push aside the memories of what happened on the train, she wasn't herself. She just let her anger take over as she pushed a Death Eater of the train and threatened to two students.

"Come on, lets head back to where we left Anna with her parents there are things we have to discuss with them all." Sirius spoke as he pulled away, cupping Octavia's face and wiping away the tears.

He hated that she was this upset over what she did, he would never hate her for protecting their loved ones. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't start going out and killing random people like their families, she would do anything to protect strangers but he also knew if her loved ones were in danger she would do anything to protect them.

"I suppose my dragon Patronus is pretty fitting now after today, I've killed to protect my family." Octavia commented, as the two of them walked back to Potter Manor.

There was a part of Octavia that always wondered why one of her corporal Patronus' was a Greek Opaleye, there was a part of her that was wary as to if it was fitting for her. She never had a strong need to lose her smarts when it came to battles when her loved ones were in danger but today, today she didn't lose her smarts as such it was more she lost her compassion. She didn't care which people were hurt in her need to protect her family.

"Guess so baby but I do love your dog Patronus so much more," Sirius whispered as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, softly kissing her temple.

Octavia looked up at Sirius with a smile on her face, she was thankful that Sirius didn't hate her for what happened today.

"I love you Pads."

Sirius smiled at her, "I love you too baby." He leaned down and kissed her. "I will never hate you for anything you could do," Sirius whispered when he pulled away, she might not have voiced it but he knew her well enough to know she feared it.

Octavia nodded and pulled away from Sirius, she was now worried about what she was going to do about Avianna. She wanted to keep her cousin protected but if she was no longer protected at Hogwarts without Regulus around would it really be safe to send her back there in September?

Octavia entered the living room with Sirius not far behind her and she instantly looked over at where Avianna's parents were fussing over her after what happened today. She hadn't seen much interaction between Avianna and her parents, only been introduced to them a couple of times so they could be at ease at leaving their daughter around her but Octavia was glad that Avianna had been placed with people that truly cared for her and didn't get placed with people that didn't.

The three of them looked up as Octavia and Sirius entered the room, despite Avianna's parents being very accepting of her Magical Heritage there were some things where they didn't quite understand the way the Magical Community worked but they were trying for the sake of their daughter.

"You all must have a lot of questions for me, for us?" Octavia spoke as she walked over and took a seat on one of the chairs.

"Why were they after Anna?" Sabrina, Avianna's mother questioned.

"Because of me, I know you have all heard snippets of the war affecting the Magical Community but the guy who is leading the other side, the ones terrorizing the community, the same ones who attempted to get Anna today on the Hogwarts Express, well I've happened to anger him over a number of occasions for a number of reasons. He was attempting to get to me through her, just like he is getting to the Muggle Relations Minister by kidnapping his daughter." Octavia explained, hoping she didn't have to go into great detail as to what has happened over the years.

"What will happen to that poor girl?" George, Avianna's father questioned.

"We're unsure, we have others working on the case while we worry about Anna." Sirius responded, having taken up position behind Octavia, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"How did you do the things you did on the train, I didn't see your wand in her hand?" Avianna questioned, it was on her mind ever since Octavia appeared and saved her from the boys.

Octavia pulled her wand out and handed it over to Avianna and her parents to examined, she trusted them and knew that they would give her wand back.

"It's completely different to anything I've seen before," Avianna mused while her parents sat there in silence taking the wand.

"That's because it is, you probably won't ever see something like it ever again. Now there are witches and wizards out there whose magic is different to what you have seen with Anna or even who Anna has seen at Hogwarts. Right now there are only two creatures that are written about that can perform magic wandlessly, one is called a Wandless while the other is called a Dreamer." Octavia explained, going silent for a moment while Sabrina and George took in what she was saying.

"But Anna preformed magic wandlessly when she was younger, we just thought it was strange things and put it off." George pointed out.

"Yes that is true, all children can perform magic wandlessly under bouts of extreme emotion. Those creatures can perform wandless magic whenever they wish." Sirius explained.

"Are they dangerous?" Sabrina quickly questioned as she tightened the grip of her arm around Avianna.

Octavia took a deep breath as she felt Sirius squeeze her shoulder, "They have been in the past yes, but do I look dangerous to you?"

Avianna and her parents fell silent as they stared at Octavia and it unnerved her, she was terrified of losing someone she considered family and had grown to love and care deeply for in such a short amount of time. She was scared that she was going to lose family.

"You said they've been dangerous in the past, how do we know you won't be the same?" George questioned harshly and Octavia couldn't believe he was reacting this way.

"Daddy!" Avianna scolded before looking over at Octavia. "She has done so much to help protect me, why are you questioning whether or not she is dangerous? If she is, would she have as many people on her side as she does?"

"Anna we hear that our daughter has been attacked, the same daughter we give up seeing 10 months of the year so she can go study the magic that she has because of her biological parents. We then find out that our daughter was in danger because her cousin decided to anger the wrong person and on top of all that we find out that her cousin would be classified as a creature and not a human. That's a lot to take in," George responded and Avianna pulled away from her parents to stand in the middle of the room.

"This is ridicules, I love both of you and you are my parents regardless of if you are my biological parents or not but I also love O and she is family. I understand there is a lot you two don't understand about the magical community because you are Muggles but there are people out there who are treated differently because of it, I was being bullied and harassed my first year at Hogwarts because I was believed to be a Muggleborn before Octavia stepped in and got some of the bullying to stop. From the little I've heard of this war happening within the magical community it's all about bullying and what you're doing to O right now is bullying, just because people like her in the past have been dangerous doesn't mean she will be." Avianna ranted while she stared at her parents before she looked at Octavia. "I love O whether she be a witch, a Dreamer or a Wandless."

"Anna, your father and I love you very much and are happy for you to find your family while at Hogwarts but we have heard a lot today and we can't bear to think that we almost lost you." Sabrina spoke as she stood up to walk over and hug her daughter. "We adopted you because I can't physically have children, if we lost you now it would be too much."

"Just so you two know, Wandless and Dreamers can be very different in some senses and in the past it has mostly been Wandless that have been considered dangerous because of what they can accomplish without a wand. Dreamers usually aren't because they use their gifts to save people even though they are feared throughout the magical community, we were only there today because O is a Dreamer and she had a dream that showed her that the train was going to be attacked." Sirius spoke up and everyone looked up at the couple.

Octavia hated that Avianna's parents were now wary of her but it was obvious that they cared for their daughter and wished to trust her about something they didn't understand, the magical community.

"Which is why I wish to continue to protect her and I honestly don't believe that will be at Hogwarts anymore, if Voldemort can seek her out on the train by using students who wish to become his followers than there is a high chance of her being attacked within the Castle's walls." Octavia spoke and everyone looked at her, even Sirius had walked around and looked at her.

"Then what are you suggesting O?" Avianna questioned.

"I'm thinking we send her to a different school, keep the information between the five of us and perhaps Dumbledore since we will need his help to get her enrolled into one of the schools."

"Where were you thinking?" Avianna questioned with a frown.

"How do you feel about America?" Octavia questioned and Avianna's mouth fell open.

.oOo.

Regulus entered the restaurant and stopped for a moment, he hated that he was doing this, that he was meeting Bridgette within some Muggle restaurant with hopes that no one saw the two of them together.

It wasn't like they were afraid of what the community would say, despite some of Bridgette's family being considered Blood Traitors her parents weren't in fact her father even had a rather high position with the company that the Black and Carrow families ran together.

With his marriage with Octavia being dissolved last summer with the news that she and Sirius were having a child together Regulus was left to decide for the time being who he wanted as his wife. He knew he wanted Bridgette but was unsure as to what would happen when he presented the idea to his parents.

So for now they were resulting to places where no one would think to look for them and he would be the first to admit he felt entirely uncomfortable standing in the entry way to the restaurant, he doesn't know how he will be able to sit through an entire meal.

He quickly spotted Bridgette sitting at a table with a slight frown on her face as she looked over the menu, he had a feeling she was either annoyed or upset with him because he was a little late.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Regulus spoke appearing at the table, leaning down and softly kissing his girlfriend.

"Its fine, do I want to know why you were late?" she questioned, looking back at the menu in front of her.

"No," Regulus stated and she finally looked up at him, placing the menu on the table in front of her.

Bridgette reached across the table and placed a hand on top of his, "is everything alright?" she questioned softly.

"No he's still annoyed that he didn't manage to get the Carrow girl, how is your sister doing?"

Chloe had ended up being hit with a spell that put her to asleep along with the rest of her friends sitting in the compartment with Avianna, they thought it would be easier to get the girl out.

But Chloe had a reaction to the potion that woke them up.

"She's fine now, she was just a little shaken up after hearing what happened on the train but now she is devastated. Avianna's family believe it may be best that she is moved to a different school but she won't tell Chloe which school." Bridgette responded.

Regulus just nodded, unsure as to what to say in response. All he knew was that the Dark Lord wanted Avianna but didn't understand why.

"You still can't tell me anything more than what I know?" Bridgette questioned.

"Seriously this again?" Regulus snapped.

"My sister was at risk, it killed me having to sit there in my compartment while I knew they were after her best friend. I stayed there with my friends because I hoped that if I did I would protect you while I hoped they would just grab Avianna and leave my sister alone. I want to know more."

"You know too much as it is Bridge, you know about plans that you shouldn't. I can't let you get hurt or killed so the less you know the better." Regulus spoke as he picked up his menu, hoping that she would drop this conversation.

He was sick of it, he hated that he was keeping things from Bridgette but he knew it was the best thing for her. He didn't want to risk her getting hurt or killed because someone found out that she knew things she shouldn't and in turn the Dark Lord would turn on him because he was sharing secrets with someone that shouldn't know them.

"My sister Reg." Bridgette snapped.

Regulus slammed the menu down and looked at Bridgette with narrowed eyes, "either you drop this conversation or I'm leaving. I can't tell you anymore because I refuse, you shouldn't even know what you do."

It was when he saw the tears glistering in her eyes that he took a deep breath before standing and walking around her side of the table, he placed a hand on her cheek and softly kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry," Regulus apologised and she nodded. "I know your sister was in there and she had a reaction to the potion and I know that it killed you to sit there knowing she was potentially at risk but Bridge, I am putting you at risk by telling you these things and I can't keep doing it. I don't even know why he wanted Carrow okay? I might have been graced enough to be marked and be let in on some things but I'm not one of his inner circle members, I don't get told everything and I can't go asking questions otherwise it will show I care what happens."

"Okay," Bridgette spoke softly, as she looked up at him.

"I love you Bridgette and I'm trying everything I can to make sure you don't end up with a target on your back."

"Walk away Reg, just walk away." She pleaded with him and Regulus removed his hand before returning to his seat.

"Because then I will have a target on my back, they will want me dead. It's not as easy as you think Bridge, now can we please drop this whole talk?"

Bridgette didn't say anything, she just nodded before picking up her menu.

Regulus felt guilty, he knew she wanted him to leave the Death Eaters but he couldn't it wasn't that easy. Especially after his latest theory.

.oOo.

Sirius walked downstairs and found Octavia sitting in the kitchen staring at a cup of coffee in her hands, for once Willa was sleeping in later than sunrise and they were able to get a little bit more sleep than usual but after having to get up for her for so long they weren't able to sleep in anymore.

"What's the matter baby?" Sirius questioned, his worries increasing when she didn't even look up at him just took a deep breath.

"I just wish Anna's parents would take the help we're offering, if Voldemort hears that Anna is going into hiding he will go after them in hopes of bringing either one of us out." Octavia spoke, finally looking up at him.

"I know but we can't force them do anything, we tried explaining everything to them and even Anna begged them to take our help but they refused saying that they had a life, friends and family that they didn't want to leave behind. They don't believe that they are in danger."

"I can't bear to think what this will do to Anna if they do get killed," Octavia whispered as she placed the mug on the table and straightened up.

Sirius walked over and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips into her hair. "I know baby, you just want to keep her protected. We will do everything we can to help protect Sabrina and George without forcing them into protective custody."

"It would just be easier if they agreed to move with Anna, I know she is safe where we are sending her but if she receives one word about her parents being hurt or even killed then she will come running back. They only reason she agreed to the move was because she is allowed to keep in contact with her friends as long as she doesn't tell them which school she moved to."

"I know Snow, we had a lengthy discussion with both Anna and her parents about all this. You are worrying yourself for no reason, we will do everything we can and Dumbledore will also do what he can to help keep them protected. We know that Anna will be protected 10 months of the year."

Octavia pulled away from Sirius, "I'm going to check on Willa and see if she's awake yet."

Sirius let her go, knowing she just needed a moment, hold Willa had calm down before anything else was said or done.

.oOo.

Peter was incredibly bored but he sat there with a fake smile on his face, listening to the stories his friends were telling, them recalling their 'fond' memories of their time at Hogwarts together, filling in both Lily and Dorcas of what they got up to.

Peter was starting to get annoyed with Dorcas but he needed her, the relationship was too far for him to back out now, not without everyone asking questions. It also didn't help that Dorcas' best friend was married to one of his so called best friends.

"Quick question, who has the map?" Octavia questioned.

Peter looked over at her, finally taking a part of the conversation. He remembered what happened to the map, he handed it over to Filch not long before their graduation, telling him to keep it hidden or bad things may happen.

Truth was, he handed it over hoping to protect the next lot of future Death Eaters at Hogwarts from prying eyes.

They all spoke, saying they didn't have it, they thought whoever had it but Peter stayed silent and they all quickly noticed, looking over at him.

"I'm sorry guys," Peter spoke, sounding apologetic. "It was after we set up our last prank, Filch cornered me and I only managed to wipe the map before he took it from me. I didn't see the point in telling you all, we were graduating and didn't see why we would need it now we have left."

Octavia waved her hand, giving him a smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm actually surprised we made it that long without having Filch or one of the Professors confiscate it. I just wanted to keep an eye on the students, see which ones are meeting in large groups at odd times and see if we can work out who is and isn't wanting to become a Death Eater and who they are meeting."

"I really am sorry," Peter spoke once more, lowering his gaze.

He felt a hand come down on his shoulder and knew it was James, who was sitting to his right while Dorcas placed a soft hand on his thigh.

"Can someone explain this map to me?" Dorcas spoke.

Peter looked up, just in time to see the large grin on Sirius' face across from him. He knew his friends were too damn pleased with themselves for the creation of the map and he hated that they succeeded, that he wasn't able to sneak around as easily unless he took the map with him.

But now, now he was out of Hogwarts and he was able to go where he pleased without them asking strange questions. He claimed he had a job, a job where he wasn't able to have visitors, just turned up at restaurants to meet them or Dorcas for lunch and he was no longer feeling as trapped as he did in Hogwarts.

He knew he wouldn't feel completely free until he was able to pull away and show his true loyalties, not until the Dark Lord won the war and Dumbledore was taken down.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	104. Heart Break

Chapter 103: Heart Break

 **September 1979**

Octavia was there at Kings Cross Station as she watched all the students say goodbye to their parents and climb abroad the train ready for another year at Hogwarts. After what happened the previous June the Ministry wanted to have Aurors present to protect the innocent families saying goodbye and the students attending a new year.

But it was only recently that the Order Members that worked within the Ministry began noticing how corrupt it was, with Death Eaters, or at least high ranking sympathisers, were present within most if not all departments.

It all started three weeks after the attack on the Hogwarts Express when Peggy, the Muggle Relations Minister's daughter was taken and she found dead, floating within the fountain that was in the middle of the main hall within the Ministry.

It didn't take much after that to begin realising just how deep the corruption went.

It allowed them and Voldemort to know at all times what the Ministry was planning as well as having them close to the Department Heads, allowing them to have the regulations pushed to the front of the line that they wanted in place and push aside the ones they didn't.

Not many of the other Order members could stand there on the platform since they had no family members to see off to Hogwarts and the Ministry was now becoming wary of the Order of Pheonix and they all put it down to the Death Eater presence and they feared for what would happen if Voldemort got a very large foot hole within the Ministry.

Because of this fact Octavia had a step up over the rest of the Order, because she was classified as a Magical Beast she didn't have to register as an Animagus and was able to hide out on the platform and keep an eye on this.

Sirius offered to come and join her but she claimed that if she was caught she was going to say she was keeping an eye on Avianna and her friends, claim ignorance as to where her cousin was now attending school.

The past couple of months had been busy for the Order, they were constantly out on missions and the group of friends barely saw each other, only seeing each other at meetings or if they were placed on the same missions together. They haven't sat down and had a meal to catch up properly since Sirius and Octavia announced that they were engaged.

Octavia hated that it had been so long between visits with her friends but she understood, she knew they all did as they were all doing their part in improving their world for the better.

The platform was quiet, well Death Eater acts quiet since it was it usual rowdiness with parents seeing their children off to Hogwarts and the yelling of students who haven't seen their friends all summer.

A part of Octavia was annoyed that she was stuck with a mission that was just a stake out and she was bored but also grateful that nothing had happen to anyone else.

It was then Octavia caught of the blonde headed girl she knew to be Avianna's best friend, she crept out of her hiding spot and transformed back into herself before making her way over to where Chloe was standing.

It clear as day that Chloe was hoping that Avianna had been lying, she was looking through the crowd hoping to spot her best friend but the frown etched on her face made it evident that she was having no such luck.

"Chloe," Octavia spoke as she appeared beside the younger girl.

Chloe turned and looked at Octavia, "she's really not coming is she?"

"No Chloe I'm sorry, I can't tell you where she is either but she is going to keep in contact with you, she won't be gone and maybe over Christmas break we can organise for you two to spend some time together." Octavia responded, placing a hand on Chloe's arm.

Chloe shook her off, "if she comes back." She muttered before letting out a sigh, "I should get on the train before it leaves."

Octavia let Chloe go, she had a similar conversation that included much more tears a few days prior with Avianna. It killed her to see how much her cousin was hurting over the fact that she was having to start over at another school and make new friends but she knew it was for the best, it was the only to keep Avianna safe.

Octavia waited until the train left before she Apparated and headed home, hoping she could have some time with Sirius before he was due to leave on his own mission.

Octavia walked out into the living room where she found Willa attempting to chase a black dog around, she couldn't help but let out a laugh as the dog whimpered when Willa had gotten a hold of its fur.

Octavia and Sirius were thrilled when Willa began walking, it was around her first birthday that she had taken her first steps and it didn't take long for her to start to try running around after them and she took great pleasure in following her parents around in their Animagus forms.

Willa had turned around and looked up at Octavia when she heard her laugh, "mama," Willa squealed with delight, instantly letting go of Padfoot's fur. "Up?" Willa questioned as she stretched her arms out.

Octavia walked over and picked up Willa, "hi baby, having fun." Willa's response was to reach up and grab a loose strand of Octavia's hair that had fallen out of its ponytail. "Ouch baby that really hurts."

Sirius took that moment to transform back allowing him to walk over and help pry Willa's hands from Octavia's hair.

"Where has this fascination with hair come from?" Sirius questioned as untangled the child's hands from his fiancé's hair.

"You're asking why the daughter of two Marauders is all of a sudden being naughty?" Octavia responded with a smirk and Sirius barked out a laugh.

"Fine, but hair?"

Octavia looked at where Willa had tucked her head into the crook of Octavia's neck with a smile on her face. "It's think it's because we have seemingly long hair, mine is longer than all of our friends and yours is defiantly longer than Prongs, Moony and Wormtail."

"I suppose it makes sense, but why the pulling? Her gripping my fur is quite painful." Sirius complained.

"Oh get over it Pads, if I had to push her out, you can live with her pulling your hair." Octavia teased as she walked towards the kitchen.

"That's mean Snow," Sirius called out and Octavia just laughed in response.

Octavia placed Willa in her highchair as she walked around and pulled out the stuff she needed to make Willa her lunch.

"You making me a sandwich as well?" Sirius questioned as he entered the kitchen, walking over and taking a seat beside Willa at the table keeping her occupied as Octavia made lunch for them all.

"How long till you have to leave?" Octavia questioned.

Sirius looked at his watch, "I have an hour until I have to meet with Gideon and Marlene."

"Marley," Willa threw in and the two adults laughed.

"Yes princess, Aunt Marley." Sirius spoke encouragingly before looking up at Octavia.

"Yes, I will make you lunch as well Padfoot." Octavia responded as she set to work on their lunch.

"How did everything go at the station?"

"Everything was normal, no sign of the Death Eaters planning everything. I saw Chloe, she was devastated at the idea of Anna not returning to Hogwarts."

"Anna was devastated as well but understood why she wasn't, she will be safe at Ilvermorny. We made sure that she will be safe there and once she makes new friends she will be happy." Sirius responded.

Octavia just nodded, not wanting to have this conversation once again. She hated seeing Avianna in tears but reminded herself it was for her safety and she kept telling herself that.

.oOo.

 **October 1979**

Octavia appeared in the middle of the field that wasn't far behind where Andromeda and Ted lived. She wanted the time to walk towards their house instead of Apparating straight into their house like she had recently, she needed the time to try and calm down because once again one of their missions had gone bust.

She hadn't voiced her thoughts to anyone but she was beginning to question as to if they had a traitor or if they were incredibly unlucky lately. No one had been killed but more often than not someone walked away injured and she was beginning to question some of motives of some of the other Order members.

The only event that they've had that hasn't been interrupted by Death Eaters was Remus and Lilith's wedding two weeks back.

The ceremony was beautiful and very simple, the couple stood up in front of their friends and family as they declared their love for each other before they had the reception back at Longbottom Manor.

After James and Lily's reception was raided by Death Eaters everyone was on edge in case the same thing happened to Remus and Lilith but it all went by without a hitch, no one interrupted their celebration and no one was hurt. There wasn't even anything going on in the magical community while they were all occupied.

"Everything go alright?" Andromeda questioned as soon as she shut the front door letting Octavia into the house.

Octavia nodded and smiled, understanding exactly what Andromeda was getting at, Octavia and Sirius never told Andromeda and Ted exactly what they were doing with the Order to help bring down Voldemort but they were always more than happy to watch Willa for however long was needed, she just wished the two would come home in one piece.

"I didn't do it," Nymphadora cried as she ran past them and up the stairs, causing them both to share a look.

Octavia rushed into the other room where she heard Willa giggling and stopped short at the sight of her daughter sitting there, with bright pink hair.

"I swear when I answered the door she had her red hair," Andromeda spoke and Octavia looked at her and smiled. "I'm going to find out from Nymphadora exactly what happened."

"I'm not mad, things happen, especially when it involves young witches and we also wondered how my magic would affect Willa." Octavia explained before Andromeda turned and left.

Octavia walked over to where Willa was sitting on the floor giggling away, smiling when she caught sight of her and that's when it happened.

"Mama," Willa squealed in happiness at seeing her mother standing in front of her.

"I see what's going on here," Octavia mused as she picked up Willa who now had her normal bright red hair that matched her mother's but her eyes had also changed colour to match as well.

It seems as though Willa has been graced the same rare talent that Nymphadora had been, a Metamorphmagus and now Octavia wondered if it was because of the Black blood that was in their veins.

Octavia carried Willa upstairs to where she heard Nymphadora and Andromeda talking and stood in the doorway. "I'm not mad Nymph," Octavia spoke softly the young girl looked up, tears staining her cheeks. "It wasn't you, it was all Willa. It seems as though she has the same rare talent that you do, I believe she mimics the person she looks at."

Octavia walked over and handed Willa to Andromeda and it was then they saw Willa's hair and eyes change to match those of her Aunt.

"See Nymph, not you, all Willa." Octavia gave Nymphadora a smile before leaning down and wiping away the tears.

"You're not mad?" Nymphadora questioned.

"Never, accidents happen when magic and young children are involved anyway. Even if you had managed to turn Willa's hair hot pink, I wouldn't be mad, find it highly entertaining when Sirius finally saw it but never mad."

"Hair pretty," Willa giggled and when they all looked at her it was flashing between the three colours in the room and they all laughed.

"Come on baby, it's time to go home and we can show daddy your new talent." Octavia spoke as she grabbed Willa from Andromeda. "Thank you again for watching her and remember Nymph, I'm not mad."

"Anytime O, you're making the world safe and if we can do our part by watching Willa for you both then we will." Andromeda spoke and Octavia gave her a smile before she Apparated home.

Octavia left the office in search of Sirius, unsure as to where he was, he didn't go with her to pick up Willa because he had to handle somethings and told her he would meet her at home but as she walked through the house it was too quiet.

"Dada?" Willa questioned.

"He'll be home soon baby," Octavia responded and just hoped it was true, that she wasn't lying to the both of them.

Octavia ended up spending time in Willa's room playing with her, she tried not to worry about where Sirius was since it wasn't like they made plans for tonight or anything but she couldn't help be concerned because he did say he'll meet her at home.

Octavia looked over at where Willa was pulling her books out, she couldn't help but smile at how happy and carefree her daughter seemed to be. Willa was now used to Sirius and Octavia coming and going as well as spending time at Andromeda and Ted's where she got to play with Nymphadora.

Octavia knew at some point she would have to find more children Willa's age for her to play with and she knew soon enough Emerson would be a little bigger and able to play with her better but she couldn't keep her daughter sheltered, she had to introduce her to other children.

She debated about letting her go and play outside with the other children but she didn't want to risk them being seen within the Muggle Community in case the Death Eaters decide to attack the community where they now living. She trusted her brother but she didn't trust the strangers around them and it didn't help that Mrs Bakersfield was already attempting to stick her nose into their business.

That aside, the concern with the Death Eaters and their safety, now it seemed as though Willa was a Metamorphmagus and if she mimicked the hair colour of those around her how long until she does it around a Muggle?

"What are you thinking about baby?" Sirius' voice rang out and it pulled Octavia from her thoughts.

She looked over and found him leaning against the doorway with his arms over his chest.

"Dada," Willa squealed before she made her way over to Sirius and he instantly bent down and picked her up.

"What took so long?" Octavia questioned.

Sirius looked up at her, "I'm sorry baby, after you left Prongs came up to me and invited me over to the flat that he and Lily brought."

"Wait when did this happen?" Octavia questioned in shock, she felt so out of loop with her friends and hated that this war was pushing them all apart.

Sirius shrugged, walking over and taking a seat on the floor beside her. "Apparently they wanted some time alone as a newlywed couple but they also didn't want to kick Fleamont out."

"I feel so out of loop, almost like we need our parchments back so we can keep up to date with our friends. You know it's been so long since I've seen Lilith and Emerson, I'm still convinced Emerson is this tiny little baby instead of this six month old baby that she now is."

"I know baby," Sirius leaned over and softly kissed her. "We will see our friends soon and we'll bring up the topics of parchments soon with them."

.oOo.

A loud noise downstairs caused Octavia to wake up in the middle of the night, her advanced hearing allowed her to hear that someone was downstairs, she could just hear their voice but not able to make out what was said or even enough to work out if it was someone she knew.

She climbed out of the bed and headed downstairs, hoping it was just one of their friends and not a Death Eater.

"Lily!" she hissed, catching sight of the red head standing in her living room. It wasn't until the other girl turned around that she noticed the tears running down her face. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I didn't expect the furniture to have moved since I was last here but I need your help."

"What's wrong?" Octavia questioned again, she was completely confused as to what was going on.

"James and I were at out new flat but we were hungry so we went back the manor but his dad, oh god his dad." Another sob broke through Lily and Octavia stunned.

"What happened?" Octavia questioned once more hoping that Lily wouldn't say what she was already thinking.

"Death Eaters," Lily managed to say through the sobs.

"Is the house safe?" Octavia questioned and Lily just managed to nod in response.

Octavia turned on her heel and ran upstairs to wake up Sirius, "Padfoot wake up," she shook his shoulder.

"What?" he grumbled as he rolled over burying his face into his pillow.

"There was an attack," she responded.

Sirius sat up and looked at her, he didn't even have to ask who it was since the tears in her eyes said enough, they said it was someone they knew and loved.

They both ran around the room in silence doing what they had too before collecting Willa, "what are we doing about Willa?"

"I was told it's safe, we'll just bring her along." Octavia responded, both of them staying silent as they headed downstairs.

Octavia wasn't surprised when she saw that Lily was gone, most likely going back to check on James.

"Wait where are we going?" Sirius questioned when they were in the office, completely forgetting that he not once asked where the attack was.

Octavia looked over at Sirius, tears clouding her vision. "Potter Manor," she responded softly.

Sirius didn't respond but Octavia caught sight of his jaw tensing before he Disapparated and she shortly followed.

When Octavia arrived at Potter Manor she could hear the sounds of things being broken and she quickly spotted Lily leaning against the wall beside a closed door.

"I've never seen him so angry, I don't know what I can do to help." Lily spoke, catching sight of Octavia.

Octavia had no idea what to expect when her and Sirius arrived at Potter Manor, she didn't know what exactly happened to Fleamont but she was here to find out and be there for her friends, she wouldn't let them be alone in this and she definitely wasn't going to shut them out this time round.

"It's alright, we will work it out together, are you alright?" Octavia questioned.

"Sort of, I was very fond of Fleamont and will miss him as such but I'm extremely worried about James, I don't know how to help him when he's like this, I've never seen him like this." Lily responded and Octavia nodded before she opened the door and entered the dining room where James was throwing platers and bowls around while Sirius was attempting to dodge them.

But it was then she caught it, the message burned into the wall.

 _You can't hide forever Dreamer, I will find you one way or another._

Octavia's blood ran cold, the only reason Death Eaters showed up, most likely with Voldemort in tow was because of her. She hated that the person she viewed as father was dead before of her, how many of her loved ones were going to get hurt or killed as a result of her.

"Snow," James spoke finally noticing the girl standing there.

"It's my fault," Octavia spoke as the tears built up in her eyes, she turned around and faced the boys.

"No, the only ones to blame are the Death Eaters who forced their way into the house and killed Fleamont, not you." Sirius spoke as he walked over, hugging her giving both of them the comfort they want and need.

"They were looking for me, I'm so sorry Prongs." Octavia apologised.

James shook his head, walking over and taking Willa from Octavia. "Dad knew the truth about you and knew the risks of knowing ever since what happened to Avianna but this was his home, they probably assumed we would all be here, why do you think they turned up in the middle of the night?"

Octavia didn't want to response, she looked over at where Willa was happily sleeping against James, not caring that she was pulled from her crib in the middle of the night, she was still around people she loved.

"Felt like redecorating?" she questioned instead.

"I was just so angry at feeling helpless, if I didn't want to move out and have some time alone with Lily then dad wouldn't have been at home, we would have been able to help, we could have-" James spoke, having to stop for a moment and take a deep breath.

"You can't think like that," Lily spoke as she finally entered the room, walking over and standing beside James linking her arm through his.

"Neither can you baby," Sirius spoke.

Octavia looked up at Sirius and saw the tears in his eyes, everyone was hurting at the loss of Fleamont but she was unsure as to what Sirius was on about exactly.

"You're blaming yourself, just like you did with Anna. This wasn't your fault." Sirius explained, noting the confusing on her face.

"That message _burned_ into the wall proves otherwise, they were here looking for me. How long till he attacks Prongs and Lily or anyone else in the Order? What if he finds out where we live and Willa is in danger, or finds out we are regularly in contact with Dromeda and Ted?" She snapped, pulling away from him. "How long until our next loved one is dead because of me!" Octavia yelled.

The rest of them stood there in silence, unsure what to say and it didn't take long until Octavia stormed out of the room and found her quickest way outside but what she saw caused her to stop dead in her tracks, up there sitting in the sky was Voldemort's Dark Mark, the same one that was present on the left forearm of his Death Eaters, the very same skull with a serpent for a tongue.

She didn't once think about the very familiar mark, didn't once think that it would present above Potter Manor because someone had died inside because of Death Eaters. For the last couple of months she had been turning up too late to help people, instead she found the Dark Mark floating in the sky above houses and the houses full of dead people. The only thing she was grateful of was that it hadn't appeared above the house of someone she loved.

But now it has and it was killing her.

Tears fell down her cheeks as she felt someone wrap their arms around her waist and she attempted to fight against them but they were too strong, their hold of her becoming unbreakable and in the end she broke down in their arms.

"I know baby, I know." Sirius spoke softly as he lowered the two of them to the ground. He held her close as she cried.

.oOo.

Lilith followed Remus through Potter Manor in search of their friends, all they got was some cryptic message from Octavia telling them to come to Potter Manor. The couple shared a look but were unsure as to what could be going on, things had been hectic for the group of friends and they were hardly able to see each other because of how bad the war had become and all of a sudden they receive message telling them to come quick.

It wasn't until they entered the dining room on the way to the kitchen and they noticed the mess it was, something had obviously happened here and it filled her with worry.

"Snow…" Lilith whispered as she caught sight of the message burned into the wall.

She just hoped her best friend was okay, that the message came after the attack was made.

"She'll be okay love, Snow is tough." Remus spoke, wrapping an arm around Lilith.

"Hey guys what's going on?" Peter's voice came from behind them and they turned to find the boy standing there looking as confused as they felt.

"We're not sure, you got a message from Snow?" Remus questioned and Peter quickly nodded, his gaze going to where the message was on the wall as well.

Lilith pulled away from Remus and headed towards the kitchen, Emerson had begun fussing in her arms and hoped that the spare formula was still in the kitchen that Octavia had placed in there for when Lily and James spent time with Willa and when they began spending time with Emerson but she stopped at the sight that she met.

James and Lily were sitting at the table in there, both with red eyes indicating they were crying.

"What happened? Where's Snow?" Lilith questioned, fear filling her. She didn't think that her and Remus took long getting everything organised for Emerson so they could leave, they weren't prepared to leave at a moment's notice since Longbottom Manor was fell protected and she wasn't going out into battle for the war since she couldn't bear to leave Emerson alone and she believed Octavia to be the strongest person to be able to leave her daughter while she went into battle.

"Death Eaters attacked the house, dad's dead. Snow and Padfoot are fine, last I saw them was Snow storming outside and Padfoot following her." James spoke, tears freely running down his cheeks.

"Oh god, Prongs I'm so sorry." Lilith gave her condolences as tears built up in her eyes, she loved Fleamont and was devastated that he had been killed.

It was then that Remus and Peter entered the kitchen, both quickly catching sight of three of their friends in tears.

Remus walked over and wrapped an arm around Lilith holding her close, "what happened?" he questioned, worried as two of his friends were missing.

"Fleamont," Lilith whispered, leaning into Remus.

No one said anything, they all moved and took a seat at the table, sitting there in silence as they mourned the loss of Fleamont.

It didn't take long for Sirius and Octavia to enter the room, Sirius walked over and took a seat at the table as Octavia began rummaging through the cupboards.

"Snow what are you looking for?" Remus questioned.

Octavia didn't respond, just kept searching for what she was looking for knowing it would be in here somewhere.

She finally found it and grabbed some glasses before placing some Fire Whiskey and each glass and handing it out.

"We know the rules now, the Ministry is suggesting that funerals be kept to a minimum with fear of Death Eaters turning up and making things worse. Voldemort wants me dead or kidnapped, he came here with the intent of finding me, we won't be able to mourn the loss of Fleamont without them turning up, we won't be able to have a funeral and say goodbye properly." Octavia spoke, looking over at James.

"I don't blame you," James responded softly.

Octavia gave him a nod before raising her glass. "To Fleamont, forever missed but never forgotten," she spoke tears blurring her vision.

The rest of the group followed suit, raising their own glass in memory of Fleamont before drinking the Fire Whiskey that Octavia had given them.

"We'll get revenge, we will take down Voldemort and his followers because we all have so much at stake, we are doing this for the future of our families, our children, our godchildren, each other. Our hurt and anger fuels us." Octavia spoke, waving her wand to fill the glasses up once more.

"To Fleamont," they all chorused together.

.oOo.

The Dark Lord was furious.

Regulus was grateful.

The Dark Lord was so angry that he was using the Cruciatus Curse on anyone who wronged him, who didn't complete a mission the way he wanted.

Regulus didn't care if he had been punished this way once, he was still grateful.

He heard about the mission that was in the works about collecting something called a 'Dreamer', he didn't know what they were and threw himself into researching about them trying to find out what it was the Dark Lord was after this time round.

He eventually found the information he was after, working out what they were and he assumed that the Dark Lord wanted the Dreamer as a weapon against Dumbledore, his followers and the Ministry.

It wasn't until a few days before the mission was set to happen that he found out everything, why the Dark Lord was so intent on capturing the youngest Carrow, why he was livid as to why this mission was a fail despite them capturing the other girl.

It was in the details of the mission that Regulus found that Octavia was in fact the Dreamer that the Dark Lord was so motivated to capture.

Regulus was concerned as he entered Potter Manor, not wanting to come across his brother or Octavia, unsure as to what would happen if he did, how they would react. Despite Sirius being so sure that he was in fact a Death Eater the proof wasn't there, he refused to show Octavia his mark when she asked the second time just before her graduation.

He was grateful because when they arrived at the manor only one person was there making everything easier for _him_ , he didn't have to come across the only two people he cared about on the other side of the war, he didn't have to worry about what would happen if he was in a duel with them and he didn't have to worry about potentially hurting them or someone else jumping into the duel if they deemed him to not be as malicious as they saw fit, especially if it happened to be Bellatrix since she has on multiple occasions has said she wants them dead for being traitors to the families.

So yes Regulus Black was eternally grateful that no one knew where Octavia and Sirius were living.

 **November 1979**

Regulus quickly looked up as the door in front of him opened, despite where he was currently sitting he wasn't too concerned.

Regulus was currently hiding out in Bridgette's flat but before he even thought about using her flat as a hideout, he researched every charm and wards in regards to what he can do in attempt to hide himself in case her family decide to turn up and visit her. In the end he had managed to charm her bedroom door, preventing anyone except the two of them to enter the room allowing him to spend time with his girlfriend and hide away from his family and the potential fellow Death Eater visitor while he did his research.

"How was work?" Regulus questioned looking back down at the books in front of him.

"Fine I suppose, would be better if I didn't come home to find you sulking in my room again."

Regulus looked at her, "I'm not sulking."

"No? For the last week I have come home work and found you staring at those books with a frown on your face, if that isn't sulking what is it?" Bridgette questioned as she walked closer to the bed, bending down to pick up one of the books.

Regulus quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist, "don't touch them." He warned her and she pulled her arm from his grasp.

"Seriously? You're hiding out in my room researching whatever you are because it's safer for you than in your own house but you won't tell me what you are researching." Bridgette snapped as she made another grab for the book, only to have Regulus pull it away from her before she could.

"It's better if you don't know," Regulus responded, placing the book in his bag as he stood up from the bed, stretching his limbs that had become stiff from sitting for so long.

"Seriously, you're going to play this again? My sister almost gets attacked while on the Hogwarts Express and you refuse to tell me why, you've spent a week holed up in my room with these books that I'm not allowed to touch. What the hell is going on Regulus? Why are you now all of a sudden keeping secrets from me? What the fuck changed!" Bridgette yelled as she stormed towards him and poked him in the chest with her finger.

Regulus' face twisted in anger as he grabbed Bridgette's wrists and pinned them to her side preventing her from doing anything stupid or reckless. "What changed is the fact that I'm doing everything to protect you, to keep you safe." He hissed at her.

"I can look after myself or are you forgetting that I'm currently working with the goblins as a Curse Breaker, something which you wanted to do as well instead you signed up to be one of those bloody morons terrorizing our community. Why can't you walk away? You hate being this person it makes you, walk away Regulus."

Regulus let go of her wrists as he walked away from her, heading towards the door. "I told you I can't Bridgette, I can't walk away because I will have a target on my back. I can't put you at risk, either you stop asking questions or I will stop coming by." He spoke, giving her an ultimatum and refusing to look at her.

"You can't seriously expect that of me? You can't expect me to not ask questions the next time you turn up here unable to move because of the amount of pain you're in, do you know how much that killed me seeing you like that?" Bridgette responded, her voice breaking as the tears built up in her eyes.

Regulus finally turned and faced her, all emotion void of his face as he kept his mask near perfection hoping she couldn't read him because he hated he was doing this. "Pick," he gritted through his teeth.

"If you want to walk away so easily then do it, because I honestly believe if you can then the Regulus I fell in love with no longer exists, that those terrorist effectively killed you. If he doesn't exist, I don't want to be with you anymore." Bridgette responded as the tears silently ran down her cheeks.

Regulus didn't say anything in response, he just Apparated out of her bedroom knowing if he stayed any longer seeing her in tears for that long would make him change his mind. He would stay and constantly apologise for hurting her like he was, for keeping the secrets he was and at this point in time he was so close to telling her everything but he couldn't, he was so close to being able to bring his plan to motion that she couldn't know.

Regulus knew Bridgette would attempt to convince him that what he was planning was a suicide mission that he shouldn't do it and just walk away but he couldn't, not after what he found out.

If he was going on a suicide mission he wanted to make sure he took a piece of the Dark Lord with him, that Dumbledore and his followers would be able to finally take him down because he doesn't want the Dark Lord to win anymore.

Things aren't adding up for Regulus anymore when it comes to the Dark Lord, he thought that all his plans were to make the place better for the Purebloods while educating the Muggleborns on their traditions, he had heard the Muggleborns that he went to Hogwarts with, always trying to change things because they didn't understand them. Regulus didn't understand why they were trying to change a world they were trying to be accepted in, how could they be accepted if they didn't follow the traditions that the Purebloods had been following for centuries?

Yes there were some traditions that Regulus found to be archaic, like the arranged marriages. Yes he was friends with Octavia but he has seen the ones where they aren't, he thinks of Imogen who was so close to having to marry Evan before he disappeared and he hates to think what would have happened to his friend had that marriage gone through.

When he was 15 he was deluded to think this was what he wanted, that he wanted everything the Dark Lord was suggesting but now he was technically an adult, almost 19 and he had truly been in love with a girl he just pushed away and he didn't want his world to be that way anymore and he would do everything in his power to make sure it didn't happen, even if it meant his death. As long as Bridgette was safe and sound, his death didn't mean anything to him.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Yes I know the whole 'Sirius Black's daughter being a metamorphmagus' thing is a total cliché but I do have a plan for the whole thing. So please forgive me for more than one cliché in this story.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	105. Change of View

Chapter 104: Change of View

 **December 1979**

Regulus knew that he was risking death doing what he was doing, if there was any chance that his suspicions were incorrect he could end up dead before he could do anything, but he needed to plan every single detail down to the dot.

He raised his fist and knocked on the door waiting for it to open.

"What are you doing here?"

"Are you alone Amycus?" Regulus questioned and the other man merely nodded before pulling the door open further allowing Regulus to enter the house.

Regulus followed Amycus through the house towards a room at the back and when they entered he was shocked at what he saw in the room.

"You kept him?" Regulus remembered hearing that Amycus had produced a male heir but also heard that his wife had died during child birth, he just assumed that Amycus gave the boy to someone else to raise. After the look Amycus gave him, he felt he should explain. "I just thought you would have given him to someone else to raise."

Amycus stayed silent as he resumed his previous position on the floor beside Leighton where he was playing with his toys.

"To Celeste's dead parents or mine who abuse their children?" Amycus finally responded, looking up at Regulus, surprised at not seeing him shocked at the news. "You knew." He stated.

Regulus nodded, "Octavia told me after her and Sirius had left home, she left for her own safety. I didn't want to believe it but it made sense, why Sirius was so protective over her, why she was so quiet and easy to agree when younger."

"Why did you come here Regulus?" Amycus questioned.

"You obviously care for your son, you don't believe in the same form of punishment that our parents do. Something tells me you never approved of the way they treated her."

"What's your point, she left the family, they both did." Amycus finally snapped.

"Are you still in contact with her?" Regulus questioned, unsure as to how Amycus would react.

It was at that time that Leighton began to make a fuss on the floor, Amycus picked him up and stood up. "Stay here." Amycus warned before leaving the room.

Regulus stayed where he was, unsure as to if Amycus was coming back to kill him and he didn't want Leighton to bear witness or was he just putting Leighton down for a nap?

"Why would I be in contact with a blood traitor, let alone a beast of a creature like she is?" Amycus spoke entering the room.

"We're both alone, just the two of us. I also happen to know what Evan attempted to do to her before he disappeared and rumour has it, he came here with the idea of bragging." Regulus threw out and saw anger appear on Amycus face, surprised that he wasn't trying to hide it.

"To say I did happen to know where our blood traitor siblings are, why do you care?" Amycus responded and Regulus was glad it was finally going somewhere.

"What if I needed an escape route?" Regulus stood there and watched as Amycus looked at him in disbelief at what he had just suggested, he knew it was crazy but it had to be done.

"What are you planning?" Amycus finally questioned but Regulus knew he couldn't give up the whole plan, not yet.

"What if there is a way to weaken him, make it possible for Dumbledore and his followers to defeat him?"

"I think you're insane and have a death wish."

"Well I came here didn't I?" Regulus pointed out and Amycus nodded.

"Touché."

"I know Octavia will help, my brother is a different story but if I go through with this I will need their help to stay safe. Can you help me?"

"Why? What makes you think I will help you take him down in the first place?"

Regulus straightened his back and looked straight at Amycus, knowing he had him and knew exactly where Amycus' loyalties lie. "Because you didn't kill me at the mere mention of it." Regulus pointed out and watched as Amycus released a breath before collapsing onto the couch.

.oOo.

The banging on the door startled Octavia, she had fallen asleep in the rocking chair in Willa's room.

She stood up and walked down towards the front door, wishing Sirius was home but understood that he was doing his part for the Order.

Things had been hectic the last few weeks ever since Fleamont's death, the group of friends have been attempting to mourn the loss of someone they all loved deeply while still finding the urge to fight in this war.

They knew they had to keep going that it was the only way to protect the future for their families but there was days where they just didn't want to fight anymore, they wanted to hide because they were sick of losing loved ones, they were unsure as to how much more they could handle.

She was curious as to who could be banging on her door in the middle of the night, in a Muggle neighbour none the less. Her and Sirius had already realised that their neighbours thought they were loons and tended to stay away, well maybe not Mrs Bakersfield, she was too curious for her own good.

"Reg?" She spoke in shock at seeing the boy standing there completely drenched and shivering from the cold.

"Please," was all Regulus managed to get out before he collapsed.

Octavia frowned before she picked up the boy and carried him inside, if Amycus was betraying her she would kill him for sending Regulus here, hell Sirius probably would too, most likely both of them.

Octavia laid him down on the bed in the guest room, she waved her wand and dried his robes so he wasn't laying there in wet clothes and casted a warming charm on him so he could stay warm before sitting on the bed beside him.

"What have you gotten yourself into Reg?" Octavia questioned as she brushed the hair out of his face, it was then she looked at his left arm resting there. _'Please be wrong Padfoot,'_ she thought to herself as she carefully pulled the sleeve up to reveal his forearm.

Sirius had stated in the past that he was 100% positive that Regulus was out there with the Death Eaters, out there tormenting the magical community and Octavia couldn't believe it. Regulus wasn't even 19 yet, barely out of Hogwarts.

But she also remembered the conversation with Regulus before she graduated down by the Black Lake where he refused to show his forearm, to prove that he wasn't one.

It was then she saw the Dark Mark on his forearm, "bloody hell Regulus." She muttered before grabbing his wand and leaving the room and entering her own room, opening one of the many hiding spots she has created throughout the house for things they needed to keep hidden from everyone.

.oOo.

When Sirius returned home he was shocked to not find Willa laying on the floor with her toys in front of the television like usual, instead she was still in her highchair looking incredibly annoyed at being there but her face lit up at the sight of him entering the room.

"Dada," she squealed as she squirmed in her highchair.

Sirius walked over and picked Willa up, "where's mummy princess?" he questioned but Willa just made some babbling noises, he laughed before softly kissing her head and leaving the kitchen in search of Octavia.

Confusion filled him as he saw Octavia moving about in the guest room, "Snow?" he questioned softly and she looked up at him, surprised at seeing him home and that was when Sirius took notice of who was on the bed, his younger brother.

"Snow," he repeated once more, anger coming through in his voice but because he was holding Willa he had to control himself.

Octavia placed the blankets on the bed and headed towards where Sirius was standing, placing a hand on his chest and pushing him back into the hallway, closing the door behind them both.

"What is he doing here?" he questioned but Octavia ignored him as she reached over and pulled Willa from him but all she did was start crying and grip harder on to Sirius.

"I did tell you she was a daddy's girl," Octavia mussed before walking back towards the kitchen where she began cleaning up the mess from breakfast this morning.

"Snow what is he doing here?" Sirius questioned once more and Octavia finally looked up at him.

"I really don't know, he was banging on the door in the middle of the night and collapsed not long after I opened the door. I brought him inside and placed him in the bed, before you ask I also took his wand and hid it." Octavia explained and Sirius didn't seem to like the answer, he placed Willa in her chair before walking around the bench and standing behind her, placing his hands on either side of the bench preventing her from walking away.

"Baby, we're talking about Willa's safety, why are you putting her at risk?" Sirius questioned.

"You think I'm putting her in arms way! I know you don't care one bit for Amycus or Alecto but they are family and we help family, he's your bloody brother and don't you dare say you don't care for him because I know you do." Octavia snapped and Sirius kissed her deeply, hoping to shut her up, earning a giggle from Willa who was watching the scene with curious eyes.

"He's still here Snow, we're in danger for him to be here and Amycus obviously sent him here."

Octavia shook her head, "do you honestly believe that Amycus would betray us? If he wanted to hand us over don't you think he would have done so from the beginning, we've been here for over a year and nothing's happened?" Octavia spoke, walking over and picking up Willa who had begun fussing again in her chair.

"What do you think happened to him?" Sirius finally spoke, realising that she was right.

Octavia leaned up and placed her hand on his cheek, she could see how worried he was about Regulus. Despite everything that happened between the brothers during their shared years at Hogwarts she knew they both still cared for each other, they just couldn't show it because of where their loyalties laid. Octavia was the anomaly because of her arranged marriage with Regulus.

"No idea, he's only been here a couple of hours. I was waiting till you got home before I summoned Dumbledore and Pomfrey to look over him, hoping that they will trust us."

"Then summon them now," Sirius responded before he headed upstairs to where his brother was sound asleep in the guest room.

Sirius leaned against the open doorway and looked over at where Regulus was positioned on the bed, he was torn as to what he should be feeling in regards to Regulus being here. Octavia couldn't tell him anything and he didn't know if they were in danger, she promised him that they would leave at the first sign that they weren't safe anymore but how much danger can his brother cause if he was unconscious.

Sirius turned his head as he heard footsteps coming his way and found Octavia leading Dumbledore and Pomfrey down the hallway towards them.

"How did your mission go this morning Sirius?" Dumbledore questioned.

"It was a bust, the house was empty. What are your thoughts on our house guest?" Sirius questioned, looking back over at where Regulus was still positioned.

After six years of words and hexes thrown between the brothers Sirius was wary of trusting his younger brother, a part of him thought that maybe it was all a trap, that he was luring them into a false sense of security before he could strike at the last possible moment.

But then there was the part of him, the very deep part that still cared for his brother, the same part that Octavia always knew still existed despite everything that's happened and he just hoped Regulus was fine, that he's finally seen the error of his ways.

"What are your thoughts Sirius?" Dumbledore questioned back and Sirius shrugged.

"I'm annoyed Octavia let a known Death Eater into the house where our daughter is living but what can I do, she's always had a soft spot for him."

"To be fair Regulus isn't listed as a known Death Eater, Pomfrey can you please check him out and make sure he's okay?" Octavia spoke, looking over at the Healer she had grown fond of during her time at Hogwarts.

"Of course dear," Pomfrey gave her a smile knowing she would safe with the three of them watching over her, it also helped that Octavia stated Regulus was unarmed.

"What happened when he turned up Octavia?" Dumbledore questioned.

Sirius didn't stay for the conversation, he entered the room and moved towards the end of the bed watching as Pomfrey checked over his brother.

"He's alive Sirius, may be suffering from a case of hypothermia and fluid build-up in his lungs and there are also a number of bruises covering his body."

Sirius looked over at Pomfrey, he was confused as to how she knew there was bruises covering his body without removing his clothes. "How do you know there are bruises covering his body?" he questioned.

"Despite you and your friends casting healing charms on each other it's obvious none of you have ever cast a diagnostic spell nor been told what they do." Dumbledore spoke and Sirius turned to look at him, seeing that Octavia looked as confused as well.

"Why, what does it exactly tell you?" Octavia questioned and Sirius had a feeling he knew the answer.

"It tells us every single bit of damage done on the victim we are checking over, to everyone else it looks like a bunch of lights and various shapes but it's the ones who have studied to become Healers that know how to read the lights and shapes. Just like every time Octavia returned from her breaks at home I knew exactly what was wrong with her, I gave Albus my suspicious but he said until either one of you stepped forward there was nothing we could do."

Sirius didn't want his feeling to be right, he turned and looked at Octavia noticing that her hand instantly went to the scar on her left forearm, he knew it was something she did when she was nervous.

"Why do you think your parents never received anything from either myself or Professor McGonagall informing them as to what you two got up to with your friends, we always send home word when students regularly get themselves in trouble or injured like Octavia was on a number of occasions. The only time we don't is when we suspected that they are getting abused at home, in the past I have found that confronting the student about the abuse pushes them away or they outright refuse unsure as to I can be trusted. Instead I offered my help to Octavia, told her that she could trust me. In the end she only trusted me enough with her differences in magic but thankfully you both still managed to get away from the abuse and into a safe and loving environment."

"Enough of this," Sirius snapped. "What of my brother?"

"Sirius," Octavia hissed but he just gave her a look before looking over at Pomfrey.

"Aside from what I've already told you, he is perfectly fine and will wake up once his body has warmed up sufficiently. Warming charms and blankets will him up but you can't all of a sudden heat him up, it has to be gradual."

"Understood," Octavia spoke softly.

"I would suggest giving Regulus his wand back though, take Willa somewhere safe if it makes you feel better but he may not remember coming here after going through whatever ordeal he did. If he wakes up in a strange location without his wand in sight, he may panic worse and take off and we will never know what he was doing before he came here last night."

"Fine," Sirius snapped again as he turned and went to leave the room, stopping at where Octavia was standing. "I'll take Willa to where she will be safe, you retrieve his wand." He spoke before leaning down and pressing his lips against her cheek, not giving her a chance to speak before he went in search of Willa.

When Sirius arrived at the Tonks' residence he could hear them all moving about upstairs and just took a seat on the floor with Willa, playing with her and the small number of toys she had sitting in a box in the corner of the room.

He didn't even realise a tear had escaped until Willa reached up and touched his cheek, looking at where the tear was now resting on her fingers.

"Dada crying?" she questioned and he gave her a smile.

"I'm fine princess," he leaned down and softly kissed her forehead before waving his wand to make her dolls dance before her.

"Sirius what are you doing here?" Andromeda questioned, startling Sirius.

He turned and looked at her, taking a deep breath. "Regulus turned up at our front door last night."

"Is everyone okay?" she questioned and Sirius nodded in response. "Is he?"

"No he's unconscious, suffering from hypothermia, fluid build-up in his lungs and is covered in bruises. I was out last night when he turned up, O said all he said was please before he collapsed." Sirius explained as he watched his cousin walk around and take a seat on the couch.

They both sat there in silence, the only noise coming from Willa as she continued to play with her toys not noticing that the adults were clearly bothered by something.

"Regulus is very much like Narcissa, the two of them just want to make their parents proud. She did as ours requested and married Lucius like they wanted and will also give birth to the heir to the Malfoy family like they want at some stage, she also probably keeps her mouth shut about what he is doing for Voldemort. Regulus is the same, doing what your parents wanted but something must have changed for him to turn up." Andromeda explained and Sirius refused to look up at her, still looking down at Willa, the daughter he wants to protect so badly. "Why did he think it would safe for him to turn after all this time anyway?"

"O probably said something to him before we graduated, I don't think she's spoken to him since we graduated. She told me when she had a run with Amycus at Diagon Alley, I doubt she would keep a conversation with Regulus from me."

"What are your feeling in regards to it all?" Andromeda questioned and he finally looked up at her.

There was a reason Sirius came here and it was because he knew that she would be more accepting of Regulus changing his ways compared to his friends. He loved James and saw him as a brother but after losing Fleamont he isn't exactly in the best place to be accepting of any reformed Death Eaters.

"I always hoped that Regulus would be smart enough to realise what our parents were doing, that he wouldn't do as they wished but he did anyway. I don't know what I want or feel right now."

"You have a large sense of loyalty to those you love and I'm assuming you didn't turn Regulus over to the Aurors the minute you saw him lying in the bed so I'm assuming there is a part of you that still loves him and hopes that he can be trusted. So go home Sirius, wait for him to wake up and find out why he turned up like he did."

Sirius didn't say anything he just looked back down at Willa, not wanting to go home right now. He just wanted to sit here and play with Willa while he thought things over, he knew that Octavia would send him a message if Regulus woke up while he was here.

.oOo.

Regulus stirred from his sleep, at first he thought he was back in Bridgette's bedroom since the bed was different to the one he was used to in his own room and there was a familiar feminine smell lingering in the room.

But it wasn't until he opened his eyes and realised he was in an unfamiliar room that panic filled him.

He shot up in the bed in search of his wand, finally finding it on the table, he grabbed and left the room ignoring the pain that he was feeling.

He was feeling unnerved as he wandered the house looking for a way out but it was when he saw Sirius standing there at the end of the hallway that he was worried, he didn't even think twice before he sent a hex towards his brother hoping to get away from here.

"Are you kidding me!" Sirius complained as he landed on the floor with a thud.

Regulus took the distraction allowing him to go running past his brother and head down the stairs.

"Stop Regulus," Sirius called out but Regulus ignored him, continuing on with his search for an exit.

Regulus was knocked off his feet by a jinx from Sirius and he quickly stood up aiming a hex back towards his brother only to have him dodge it.

"That's enough!" Octavia yelled and seconds later Regulus' wand was pulled from his grasp and when he looked over at Sirius he noticed that his brother's wand was also gone.

"O?" he questioned softly as he looked over at the girl he grew up with, not seeing any resemblance to the girl he last saw at Hogwarts and he questioned how badly the war has affected her.

"Honestly I thought you two would be able to live peacefully under this house but yet I find you both duelling with each other." She spoke with her hands on her hips giving both of them a stern look.

"He started it," Sirius pointed out.

"So what, he woke up in an unfamiliar room with most likely no memory of what happened. You didn't have to aim spells back at him Padfoot!" Octavia responded, half yelling at Sirius.

"I wasn't hurting him, I was just trying to prevent him from leaving and freaking out the neighbours, imagine Mrs Bakersfield and all her questions, he looks like walking death right now." Sirius responded, hoping to explain his own actions and remove the anger that Octavia had towards only him.

"Tell me how you really feel Sirius," Regulus commented with a glare towards his brother.

"He is right though, how are you feeling?" Octavia questioned, facing Regulus properly and allowing him to see that she was truly worried about him.

Despite seeing that Octavia cared about him he didn't know how he ended up here and that's what worried him. "Can I have my wand back?" he questioned instead.

Octavia laughed, "you're kidding right, what happens the next time you wake up and decide to attack us, I'm just glad my child isn't here."

Regulus was taken back, he for a moment in all the haste of his escape from his brother and the house he forgot that they had a child together, a child that could have been hurt in the crossfire.

"I'm sorry," he apologised before quickly giving his brother a look. "I truly am, I just panicked not knowing how I ended up here and seeing Sirius."

"We thought it might happen," Octavia spoke, pulling the boy's gaze back to her. "Which was why you had your wand within reach and we have Willa somewhere else where she would be safe, we aren't mad that you did what you did."

"You might not be," Sirius muttered.

"Padfoot," Octavia warned him.

Regulus turned and looked at his brother, wondering what he was thinking about this whole situation after everything that happened.

He knew that any chance of having a relationship with his brother died the moment he didn't even try to defend him that night he left home, that he actively started duels with him while at Hogwarts and even now that they had both graduated he went and became a Death Eater and helped the wrong side fight in this war.

"I'll be back later Snow," Sirius commented before he left the room.

Regulus turned and looked back at Octavia just in time to see her rub a hand up and down her face but it also allowed him to catch the light reflect off a ring on her hand.

"You two are married?" Regulus questioned.

Octavia looked at her ring before up at him, "no," she responded softly. "We have some concerns that our parents may have put a marriage contract in place between us, whether it be once we left or when they received word that I was pregnant. We haven't gotten married with fear that we activate it without knowing what is mentioned in the contract."

Regulus nodded and walked over to where he caught sight of photos sitting on a small table in the corner of the room, smiling when he saw how happy Sirius and Octavia were as they looked down at the little girl in their arms. "She's beautiful," he commented looking at all the other photo frames sitting on the table giving him some idea as to how their lives have been since he last saw them.

He noticed Octavia step in beside him in the edge of his peripheral vision, "I guess you were right when you claimed that you and Sirius would be fine after your graduation." He commented and she nodded, looking over at the picture frame that Regulus picked up last.

"It's the only one he ever allowed of you in the house," she commented.

Regulus remembered the day this photo was taken, it was one of the few days that the three of them had been left in the care of Andromeda, she wasn't as strict as the other family members that would babysit them from time to time. She had allowed all three of them up on brooms letting them throw an old Quaffle around between the three of them and they had taken to pulling faces at the older girl when she tried to get them inside for lunch and she couldn't help but snap a photo of them, also vowing to never show their parents.

"I'm surprised he allowed this one," he responded placing it back down on the table. "Where did he go anyway? I'm surprised he's not staying behind to question me."

"Either to see one of the boys or go be with Willa, come sit so we can talk, I figured you would rather talk to me instead of Dumbledore?" Octavia spoke as she walked over and took a seat on the couch, waiting for him to join her.

Regulus was hesitant at first, he just continued to stand there looking over the photos for a second and third time. The last he remembered was being pulled into the water and he wasn't sure if he was ready to talk about what happened in that cave.

"Reg we're going to need answers at some point, we're going to need to find out what happened to you, why you turned up here all of a sudden and we're going to need to know if we can trust you." Octavia spoke and Regulus turned and looked at her, wondering why they wouldn't trust him. "I've seen your arm, I had a look when you were unconscious, I had to know." She responded to his unspoken question.

Regulus took a deep breath and walked over, taking a seat beside Octavia. "You told me I could always come here, that you will always love me because I was family. Is that still true?"

"Always Reg but what happened?"

"Things were changing, the Dark Lord was going on about different things, no longer talking about the things he originally was before I agreed to join. He used to claim that he wanted to change things, made it so that the Purebloods had the rights and that Muggleborns will be learnt the way of our traditions and how we live instead of them coming in and trying to change things, he was using the Battle of Elect as his main focus. But then he had us start going out and killing those who defied him and protect the Muggles and Muggleborn."

"But that was happening long before we graduated, he was killing people." Octavia interjected.

Regulus shook his head, "I was made to believe that we went to them with the hope of changing their mind and that they attacked us causing us to defend ourselves, but then _he_ changed as well. He began talking about how he's worked it all out, the key to everything. I had no idea what he was on about and things were no longer adding up but then I worked it out." He averted his gaze and looked over at the window, not wanting to see the look on her face when he revealed the next part. "It was only a few weeks ago that I worked it out, worked out what he had done. I honestly didn't believe this type of magic exists. O he made a Horcrux."

Regulus was worried by her silence and he couldn't take it any longer and he finally looked over at her.

"I already suspected as much, have you been told what I am?" Octavia questioned and Regulus nodded. "There was a Prophecy made at the end of my sixth year it mentioned that the Dark Lord and the Dreamer will come to meet once more on the night of a Blue Moon, us duelling caused a cosmetic reaction that only happens when a Dreamer battles someone missing a part of their soul. It was pushed aside for a while after it happened because nothing has happened to prove that the Prophecy has come to be but there is a Blue Moon coming up in March so we have been researching different possibilities for ways as to why he was missing a part of his soul."

"What will happen during the Blue Moon?"

"Unsure, something about our minds connecting with no barrier. It will be the first one since the last one, they don't happen all that often. Dumbledore knows of our suspicions but has no proof and even then no way to track down his Horcruxes because we do not know what he would have put his soul into. Is that what you were doing?"

Regulus nodded, looking down at his hands finally taking notice that his skin had a slight blue tinge to it and it assumed it was because he was so cold. He was shocked when Octavia placed a hand on his and he began warming up, he looked up at her in shock.

Octavia shrugged, "one of the many perks of being a Dreamer. What happened to you?"

"He came and asked to borrow a house elf. Narcissa has just revealed that she is pregnant so Lucius has Dobby keeping an eye on her while the other Death Eaters who still have their house elf all have children that the elf is looking after, so Kreacher is the only one that just has to look after a house. I told Kreacher to do everything that the Dark Lord requests of him and to come home the moment he was finished, so he did, he came home on the brink of death. It took a while for Kreacher to return to full health and finally tell me what happen and that was when I began researching everything that wasn't adding up, the Dark Lord had become obsessed with the idea of immortality. You know our fathers are dead because of a failed experiment, they were trying to brew a potion that will give the drinker immortality." Regulus mentioned the death of their fathers and stayed silent watching Octavia but her face remained calm.

"I wonder why Amycus never said anything," she muttered to herself and Regulus raised an eyebrow.

"You are in contact with Amycus, he outright refused, just knew where you were is all, that he's been keeping an eye on you."

Octavia couldn't help but laugh, "we keep in contact every now and then, sending messages that we are okay that's it. As for knowing where we live, well he was the one that set the house up after his own graduation for us. He never planned on us raising a baby in this house but he wanted it back then in case we wanted out of the world that caused us so much grief."

Regulus nodded, "either way they are dead because of the Dark Lord's obsession, I finally found information on a piece of old Dark Magic being the Horcrux and decided that's what he did, that's what he took Kreacher for and that's where I went except I sent Kreacher home when he believed I was dying."

"You almost did though, I was told you had hypothermia and fluid in your lungs."

"It took longer than I thought to transform under water, you think you and your friends are the only ones to manage the Animagus transformation. I began the beginning of seventh year hoping it would be handy and it was, it saved my life. I ordered Kreacher to leave because before we left I charmed the family trapesty to show that I was dead, that if I got out of the cave alive then I wouldn't have to worry about a target on my back."

"You want everyone to believe you are dead," Octavia spoke in awe, he had literally given up his life to take down Voldemort.

"Yes, it will keep mother somewhat protected, they will think I died somewhere and wasn't a traitor and they won't go after her as a repercussion of my actions."

"What do you turn into?" Octavia questioned.

Regulus didn't respond, he just stood up and walked over to the window allowing him to look out on the street where the Muggles were quickly making their to or from their cars as they continued on with their day, oblivious to the idea that there was a war going on in a world they didn't know existed amongst them.

"I turn into a snow white wolf, the others believe it's because of when I completed the process. They all pegged me to turn into a dog because of my personality but it's my secretive side and that I feel like I always have to do everything alone that gave me my wolf form." Octavia spoke, explaining her own and hoping Regulus would open up.

"I turn into a lynx, once I was in animal form the inferi-"

"Wait," Octavia cut him off. "You never said anything about inferi."

Regulus grimaced, he was hoping he wouldn't have to mention the inferi to her but he slipped. "Inferi have no care towards animals, they only attack humans so once I was in my lynx form I was able to swim to the surface and make my way out of there. It took forever me for to get out because of how much I had been affected by them and the cold water. I barely had enough strength to Apparate out and I must have come here, I don't remember coming here O the last thing I remember is finally making it past the wards to Apparate out."

"Very well, let's get you back up in the bed to rest while I get a Healer to come check on you."

"I'm meant to be dead O," Regulus commented as he allowed Octavia to help him up and lead him towards the stairs.

"I know this, so far only Dumbledore and Pomfrey know you are here. You know Dumbledore will want a word with you about what happened." Octavia commented.

Regulus just nodded as he climbed into the bed, closing his eyes as he felt himself warming up from whatever magic Octavia was casting on his blankets.

.oOo.

 **A/N: So here it is, the biggest change in canon my story has. I always believed that if Sirius and Regulus had a somewhat friendly relationship then maybe Regulus would have survived, he would have gone to Sirius for help after what happened. So in comes Octavia, she helped keep him alive, promising to always help him because he was family.**

 **Keeping Regulus alive will greatly change the way things happen in the future especially considering one of the Horcrux's but I have taken everything into consideration and hope that you will all enjoy what I do have planned.**

 **Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	106. Adaption

Chapter 105: Adaption

 **December 1979**

"Mama."

Octavia turned her head at the sound of Willa's voice and saw Sirius enter the room with her in his arms but it didn't take long for him to place her on the floor from all her squirming in the excitement of seeing Octavia.

Octavia picked Willa up and sat her on her lap as Sirius walked over and sat in the arm chair across from her.

"Where's Regulus?"

"Back upstairs asleep, am I going to have to worry about you attacking him while he is here?"

Sirius shrugged, resting his head back on the couch as he closed his eyes.

"What's the matter Pads?" she questioned knowing something was on his mind and hoped he would open up to her.

"He almost died didn't he?" Sirius questioned, his voice barely audible.

Octavia stood up and carried Willa with her as she walked over and took a seat on Sirius' lap, she placed a hand on his cheek and softly rubbed it with her thumb.

"He did Pads but you saw him and heard Pomfrey, he will live. He just has to be warmed up and the fluid is removed from his lungs. Pomfrey is getting Slughorn to brew the required Potions right now to help with the fluids while his hypothermia has to be done over time by the way of warming charms." Octavia spoke softly, smiling as she watched Willa burrowed in against Sirius, hugging him in the process.

Sirius opened one eye and looked at Octavia before letting out a sigh, "he did something incredibly stupid by signing up as a Death Eater and he almost gets killed in the process. Are we safe here?"

"He said everyone thinks he is dead, I only managed to get out of him what happened before I sent him back to bed." Octavia responded as she tucked her head in the crook of his neck.

"You know I don't like the idea of Willa being here without knowing if we are safe or not," Sirius responded, wrapping his arms around both of them.

"I know Pads but this is Regulus, he changed his mind, did something that would label him a traitor and get him killed but he made it look like he was dead before he came here. If we can trust Amycus why not him?" Octavia questioned.

Sirius fell silent, pressing his lips into her hair. "I want you and Willa safe baby," he responded quietly.

"And we are Pads, we are safe here. We will talk with Regulus when he wakes up again but for now I am enjoying this and I didn't get much sleep last night," Octavia spoke with a yawn, snuggling deeper into Sirius.

.oOo.

Octavia opened the door to the guest room and was pleased to see Regulus awake and sitting up in the bed. "How are you feeling?" she questioned.

"A little better, I'm still rather cold and the pressure on my chest is still there."

"This Potion should help with the pressure on your chest but as for feeling rather cold unfortunately that will just take time." Octavia spoke as she held up the vial for him and he nodded holding his hand out for it.

Regulus drank the Potion before placing the empty vial on the bedside table, "does he hate me?" he questioned, fearing what his older brother thought of him and his decisions.

"He's just trying to deal with everything that's happened and on top of it you turned up at a house where we were meant to be safe, a place where Amycus promised he would never tell anyone where we were. He's worried about Willa's safety." Octavia explained.

Regulus nodded, he understood why Sirius was worried about Willa's safety, his daughter was just an innocent and she was also defenceless.

"Understood but he only told me after I told him everything I planned to do, I had to trust him with one of my secrets in return for him telling me where you two were." Regulus responded, hoping Octavia didn't ask what the secret was.

In return of Amycus telling him where their siblings were hiding he told Amycus all about Bridgette, they were trusting each other.

"Very well, I'm assuming you would rather not have to repeat the conversation we had earlier so do you give me permission to pass the memory of it to Dumbledore while you rest?"

Regulus nodded as he climbed out of the bed and stretched out his stiff limbs, "may I use your bathroom? I could go for a hot shower."

"Of course, go right down the hallway and it's the second door on the left." Octavia instructed, placing a hand on his shoulder as he went to pass her. "I am glad you are safe Reg."

"I'm glad you're both safe as well, he wants you dead O."

A grim look appeared on Octavia's as she nodded, "I know."

Regulus feared that she would ask about what happened on the Hogwarts Express in the past June but she didn't, she let him pass and continue on to the bathroom and have his hot shower.

Octavia waited until Regulus was in the bathroom before she walked back over to the bed and checked the heating charms she placed on his blanket, making sure they were still in place and she was pleased to discover they were.

She waved her hand, magically making the bed before she headed back downstairs where Sirius was sitting with Willa sound asleep on his lap.

"I think we will be safe here, Regulus said that Amycus only told him after he explained everything and in turn sharing his own secret." Octavia spoke as she entered the living room.

Sirius' gaze flicked in her direction before back down at Willa in his lap, "let's hope so, can't lose her or you."

"I know Pads but for now we have to let Regulus heal and we can't go attacking him or being defensive with him. Do I really have to worry about what will happen between the two of you?"

Sirius shook his head, "no, he is my brother and I almost lost him O. Despite everything that happened between us I still cared for him like you always suspected."

"How would you feel if I said our fathers are dead?"

"I would say good riddance to yours baby, and mine, well he wasn't exactly the best parent and I don't doubt for a second that my parents had no idea about your abuse. So good riddance to both." He responded, shifting both him and Willa allowing him to be comfortable.

Octavia didn't say anything, she just left the room and headed to the kitchen to make a start on lunch.

.oOo.

Regulus shifted in his bed, ever since the incident in the cave with the inferi he always felt cold and no matter how many warming charms or hot showers he never stayed warm enough but there was something different about the blankets Octavia was placing on his bed.

He was perfectly content with just lying in his bed for the time being, despite him not being able to sleep with fear of more nightmares of what happened to him but it was when he felt the hand on his leg that he shot up in the bed, falling out of it in the process.

When he sat up he was met with a pair of slate grey eyes that matched his own, "hi," the little girl spoke but Regulus was too shocked at the sight of her.

In the time he had been here with Octavia and Sirius he had mostly kept to his room, after what happened when he first woke up and how he attacked Sirius, he still couldn't believe he openly attacked Sirius like that.

But what really confused Regulus was how the little girl managed to get into his room, she obviously wasn't tall enough to reach the door handle.

"Everything alright in here?" Octavia questioned, having heard Regulus fall out of his bed but then she caught sight of Willa sitting on the bed. "There you are, daddy is looking every for you." Octavia spoke, placing her hands on her hips attempting to look stern to the little but Regulus could see it wasn't working.

"Padfoo'" Willa clapped her hands and Octavia laughed.

"Honestly, it took forever for her to finally speak, especially after she said her first word and now she won't be quiet." Octavia mused, walking over and picking Willa up. "Willa this is your Uncle Regulus," Octavia spoke softly, introducing Willa to Regulus.

"Prongs?" Willa questioned, looking up at Octavia.

"Yes, an uncle just like Prongs."

Willa nodded and looked over at Regulus.

"Would you like a hold Reg?" Octavia questioned, pulling Regulus' gaze from Willa.

"I don't know how," Regulus responded.

Octavia stepped closer to Regulus, shifting Willa. "Nonsense, she is old enough that she will grab onto you and you don't have to support anything, just hold her. Resting her on your hip is usually the easiest because she likes watching everyone, it's more when she's tired that she will lean into you." Octavia explained, handing Willa over, who shocked Octavia in turn by instantly leaning into Regulus.

"She must like you."

"Enough to startle me enough to fall out of my bed, speaking of which how did she get in here?"

"You're a wizard and you are asking that question, she probably got the door opened herself."

It was then that Willa reached up and made a grab for Regulus' hair. "O," Regulus spoke, a warning edge to his voice. Despite Willa being his niece and not wanting to do anything that may potentially hurt her but having her pull his hair wasn't something he particularly enjoyed either.

"I'm sorry Reg, she's had this fascination with hair recently but only mine and Sirius'." Octavia as she attempted to pry Willa's hands out of Regulus' hair. "No Willa, what have we told you, no pulling hair."

Willa reluctantly let go of Regulus' hair before turning and sticking her bottom lip out to pout at Octavia, but she just shook her head before her eyes going wide.

Regulus was concerned as to what had Octavia so shocked but it was then he noticed it, the bright red hair in his peripheral vision had turned black.

In everything that happened after Octavia first saw the signs that proved Willa was a Metamorphmagus she completely forgot about it and forgot to tell Sirius all about it, it slipped her mind with Fleamont's death.

"You didn't know?" Regulus questioned.

"No, I did, I just forgot. I've only seen her do it on one occasion before, it was before Fleamont was killed so it was pushed aside so I never got around to telling Sirius-"

"Tell me what?" Sirius questioned, cutting Octavia off and when he came into vision he looked at where his daughter was resting in Regulus' arms, having black hair instead of red. "What did you do?" he growled, anger pointed towards his brother.

Octavia hit him over the arm, "he didn't do anything, honestly you said you would behave." She scolded him as he rubbed his arm where he was just hit. "I completely forgot to tell you after everything that happened with Fleamont, we believe Willa is a Metamorphmagus. When I picked her up the day before we noticed it, for now it's just her hair and eyes."

"Must be genetic," Sirius pondered.

"I'm sorry, but genetic? I don't know of any other Blacks being a Metamorphmagus for generations." Regulus cut in and they looked at him.

"You haven't told him?" Sirius questioned.

Octavia shook her head, "haven't gotten around to it yet."

"Well she is here to check on him since Pomfrey couldn't get out here."

"Who's here? Who else knows I'm alive?" Regulus questioned, realising what the two of them were getting at. He tried to not let the panic he was feeling come through, he had no idea who would be here.

"Come on, everything will be fine Reg." Octavia spoke softly, placing a hand on his back giving him a soft push towards the door.

"Padfoo'" Willa spoke as she leaned towards Sirius.

"Come on princess," Sirius spoke grabbing his daughter from his brother and disappearing from view.

"Come on Reg, I promise everything will be fine. This is the last person to have contact with anyone that would risk your exposure." Octavia reassured the boy as she looped an arm through his and led him down the hallway.

Regulus stopped short when he entered the kitchen at the sight of the guest standing there talking with Sirius, for a moment he truly thought he was hallucinating or at the very least dreaming because of the sight. It was also then he remembered just how much Bellatrix looked like Andromeda, it was then he also realised that of course they would be in contact.

He looked over at Octavia and she gave him a smile before patting his arm and walking over to greet Andromeda.

It was after she greeted Octavia that Andromeda finally noticed Regulus standing there in the entrance way, it had been too long since she had seen her youngest cousin and she couldn't believe how grown up he now looked.

"Regulus," she greeted, unsure as to how he would react to seeing her here and what his parents and her parents would have said to him.

Regulus stood there and looked between the three of them, having gone back to their conversation before he entered the room noting that he needed a minute to think things over. It was also then that this must have been the Healer that they trusted the most for her to be here, he knew why Pomfrey first checked him since Dumbledore would have trusted her.

"I see you became a Healer like you originally wanted," Regulus commented and Andromeda laughed.

"You haven't seen me in well over eleven years and that's all you have to say?" she commented.

Regulus shrugged as he walked over and took a seat at the table, "I did what everyone expected me to not do, I turned my back on my family and left. What did you think I was going to say?"

"Hi?" Andromeda retorted and Regulus lowered his gaze, truth was he didn't know what to actually say to his cousin that was disowned.

He remembered his mother screaming all throughout the house while Druella cried at the news of her eldest daughter turning her back on their family for some Muggleborn boy that she supposably loved.

"Sorry," he apologised.

"No need," Andromeda spoke and Regulus finally looked up at her. "How are you feeling, I've heard briefly as to what happened and have some idea as to what they believe you to be suffering from. O wanted me to do another check to make sure your hypothermia was getting better not worse."

"I'm getting there, hot showers and the blankets O has charmed are doing wonders."

"Mummy, mummy, look at what I drew."

Their conversation was interrupted as Nymphadora entered the room, grinning up at Andromeda while waving around a piece of parchment.

"Very nice sweetheart but we were in the middle of something." Andromeda scolded lightly.

"Sorry mummy," she apologised and it was then she finally noticed Regulus sitting at the table. "Who are you?" she questioned while looking at Regulus.

It was then Regulus noticed it, the flashes of colour as they changed in her eyes and it was then Regulus realised that this was the same Metamorphmagus that Sirius and Octavia were talking about moments ago.

What fascinated Regulus was that there was two Metamorphmagi within the same family and the same generation, yes in the past there had been more than one Metamophmagus during a time period but they had never been related before.

"Hi, I'm Regulus and what is your name?" he introduced himself.

"I'm Nymphadora," she responded with a bright smile.

Regulus' gaze instantly snapped towards Andromeda, "really? Do you hate her or something?" he questioned.

Sirius barked out a laugh while Octavia had a smirk on her face. "Sirius said something similar when he heard what her name was."

"Mummy do you hate me?" Nymphadora questioned as her eyes welled up with tears and Regulus instantly felt guilty for making the young girl cry.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologised.

"No sweetheart, I love you very much." Andromeda cooed as she picked up Nymphadora, shooting Regulus a look before walking out of the room.

"I really am sorry," he said once more.

"How about this Regulus, think next time because if it's Willa that's crying because of you, I _will_ hand you over to the Ministry." Sirius threatened before he followed in the direction that Andromeda went.

Regulus looked over at Octavia hoping she wasn't mad as well.

"Don't stress, they will come around, it's an honest mistake and as I said Sirius said something similar when we heard her name." Octavia reassured Regulus. "Are you hungry?" she questioned.

"Starved," he nodded.

.oOo.

James Apparated into the office on the first level of Sirius and Octavia's house like they requested everyone to do that visits because of their Muggle neighbours.

He left the room and headed towards the living room where he could hear sounds, assuming that they had the television on to keep Willa occupied since she loved watching the moving pictures.

James halted his actions and instantly held his wand up at the person standing there, "what the hell are you doing here Black?" James snapped, his annoyance increasing when Regulus smirked at her.

"Spending quality time with my niece, now if you haven't noticed I'm unarmed and also holding a child, please lower your wand before she gets hurt." Regulus pointed out but James didn't budge.

"Where are Octavia and Sirius?" he questioned, looking around the room seeing if he can find any signs of a struggle.

"Asleep upstairs, they were up all night with Willa and I said I'd watch her while they got some sleep."

"I don't believe you, Willa come here," James attempted to keep point his wand at Regulus while making a grab for Willa.

But Willa had other plans, "no." She complained as she buried her face in against Regulus, even when James attempted to grab her and forcibly remove her from him, she just tightened the grip she had on his robes.

"You'll hurt her if you continue to pull on her like that, if you don't believe me go upstairs and check on them yourself. I'm not going anywhere with her, what use do I have for a child?" Regulus spoke and James eyed him before he turned and ran upstairs in search of Sirius and Octavia.

Regulus shook his head as James disappeared before looking at the little girl in his arms, he had never been a fan of children, but then again he hasn't exactly been around many since he was the youngest amongst most of the families he associated with growing up but yet his niece had instantly drawn him in. His mission to bring down the Dark Lord has now increased tenfold because of her.

Regulus couldn't help but laugh as he heard the loud footsteps as they all came running back downstairs instantly stopping at the sight of him still there holding Willa.

"Prongs this Death Eater is dead to the world, he faked his death and has been here for a week." Octavia explained as she walked over and attempted to grab Willa but noticed she refused to let go of Regulus. "I'll get her bottle for you," Octavia then turned and walked into the kitchen, unsure as to how safe it was to leave the three of them alone.

"You know he pointed his wand at your daughter," Regulus pointed out and Sirius shook his head before looking at James.

"Doubtful, more likely at you. Now play nice or Snow will confiscate your wand, we learnt that the hard way." Sirius explained and James nodded before putting it back in his holster.

Octavia entered the room and handed Willa the bottle who instantly made herself comfortable against Regulus while drinking from the bottle.

"You alright with her Reg?" Octavia question.

"Fine, she's not that heavy. How about I take Willa to her room and you three can talk?" Regulus questioned and Octavia nodded, he then left the room heading upstairs with Willa.

"Did you two really duel when he first turned up?" James questioned as soon as Regulus was gone.

"More like when he woke up Prongs, Regulus panicked, unsure as to where he was and when he saw Padfoot, well it ended badly." James looked over at Sirius before bursting out in laughter.

"Come on mate, it's not that funny."

"It actually is, who won?" James questioned, looking at Octavia knowing she would tell the truth.

"I did," she grinned at him, causing James to laugh even harder.

"Wandless magic, of course. What was with her attachment to him though, that's something I've only seen with Padfoot and I thought that was just because he's her father." James pointed out and Sirius shrugged before taking a seat on the couch, resting his back against it, still tired from his lack of sleep.

"I think it's partly because Padfoot and Regulus are brothers, there must be something familiar about him to her to have that reaction."

"You both trust him with her though, why?" James questioned and they both shared a look.

"Many reasons Prongs, he's family and we trust Amycus so why not extend the same curtesy to Regulus when he turns up asking for forgiveness? He has given Dumbledore a lot of insight into the Death Eaters as well as his reasoning for leaving. Padfoot isn't exactly getting along with him like I do but they are being civil and that's all I can ask, it's only been a couple of days, I believe things will get better." Octavia spoke and Sirius scoffed but didn't say anything.

"But he's a Death Eater and Willa is just a child, what if it's all a ploy?"

"You mean, what if he hurts Willa? He will only hurt her by leaving, I trust Reg I do Prongs and I don't care if you don't. It's only been a couple of days since he woke up and she already adores him like she does with you, Moony and Worms."

James turned and looked at Sirius, before shoving him to wake him up. "You spent years hating him, now you're just going to let him live here?"

"As Snow said, he's family. I almost lost my brother Prongs, it's been a hectic week, give me a break." Sirius spoke, not opening his eyes.

"You've both gone mad! You let a known Death Eater into your house where your daughter, my goddaughter lives and put her at risk! He's killed people and yet you're both letting him live here!" James yelled at them before disappearing from the room, Sirius finally opened his eyes and looked at Octavia.

"I almost lose a brother but get him back and in the process lose another, maybe I'm not meant to have them all." Sirius responded and Octavia gave him a sad smile.

"Prongs will come around, you weren't exactly welcoming to the idea of Reg being here either."

Sirius didn't say anything in response, he just continued to sit there and Octavia shook her head when she realised he had fallen back asleep.

"I haven't killed anyone," Octavia looked over and found Regulus standing there with Willa sound asleep in his arms.

"You could have put her in her crib once she fell asleep," Octavia pointed out.

"She starting fussing when I attempted too and again she's not that heavy O, is my being here really going to be an issue for you and Sirius?"

Octavia shook her head, "they'll come around once they realising you have truly switched sides. James adores Willa and is worried about her safety knowing she can't look after herself. What do you mean you haven't kill anyone? We thought that was the task Death Eaters were given."

Regulus walked over and took a seat beside her on the couch she was on, "no, everyone is different based on their abilities. You haven't spoken to your brother about this?"

"We don't talk about that, he hasn't even specifically told me that he was a Death Eater, we just assumed for a while and Sirius has seen his mark. I know Alecto had to kill someone, I was in the room, I just figured."

"No everyone's different, a couple of people get placed with the task of pressuring high ranking Ministry members, others are because they are high ranking Ministry members or are related to them, others for their name and what it entails being them and others for their duelling ability."

"Do you know what Amycus had to do?"

"No O, I'm sorry."

Octavia nodded as she looked over at where Sirius was sound asleep, "you still okay to continue to watch her while we get some sleep?"

"Of course," Regulus responded.

Octavia didn't say anything, she just stood up and walked over to wake up Sirius, "come on Pads, lets go get some more sleep."

Sirius nodded half asleep and followed Octavia up the stairs allowing both of them to get some sleep.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**


	107. Lost Loves

Chapter 106: Lost Loves

 **January 1980**

"I still don't understand how you convinced me to look like Sirius," Regulus complained and Octavia rolled her eyes.

"You're acting like you two aren't getting along these days and you adore Willa." Octavia pointed out and Regulus nodded as the two of them walked towards his grave.

Octavia was unsure as to why he wanted to come out here, some morbid reason as to why he wanted to see his own grave but Sirius and Octavia stated that he was only allowed to go if he agreed for them to transfiguration his facial features just enough so that he looked like Sirius.

It was easy enough to do it since they looked similar in the first place, similar facial structure, the slate grey eyes and the black hair that Regulus kept shorter than Sirius.

"Who's that?" Octavia questioned, noticing the stranger standing in front of Regulus' grave. She turned and snuck a look at him, there was something off about him and she couldn't pick it. "Sirius?" Octavia questioned as she placed a hand on his arm, hoping to gather his attention.

Instead it seemed as though they had gathered the attention of the stranger, she turned around noticing them and quickly stood up and headed towards them.

Octavia recognised the girl, it was someone she remembered seeing every now and then around Hogwarts but she had no idea who the girl was.

"What the hell are you both doing here? You think it's funny that he's dead in a grave and yet you two lived! He loved both of you but yet you didn't do anything to show you loved him and you Carrow!" the girl yelled at them before she turned and looked at Octavia, "You two were friends at Hogwarts, he helped keep your secret, even convinced me to not tell anyone when I worked out it was you that was pregnant before everyone else but no, you were both convinced he was too far gone to even consider helping!" She yelled as the tears built up in her eyes and Octavia was incredibly confused.

She knew the other girl was upset about Regulus but didn't understand why, she wasn't one of the regular people that she saw him hanging out with.

Octavia turned and looked at Regulus and she could see it in his eyes, "who is she?" she questioned.

Regulus faintly heard Octavia speak beside him but he was too caught up with seeing Bridgette standing there beside herself at the news of his death, he hated himself for breaking up with her when he did but he convinced himself it would be easier for them, that the break up would make his inevitable plan so much easier to complete.

Octavia fed up with the silence looked over at the stranger, "who are you?"

The girl laughed and shook her head, "of course you have no idea who I am, you didn't really care about Regulus at all did you? You didn't give a fly hippogriff about him at all, what was your game all throughout Hogwarts? Why were you so invested in the _friendship_ you two shared? Because from where I'm standing, you didn't truly care because otherwise you would have helped him!"

"Bridgette Cooper," Regulus choked out and Octavia looked at him, she recognised the name but was still unsure as to why she was upset over Regulus' death.

Bridgette turned and looked at Regulus, who she believed to be Sirius thanks to the spells. "Wow, the distant yet almost invisible brother knows exactly who I am. What the hell is your problem, why the hell couldn't you save him!"

"Bridge," Regulus spoke softly and she faltered, looking at him before shaking her head. He reached out and cupped her face, "look at me Bridge."

"Stop tormenting me, where did you hear that name?" she snapped pulling away from Regulus and he looked at Octavia

"Can you reserve this?" Regulus questioned.

"Not here," she responded.

"Then help me, please."

"Bridgette?" Octavia spoke softly and the girl looked over at her, anger blazing in her eyes. "I tried my best to help him, for years I tried to convince him to leave the family behind like Sirius and I did but nothing worked. Yes Sirius and Regulus' relationship wasn't the best, but I tried, I truly did try to work on it and improve but nothing worked. Before I graduated I told Regulus that he was family and I loved him. I suspected what he done, that he had signed up with them before my own graduation, I told him that I would always help him, if he ever changed his mind, I would help him and I kept that promise."

"No you're lying, why else would his body be in the grave!"

"Bridge," Regulus spoke, hoping if he kept using the nickname he had for her she would realise what was right in front of her. "The grave is empty, they never found my body because there wasn't a body to find."

Bridgette stood there staring at the couple if front of her, one kept calling Bridge and the other claimed she helped the love of her life.

"The brothers look so similar it's easy enough to transfigure their looks slightly to look like each other," Octavia stated and Bridgette stared at Regulus, who was still looking very much like Sirius.

"You found out I had joined that same moment in the library where we shared our first kiss, the same afternoon I found out I was going to be an uncle and that same afternoon I asked you to promise me not to tell anyone it was Octavia that was pregnant." Regulus spoke, hoping moments between them that only they knew would help her convince it was truly him and that he wasn't dead.

"Reg?" Bridgette sobbed out as she stepped forward towards Regulus.

"Yeah it's me, I'm so sorry," Regulus reached out and wiped away her tears.

"Why couldn't you tell me your stupid plan? You've always told me, why the hell couldn't you tell me this one?" Bridgette broke down into another batch of tears as she hit her hands against Regulus.

Regulus grabbed her hands and pulled her close to prevent her from continuing to hit him, "because I didn't know if it would work, I had no idea what would happen if I showed on her doorstep after so long, I had no idea what would happen if it wasn't her that opened the door. I love you Bridge and it killed me to break up with you, to not tell you what I was planning but I wasn't planning on keeping you in the dark for long, I just needed the commotion over my disappearance to die down first."

Octavia stood there with a smile on her face as she looked over at Regulus and Bridgette standing there, she couldn't believe he had found someone, someone who didn't care that he went off and became a Death Eater but yet she found the whole thing incredibly strange because Regulus looked like Sirius, despite her knowing it wasn't truly Sirius she still felt that pit of jealously.

"You alright there O?" Regulus questioned, noticing the strange look on her face.

"Yeah, it's just a little weird seeing my fiancé confess his love to someone else but speaking of which, we should probably go just in case someone was watching us. I wouldn't let Sirius do that, if we were being watched it won't be long. Do you trust her completely?" Octavia questioned and Regulus looked down at Bridgette in her arms and nodded. "Alright then, let's go home."

When Octavia appeared in the office of her home she left in search of Sirius and Willa, knowing he will have questions about what happened while they were out. Octavia couldn't help but smile when she caught sight of the two of them sound asleep on the floor in front of the T.V.

She walked over and knelt beside him on the floor, she leaned down and softly kissed him.

"Back already?" he questioned and she nodded, moving away from him so he could sit up. "How'd it go?"

"Well it turns out our dear Reggie has a girlfriend," Octavia remarked and laughed when Sirius looked completely shocked.

"Not possible," Sirius commented.

"Brother, you have little faith in me?" they both turned around and found Regulus standing there with Bridgette beside him. "Are you going to turn me back to normal now?"

A smirk appeared on Sirius face as he leaned back and rested on his forearms, "I don't know, this could be kind of fun, imagine the things we could make him do."

"If I look like you does that mean I get the girl, the daughter and the house?" Regulus teased and a scowl appeared on Sirius' face.

Bridgette hit Regulus over the arm, "hey!" she snapped and Regulus turned to look at her.

Regulus placed a hand on her face, "I'm sorry Bridge but I was just teasing him," Regulus spoke softly.

Bridgette turned to look at the couple of the floor with her brows scrunched up, "can someone please turn him back, this all awfully weird." She complained.

"Yeah, I'm getting there, I just have to get my wand." Sirius spoke as he stood up and left the room.

"Speaking of which while you're in this house they stay hidden, we don't need Willa grabbing a hold of them." Octavia threw in.

Bridgette nodded, "I understand and thank you for trusting me."

"I trust Regulus," Octavia responded as she picked up and Willa with the idea of getting her lunch organised.

A smile appeared on Octavia's face as a set arms came around her waist and lips being softly pressed against the skin exposed on her neck.

"Who is she baby?"

"Her name is Bridgette Cooper, you don't recognise her at all from Hogwarts?" Octavia questioned, as she continued to cut up the vegetables for their lunch.

"Vaguely but she isn't a Slytherin so I am curious as to how they met and how they've been dating. What I also want to know is what she is doing here?" Sirius questioned, his eyes narrowing.

"We trust Regulus enough to live here, to look after Willa while we go out on missions. If we trust him with Willa why can't we trust that he also has her best interest at heart, including who he lets know about our home?"

"I don't know her baby, it feels wrong having someone we don't know being here." Sirius pulled away and softly ran his hands up and down her arms.

Octavia placed the knife down and turned around to face Sirius, "I know Pads but we have to trust Regulus," Octavia responded softly.

She looked over at where Willa was sitting in her high chair eating the sandwich that she had been given, she was hoping by now Willa was feeling better but it seemed as though she was still feeling under the weather.

"Her fever has dropped baby," Sirius spoke when he saw the look on her face and hoped to reassure her.

"I'm glad but remember we told Prongs we'd go over there today, he said they've invited the whole group over."

"After lunch baby," Sirius kissed her.

Octavia kept her mouth shut but she couldn't help but smile at the looks that Sirius kept shooting down the table towards Bridgette. She knew he wasn't happy having her here but they were both putting their trust in Regulus, if they could do it while they were out on missions instead of always relying on Andromeda and Ted to watch her.

"We're going out after lunch Reg," Octavia spoke, breaking the silence.

"You need me to watch Willa?" he questioned.

Octavia thought about it for moment but then she remembered Sirius' concerns about Bridgette, he wouldn't let it happen just yet. "No not today, we're just going to visit James and Lily, she will be fine with us but thank you for the offer."

"Anytime O and again I'm sorry for making things hard with your friends," Regulus apologised.

Octavia nodded in response, continuing on with her lunch.

It didn't take long after James turned up a month ago and saw Regulus standing in their living room with Willa in his arms to go and tell the others that they were hiding a known Death Eater. It didn't matter if Dumbledore trusted Regulus, the rest of their friends were now wary of what was going on within their home.

Their friends hadn't completely shut the couple out but things were tense between them, none of them were randomly turning up anymore and every time either Sirius or Octavia tried to invite them around for lunch or dinner they always declined saying they always had plans.

It was only when either Remus and Lilith or James and Lily invited everyone around that it seemed they were accepting of the couple and that they didn't have to remember that they were hiding Regulus because they didn't have to see him.

Octavia looked over at Sirius, she knew he was hurting because James was pulling away, it was the same pain she was feeling because Lilith had been pulling away lately. She had been feeling it for a while, there has been something, almost like a wedge between the two best friends and Octavia believed it was whatever Lilith was keeping secret about Remus.

.oOo.

Sirius and Octavia arrived at Potter Manor, they walked through the house in search of Lily and James but she couldn't help but stop when she walked past the door that led towards the dining room, tears building as she was reminded of what happened.

She was still mourning the loss of Fleamont, she knew she would always miss him but also knew that slowly over the pain will lessen.

The door was magically sealed shut because no one was able to remove the message that had been burnt into the wall. Octavia had a few ideas but not the time to remove it.

"Come on baby," Sirius wrapped an arm around her waist and softly pulled her down the hallway knowing exactly why she stopped.

Octavia nodded and shifted Willa as she squirmed in her arms. "No," she complained.

Octavia let out a sigh before placing Willa on the ground letting her walk on her own as she held on to her hand.

"Prongs!" Willa screamed out in excitement.

Octavia let out a laugh, "at least she knows where we are." She spoke, looking over at Sirius.

"That's a good thing Snow, we want her to be comfortable here."

Octavia raised an eyebrow, "really, you're worried about Willa being uncomfortable? She says hi to every single person at the grocery store, I believe she has your extremely outgoing personality."

Sirius turned and grinned at Octavia as he opened the door to the kitchen, Octavia let go of Willa's hand as she let out a squeal at the sight of James standing in the room, letting her make her way over to where he was standing.

"Hey kiddo, look at how big you are," James spoke as he picked Willa up and spun her around earning a giggle from her.

"Hey Prongs," Octavia called out.

James stopped spinning Willa around and rested her on his hip, "Padfoot, Snow how are you guys?"

"Fine where is Lily?" Sirius questioned.

"She'll be done in a minute and the others should be here shortly," James replied coldly causing Sirius and Octavia to share a look.

"Look Prongs-"

"What? Have you kicked the Death Eater out yet?" James responded cutting Octavia off.

"Don't be like this Prongs." Sirius responded.

"Like what? That you're harbouring a Death Eater in your house where my goddaughter lives?" James snapped.

"James!" Lily scolded as she entered the kitchen. "What did I say last night? It's their choice, it's their family. You knew the moment they introduced themselves on the train who they were, who their families were, you have no problem knowing that Amycus knows where the house is but why now do you all of a sudden have a problem with Regulus knowing where the house is? Despite everything my sister has said to us, about us to my parents are you saying you would turn my sister away if she needed somewhere to live?"

James didn't respond, he just stood there looking between his wife and best friends.

"He's my brother Prongs and hearing that he almost died really sucked, you haven't once asked what changed, what was said to make me change my view of him, you've just all of sudden given us the cold shoulder." Sirius spoke and James looked over at him.

"Fine," he snapped. "I'll keep my thoughts to myself."

"Fly?" Willa questioned before anyone could say anything else on the topic.

James looked over at Octavia, asking the silent question.

The previous Christmas James had gifted Willa with a broomstick suitable for children, it barely floated more than two feet above the ground but Willa loved it so much. She was regularly asking Octavia and Sirius if she could go for a fly but it was rare for her because the broom had to stay at Potter Manor.

Despite all the precautions the two of them had put over their house they couldn't risk Willa flying past the window and having one of the Muggles spot her, she would always stick her bottom lip out while she would repeat fly over and over again.

"Go on, she has been bugging us for days to go for a fly." Octavia gave James permission and it only took seconds before he ran out of the room with Willa in his arms.

"I'm really sorry, I've been trying with him." Lily spoke once James was gone.

Sirius shrugged in response before he followed after them, despite James being cold towards them he wouldn't force Sirius away for wanting to be with Willa while she flew on the broom.

"He just doesn't know how to deal with it, for years there has always been issues between Regulus and Pads and I tried fixing it but it wasn't until Regulus almost died that Pads realised he cared for his brother but Pads was right, there is more to it and Prongs hasn't even asked what they are." Octavia responded walking over to the window allowing her to watch what Sirius and James were doing outside with Willa.

"He'll come round, he came around after what happened with Snape surely he will with this."

"It's different this time though Lily, Fleamont was killed by Death Eaters and Regulus was one." Octavia looked over at Lily and she could see the shock on the other girl's face.

"I never thought of it that way, he just refuses to speak to me about the whole thing most of the time, just listens to what I have to say."

Octavia nodded, she had a feeling that was why James was so annoyed with her and Sirius taking Regulus in. She didn't want to lose her friends but after what Regulus did in attempts to taking down Voldemort to make their world safer, she couldn't turn him away either.

She knew that her friends would come around eventually and once they had forgiven them enough to ask what it was that Regulus did, that was enough to have Sirius change his views and for Dumbledore to trust him they would understand, especially when they realise what it was that Voldemort had done.

"Hopefully it's soon," Lily commented and Octavia turned to look at her.

"Are you alright?" she questioned, there was a strange look on the other girls' face.

"There was a reason why James and I ask you all over today." Lily walked over and stood beside Octavia, looking out the window with a smile on her face. "I'm pregnant."

Octavia turned and looked at her in shock, she didn't even know her and James wanted children. She knew James adored Willa but not once had she heard them state they wanted children.

"It wasn't planned, we've spoken about children but after the war, I suppose mistakes happen, look at you and Sirius and Remus and Lilith you are all amazing parents and I can see how James is with Willa and Emerson and he will make an amazing father."

"You will make an amazing mother, once you get through the pregnancy with them all being crazy protective over you, or do you not remember what they were like with me and Lilith."

"Oh god, can I go back and not tell anyone I was pregnant?" Lily spoke in fear and Octavia laughed.

"It's because they love us, it's their way of showing they care. Hopefully it fixes things between Pads and Prongs though."

"Hopefully," Lily responded and both girls looked at the window with smiles on their faces as Sirius and James attempted to run away from Willa who was clearly laughing at the game.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing.**


	108. Building Trust

Chapter 107: Building Trust

 **February 1980**

The street was quiet as the duels were taking place between the Order members and Death Eaters, the flashes of lights indicating that spells were being sent towards each other and the other words spoken were the names of spells being used as well as them calling to their own comrades.

The duels were even with no clear winner but everyone stopped dead as the blood curdling scream ripped through the streets.

The Death Eaters took their chance and took off before they could be stunned and arrested as a result while the Order members began searching the streets looking for the source of the scream.

Sirius ran through the streets but he stopped dead when he caught sight of a mass of bright red hair, he had on one too many occasions almost lost Octavia and it nearly killed him every single time. Now seeing someone who could possibly be her, lying face down on the ground as blood soaked the body and pooled around it on the ground, dread filled him.

He was motionless as Peter ran past him and checked the body out, "Snow's alive Padfoot."

Sirius let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding as he walked over and knelt beside Octavia, he attempted to think of a happy memory and summon his Patronus hoping he can finally send a message to people, he didn't know who was going to be able to her he just hoped that one of the three Healers he knew would be able to help.

"Go ahead to Longbottom and see if Liam is home, we may need him, I will meet you at Potter Manor." Sirius ordered before he grabbed a hold of Octavia and Apparated the both of them out of the street.

.oOo.

Sirius was at a complete loss, no one knew how to help Octavia, as soon as either Pomfrey, Andromeda or Liam attempted to heal her the wounds would instantly open back up and the blood began gushing out. He was forcing her to swallow countless number of blood replenishing potions to make sure she didn't die and he was terrified that she was going to die right in front of him.

"Go get Regulus," Sirius spoke to the silent room. He realised that if a Death Eater did this then maybe a Death Eater will know how to fix this and the only one that would be able to set foot in this house despite what some people thought of him, was Regulus.

"Are you serious? He's a Death Eater!?" James questioned, shocked at what Sirius was asking.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now Prongs!" Sirius stood up and glared at James, not caring about attempting to fix the friendship because the only thing he was worried about is if Octavia was going to be okay and the fact that he was covered in her blood increased his worry. "My fiancé is lying in that bed while blood seeps from the hundreds of cuts covering her body and no one knows how to fucking fix her, yes Regulus was a Death Eater but I trust him. If a Death Eater did this to her then maybe one will know how to fucking fix her!" Sirius snapped.

"Fine," James responded angrily before Disapparating from the room.

James wasn't happy that he was forced to go and fetch Regulus, he didn't even want to be in the same room as the Death Eater and he doesn't understand how both Octavia and Sirius trust him.

James arrived at the house they shared and left the office in search of Regulus, he didn't actually know if Regulus was here or how Sirius knew he would be. There had been a couple of times since Regulus arrived that James and the others had turned up to visit the couple and Regulus wasn't in sight.

A scowl appeared on James' face as he entered Willa's bedroom and found Regulus in there with her, he hated even more that there was a Death Eater around his Goddaughter.

"You better not be here to start something again?" Regulus commented, not having looked up and faced James.

"As much as I don't appreciate having you around _my_ Goddaughter, somethings happened to O and Sirius told me to come get you."

Regulus' gaze finally snapped up and he looked at James, "what happened?"

"We don't have time for this, you coming or not?" James snapped.

Regulus looked at Willa before looking back at James, "what do you say I do about Willa, if you haven't noticed I'm babysitting."

"Honestly you're asking questions that we don't have time for, are you coming or not?" James snapped, not at all pleased when he noticed a smirk on Regulus' face.

Regulus didn't say anything, just leaned over and picked Willa up before walking over and standing in front of James. "Where are we going?"

"You better have a good hold of her," James spoke before grabbing Regulus' arm and Apparating the two of them back to Potter Manor where Octavia was being tended to by three Healers.

James turned his head and looked at Regulus, noticing that he was calming Willa down, she wasn't crying but there was tears in her eyes at the feeling of suddenly being pulled away like she was. He was shocked at how Regulus was with Willa, he always thought the Death Eaters were cold hearted.

"Come on, everyone's upstairs," James spoke as he tilted his head and left the room, heading upstairs. He hoped that Regulus was following him, they wasted enough time trying to get Regulus to leave the house in the first place.

"What am I going to do with Willa, I don't suppose whatever is on the other side of that door will be suitable for her?" Regulus spoke when James stopped outside a closed door.

"I'll take her," Lily's voice came from behind them.

Regulus turned and looked at the girl, he never knew for sure that Sirius and Octavia were friends with her and he hesitated as to whether or not he could hand Willa over to her. He knew that Sirius and Octavia were protective over Willa, they were even cautious of leaving her alone with Bridgette because they didn't know the girl, they put all their faith in him when it came to his girlfriend.

"Don't you think that they trust her just like they do you because you are both here," James spoke.

Regulus nodded and hand Willa over to Lily despite the struggles from the toddler in his arms.

James waited until Lily and Willa were both gone before he opened the door and allowed Regulus to enter.

Regulus was completely shocked at what he witnessed and he wished he could go back and change the way he reacted, if he had known it was this bad, that Octavia was literally covered in blood he would have instantly stood up and gone with James and not let the feelings he had towards the other boy get in the way. He just hoped he wasn't too late.

"What took so bloody long?" Sirius snapped at their entrance.

"Personal issues got in the way but I'm here now, what happened?" Regulus questioned as he walked over and took notice of Octavia.

It was in this moment that he wished he wanted to be a Healer instead of a Curse Breaker, so he could tell what was wrong with Octavia, there had to be a reason as to why Sirius requested him and chances are it was because he was a Death Eater.

"No idea, we were all duelling and this blood curdling scream ripped through the town and it was at that point all the Death Eaters took off. We ran towards the scream and that was when I found O laying on the ground covered in blood as more gushed from her. Three different Healers have tried to heal her but its not working, the wounds just open up again."

"So you hoped that we were sharing secrets amongst each other." Regulus stated when Sirius finished his explanation.

He had an idea as to what was wrong with Octavia but he had to be sure. "I know it's wasting more time but I need to see it to make sure, can you heal her so I can see the wounds open up again. I have an idea as to what it could possibly be but there are two spells that are very different in the way they react when being healed." Regulus looked at Sirius, knowing full that his brother was the one giving the Healers the green light as to what they can and can't do.

Sirius nodded towards the Healers, giving them the go ahead to heal Octavia one more time and Regulus stood there and watched as the wounds closed up, the blood disappearing only for a second later for it to appear as fast as it disappeared.

He instantly knew what it was, he instantly knew it was a creation of one of the Death Eaters and not a family spell from one of the Sacred Family member Death Eaters.

"Potter your wife won't be pleased to hear who created this particular spell," Regulus commented as he knelt beside Octavia and set to work healing her.

"You mean Snape," James pointed out.

Regulus nodded, not saying in response as he focused on healing Octavia, once again wishing that he studied to be a Healer and not a Curse Breaker.

He had only been shown how to counter act the curse that Snape had developed on a couple of occasions, none of which included a real life victim so he could only hope that he was able to reverse this and save Octavia's life.

He stood there beside the bed where Octavia was currently lying unconscious, as he waved his wand quietly speaking the reversal spell hoping more than anything it worked.

It took a couple of seconds once he completed the spell for the affects to be seen, the blood slowly started disappearing and the colour returned Octavia's skin.

"Thank you," Sirius breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the colour return to her skin and she let out a groan.

Regulus stood up and allowed the actual Healers to look over Octavia and he faced his brother, "I would have done it regardless, I'm just going to get some air." Regulus spoke, swallowing the bile that was attempting to come up as he left the room.

He doesn't know how he managed to keep the bile down for as long as he did but as soon as he set foot outside he emptied the contents on his stomach.

It was at that point he remembered why he changed his mind, why he didn't want to be a Healer anymore, it was because he couldn't handle the sight of blood.

"Are you alright?"

Regulus stood up and spun around at the sound of the voice and found no other than James Potter standing there.

"What, here to make fun of me for not being able to handle a little bit of blood?" Regulus snapped.

"Well technically that was a lot more than a little bit of blood, but who would have thought the Death Eater was unable to stomach the sight of blood."

"Why are you out here Potter? Why aren't you in there with them grateful that the Death Eater saved an Order member?" Regulus responded as he walked over and took a seat on one of the chairs breathing in the fresh air hoping to settle his stomach.

"I was always weary of you being around, wondering what your plan really was and if Voldemort had sent you here to try and kill Octavia from the inside. But you could have claimed back there that you had no idea how to help her and let her die, instead you saved her. I still don't like you but after that and seeing what you are like with Willa, I will be more accepting of you from now on," James spoke, shocking Regulus.

He turned and looked at James, seeing no hint of amusement or lying. He nodded his head before looking back ahead of him, "They're family Potter, I will never hurt them and are you forgetting that I faked my death? I gave up everything because I couldn't stand following his views anymore." Regulus spoke as he attempted to still his hands, he still had the shakes every now then and he was beginning to wonder if the inferi did more damage than he originally thought and planned on questioning Andromeda before she left.

"Listen this place is practically empty most of the time, if you ever want to escape from the crazy place that it can be living with those two, you're welcome to crash here, both you and your girlfriend. Just remember that the Death Eaters do know about it and may turn up whenever."

Regulus nodded, "thank you for the offer."

James didn't say anything, just turned on his heel and headed back inside leaving Regulus alone.

.oOo.

Sirius gave Octavia one last look before he looked over the balcony, resting his elbows on it and swirled the glass around in his hand.

Octavia was still unconscious, despite the sounds she was making after Regulus had healed her she didn't wake up. No one was sure how exactly Octavia was going to heal from the effects of the curse she was put under because of Snape and all the Healers said it was best if she stayed here for at least one night.

Regulus had taken Willa home, Sirius stating that he was unsure as to how Willa will respond seeing Octavia like she was and unable to wake her up because in the past as soon as Willa was placed on their bed with one of them still asleep she always without a doubt proceeded to wake the sleeping parent up.

Sirius downed the last of the Fire Whiskey before he threw the glass down towards the ground hoping to take his anger out, he knew flying normally helped but he was too afraid to leave in case Octavia woke up and needed him.

"Now doesn't that bring back memories?"

Sirius turned his head at the sound of James' voice, he narrowed his eyes slightly before looking out over the grounds. "I really don't want to hear you complain about Regulus right now."

Nothing was said at first, James just walked over and stood beside Sirius resting his own elbows on the railing, lifting up a bottle of Fire Whiskey. "I'm sorry."

Sirius grabbed the bottle and took a drink from it, "why the change now?"

"What he did for Snow."

Sirius nodded, handing James the bottle. "I'm just glad he knew what to do, the thought of losing her it kills me, it's nearly happened way too much. I want her to take a step back so she isn't in the firing lines with the war but I know her, I know it won't happen."

"This is Snow, she may have had one too many death experiences but she is tough and bounces back, she will go out there stronger there ever." James responded.

They both fell silent, neither of them of wanting to voice the concerns on their minds and they passed the bottle back and forth between the two of them, effectively getting themselves drunk.

It was when Sirius was handing the bottle back to James and he wasn't quick enough grabbing the bottle and it fell, landing on the ground below them. Both of them broke out in laughter at what just happened before they sat on ground.

"So what happened?" James spoke, breaking the silence once their laughter had died down.

"Hm?" Sirius responded.

"With Regulus, what happened for you to change your mind, for Dumbledore to trust him?" James questioned and Sirius sat up straighter.

Sirius didn't respond at first, he collected his thoughts as he looked through the window to where he could still see Octavia sound asleep.

They both sat there as Sirius told James everything that happened and Regulus had recounted to them all including the vital information he had passed on about the Death Eaters.

Sirius was grateful that James had finally came around, that he was getting his best friend back and hopefully things would improve between his best friend and his brother.

.oOo.

When Octavia woke up she was in a great deal of pain, she tried to think back on what happened but the last thing she remembered was her and some of the other Order members attended a scene that Death Eaters had created and she was duelling with one of them but aside from that her memory was blank.

She opened her eyes and instantly noticed that she was back in her old room at Potter Manor.

It was too hard on James after Fleamont was killed and he and Lily had moved into the flat they purchased, no one lived in Potter Manor at this point in time but it made for a great meeting place despite the Death Eaters knowing where the manor was because the house was much larger than what the others had despite Lilith and Remus since they were currently living at Longbottom Manor.

"You're awake," Lily spoke as she entered the room, noticing that Octavia was awake.

"What happened?" Octavia questioned and Lily's brow furrowed.

"You don't remember?" Lily responded.

"I just remember duelling with Death Eaters, it just goes blank and I can't tell you exactly where it goes blank, the whole scene is a bit of blur all meshing together."

"Sirius will be pleased."

Octavia turned her head and allowed her to look out the windows again to where Sirius and James were sitting, laughing about something and she was glad. She might have no idea what had happened to her but if it was partly to be reason as to why the two of them were talking about and being openly happy about it with no evidence of being fake, then she was happy.

"The two of them have been sitting out there for a while, the only reason they haven't come in from the cold is because they are drunk and most likely using spells to keep themselves warm."

"That's surprising considering how much Pads hates the cold, I love the snow and having snow ball fights, do you know how hard it was for me to even get him to agree being out there with me?"

Lily let out a laugh as she walked over and took a seat at the end of the bed, "I've heard him complain once or twice about the cold, Dromeda left this with me in case you wanted it when you woke up." Lily spoke as she held up a vial. "Why wouldn't you want it though?" she questioned.

"I'm allergic to Pain Potions, they don't make me sick or anything but incredibly drowsy and it can be bad sometimes. As I got older it was easier to manage the pain because my tolerance increased, I only took them when I was in a lot of pain." Octavia explained as she pushed herself up on the bed so she was sitting up, scrunching her face from the pain she felt.

It was when she was sitting up that she noticed the tiny scars covering her arms, she winced as she pulled the blanket off her revealing that the rest of her body was covered in tiny scars.

"I was told they will disappear within a few hours, your body is still technical healing."

"What happened?" Octavia questioned once more, finally noticing the anger that was on Lily's face. "Lily?"

Lily was saved from answering as the sliding door was opened, Lily softly placed a hand on Octavia's leg. "I will be downstairs if you need me." Lily stood up and waited by the door for James.

"I'm glad you're alright Snow and I'm sorry for the way I've been acting, I finally sucked it up and asked what it was Black did and it's a big thing, a great help to our side. I won't be accepting him with open arms any time soon though." James spoke and Octavia gave him a warm smile.

"Thank you Prongs, it means a lot. I never once expected you all to become the best of friends, even at times things are tense with him and Pads, I just wanted everyone to be civil considering he risked everything to help our side."

"I know Snow, rest up okay? You have a little girl to worry about." James spoke before he left the room with Lily.

Octavia looked over at where Sirius was leaning against the wall, his earlier smile gone being replaced by a frown.

"Come here or are you too drunk to walk?" she teased, glad when Sirius laughed before walking over and carefully climbing onto the bed beside her.

"How are you feeling baby?" Sirius questioned, worry lacing his voice.

Octavia leaned over and pressed her lips against his, "fine I suppose, I don't even remember what happened."

"What happened is I came across you lying in the middle of the street with blood seeping from a multitude of cuts covering your body, you need to start being careful baby."

Octavia narrowed her eyes and pulled her face away from his, "if this you trying to convince me to sit out of this war like Lilith is, that you want me to stay at home with Willa while you run off and help with the war you can bugger off." She snapped.

Sirius shifted so he was hovering above Octavia but due to his drunken state his movements were a little clumsy, causing Octavia to bit her lip to prevent her from smiling at the actions.

"Okay, so I've had a bit to drink and we probably shouldn't have this conversation right now but I had no idea if you would survive the attack baby, it took three Healers and me forcing Blood Replenishing Potions down your throat until we finally managed to get the cuts to close up. Regulus came out here and healed you." He rolled over to one side and laid beside her, softly placing a hand on her neck. "I love you and I can't lose you."

"We will talk about this when your sober but Pads if I walk away from the war Voldemort may just try harder to find me, cause more destruction and mayhem with hopes of me coming out of hiding. He could hurt Amycus or Alecto, or what if they start kidnapping Order members?" she pointed out as he rested his head against her.

Sirius didn't say anything at first and Octavia wondered if he had fallen asleep because it wouldn't be the first time he had fallen asleep after drinking too much when he was comfortable and at ease.

"I know baby, can't lose you or them." He mumbled against her.

Octavia brushed the hair out of Sirius' face, tucking the loose strands behind his hair, "Can't lose you either Pads." She spoke quietly, falling asleep along with Sirius.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to both Raven that flies at night and Clara for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Clara, as you can see James is no longer a prat and fixed things with both of them but he had his reasons. I love to hear when people are obsessed with my story, it means a lot.**


	109. Blue Moon

Chapter 108: Blue Moon

 **March 1980**

"Sirius?" Regulus spoke wearily as he entered his brother's room.

"Yeah?" Sirius called out from the bathroom.

Regulus didn't want to do this, especially considering that Octavia claimed she was fine but she clearly wasn't and he had no idea how to help if he didn't know what was wrong.

"I think there's something bothering O but she keeps claiming she's fine."

"Then she's fine, what are you worrying for?"

"Oh, so she normally paces so much she wears a hole in the carpet?" Regulus responded and Sirius finally appeared in the doorway.

"Okay so maybe something is wrong but I figured as much," Sirius responded as he walked over to the set of draws in the room to grab a shirt.

Regulus stayed silent as he tried to think back on previous conversations that had taken place, trying to find something, anything to help him figure out what Sirius obviously knew but he didn't.

Sirius let out a laugh, patting Regulus on the shoulder as he left the room.

"You know your laugh is meant to be followed by you telling me what is going on?" Regulus pointed out as he followed after his brother.

"Now why would I do that?" Sirius responded, sending a smirk at Regulus before he entered Willa's bedroom.

"Fine, you deal with her while I go see Bridgette." Regulus responded before he disappeared from the hallway.

Sirius stopped for the moment, sticking his head out of the door, not believing that Regulus actually left like that. "Prat," he mumbled before he walked over and checked on Willa, double checking that she was asleep before he headed downstairs in search of Octavia, planning on making sure she was fine and Regulus wasn't messing with him.

Sirius stopped in the doorway of the living room and watched as Octavia was indeed pacing back and forth wearing down the carpet.

"Planning on sharing your worries with me?" Sirius spoke, not entirely surprised that he didn't startle her. He was surprised when she looked up at him for only a brief moment before she shook her head and continued on with her previous path.

Sirius walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders effectively preventing her from continuing on with her desired path. "You scared Regulus off," he teased and a frown appeared on her face. "Baby please talk to me."

"Tomorrow is effectively the day of the Full Moon, despite it reaching its peak during the night. Tomorrow is also the second Full Moon for the month and there for it will be a Blue Moon, the first one since that summer before seventh year."

"I know this, we've had a number of discussions recently, between us, with our friends and with Dumbledore as to what could happen but no one has any idea as to what could happen. You panicking like this is only going to make yourself sick with worry."

"The Prophecy said it will link the mind of both the Dreamer and the Dark Lord, allowing us to see into each other's minds with no boundaries, I don't want that, I don't want him to know about Willa. He wants me dead Pads, him getting a hold of Willa will allow that to happen, I will hand myself over if it means she gets to live, I will do anything as long as she doesn't get hurt, I can't let her get hurt."

"Take a deep breath baby," Sirius spoke softly, pleased when he could see her take a deep breath. "Good now listen to me. Yes I know we are doing everything we can to protect Willa and that will never change but you are worrying over something where you don't know the full story, we have no idea what will happen tomorrow. It may only be while the moon is at its peak like with Moony."

"Or it could be all day," Octavia muttered.

Sirius narrowed his eyes, "that's enough baby," he scolded but she just pulled away from him and left the room.

Octavia could hear Sirius walking behind her and she didn't want to hear it, she was terrified of what was going to happen during the Blue Moon and Sirius telling her to lay of the worry and calm down just wasn't helping and she was annoyed that he was getting angry at her.

"Don't Padfoot," Octavia warned him as she pulled the fridge open looking for the pumpkin juice and deciding if she wanted a snack of not.

She let out a sigh as his arms came around her waist and he softly pressed his lips into her hair, "I just don't want you to work yourself up." He spoke softly.

Octavia pulled away from him, not saying a word as she decided on the chips sitting on the counter to eat and she continued to ignore him as she left the room.

.oOo.

Sirius wandered around Potter Manor in search of Regulus, he knew his brother was meeting his girlfriend and just assumed this was the correct location. He knew that James had offered up the empty Manor to Regulus, allowing him to hide out here when the couple wanted time alone or just when Regulus wanted time alone. James and Lily wouldn't be moving back into Potter Manor until closer to Lily's due date.

Despite Death Eaters knowing where Potter Manor was, it was safer than the flat they had in London, they were unable to place any sort of wards around the flat because it was too close to Muggles, at least Octavia and Sirius had some sort of clear area between them and their neighbours.

Octavia had promised the soon to be parents that she will do what research she can on warding as well talking to both Fabian and Gideon as to what else could be placed around the Manor for the safety of both the married couple and their new baby when it's here.

Sirius stood outside the closed doors that led towards the dining room, it was the only room he hadn't searched for Regulus, and potentially Bridgette still unaware as to if she was actually here or not, they knew the message was still burned into the wall of the room and it's why the doors stay shut most of the time. Until James and Lily moved back in permanently, no one had bothered to attempt to remove the message.

The only thing they knew for sure about the message was that it was burnt in by the means of Dark Magic and it would take more than a simple Scourgify to remove from the wall and all evidence that it even existed in the first place.

He reluctantly opened the door and entered the room, quickly spotting Regulus standing in front of the message with a scowl on his face.

Regulus easily spotted as Sirius entered the room, he hated that this message was still burned into the wall.

He hated that he stood there and watched as the Dark Lo- Voldemort, Regulus cut his thoughts off with the shake of his head.

He hated that he stood there and watched as Voldemort burned a threatening message into the wall of this room because Octavia wasn't here, because he wanted her dead.

He had been meaning to ask as to why Voldemort was dead set on killing her, why he wasn't giving her a pardon like some of the other Purebloods. It didn't matter if Bellatrix was so annoyed that she wanted blood from both Andromeda and Sirius for turning their backs on the family, the other Purebloods, the ones that Voldemort and the Death Eaters believed were confused by what Dumbledore and the Ministry were claiming to be true, didn't have kill orders on them.

He knew that Voldemort was wary of the Prewitt brothers as well as the whole of the McKinnon and Bones family because of all their members were a part of Dumbledore's group of followers but for now they were to be tortured and not killed.

"What's bothering you?" Sirius spoke, interrupting Regulus from his thoughts.

"Why does Voldemort want O dead?" he questioned, refusing to remove his gaze from the message on the wall.

He was unsure as to how long he could keep the information he knew to himself, how long he could keep from telling them all that he was here that night and that he knew who it was exactly that killed Fleamont Potter.

He was concerned that with the news Octavia and Sirius may turn their backs on him, that whatever progress he has made to keep things civil with James will all backfire because he was here the night their father figure was killed.

"Long story short she refused him, on multiple occasions but for now the reason I'm here." Sirius spoke and Regulus finally turned and looked at his brother. "Tomorrow is a Blue Moon, I know she's briefly mentioned the Prophecy."

"Figured out what will happen yet?" Regulus questioned.

"No but you know there is a chance that Voldemort will find out you are actually alive and not dead, that you faked your death to turn your back on him." Sirius explained.

Regulus nodded as he walked over and stepped around Sirius allowing him to leave the room.

"We won't think any differently if you hide out here until it's over, until we work out exactly what is happening with the Blue Moon."

Regulus stopped walking, turning and facing his brother in shock. "You're kidding right?" he responded hastily. "I faked my death and ran to you and O, not a different country or even hidden out somewhere else and changed my identity, no I ran to you two because you are the family I know I can trust. If you think I will leave you two alone in this, you're insane."

"That target you tried so hard to prevent from being placed on you, will." Sirius pointed out.

"If he doesn't know where you and O live, I doubt he will find me." Regulus responded. "I will help you both in any way that I can."

Sirius walked over and clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder, "means a lot Regulus."

.oOo.

Octavia sat there in the office as she bounced her knee up and down, it was five minutes to midnight, five minutes until the day of the Blue Moon began and five minutes until she had some idea as to what was going to happen between her and Voldemort.

"Am I allowed to say anything or are you going to bite my head off again?" Sirius commented.

Except Octavia didn't respond she just continued to sit there and stare at her watch, counting down until it was midnight.

"Am I allowed to say she's overreacting?" Regulus cut in.

Octavia finally looked over at where the two brothers were leaning against the wall, she shook her head when she noticed they were both wearing matching smirks.

They sat in silence for the remaining minutes to tick over.

Sirius looked down at his watch noticing that it was past midnight and technically the day of the Blue Moon. "See Snow, nothing to worry about." Sirius spoke but when he looked up at her, her eyes were wide with fear.

"O?" Regulus questioned noticing the same thing, she looked at them before she quickly disapparated from the room, causing the brothers to share a look.

"You should probably stay here, I know you said you won't leave us but she wouldn't leave unless it was for a good reason." Sirius spoke before he too disappeared, he may have had a feeling as to where Octavia would have gone.

"That's right everyone, just leave me behind." Regulus commented with a shake of his head before he turned and headed towards his own room, knowing full well there was no point in searching for them since he had no idea where they would have gone.

.oOo.

Octavia sat there on the ground as she pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes, hoping more than anything that what she was seeing in her mind wasn't true, that she wasn't able to see into Voldemorts mind.

The only thing she gathered so far was that she couldn't see his past and memories and she was grateful because it meant that her family was safe, that no one will be able to find Willa.

"Baby," Sirius spoke softly, hoping she would looked up at him.

Octavia just shook her head as she continued press her hands into her eyes, not happy with the view of Voldemort torturing people. It didn't matter if right now it was Death Eaters, the screams were being forced into her own head.

Sirius crouched down in front of Octavia and slowly pried her hands away from her face, not happy when he saw the look in her eyes, he hated that she was scared because of whatever it was that she saw.

"What did you see?" he cupped her facing, forcing her to continue to look at him.

"Do."

"What?"

"It should be 'what do you see', I can easily slip into his head and see what he is doing. I had to leave, he had spotted Regulus and I couldn't let him see where we were living, I couldn't let him get to Willa." Octavia responded, her voice breaking.

Sirius leaned over and softly kissed her, "so he can see me kissing you?" he questioned with a smirk on his face, pleased when a small smile appeared on hers.

"One would assume from the screaming coming from his side maybe, he could be torturing Death Eaters for any reason though."

"So are we just going to hang out here in the woods?" Sirius questioned as he looked around them, a slight frown because it was still cold out and there was no way to protect them from the weather if it should change from the calm that it currently was.

"He can't find us here," she responded softly.

Sirius had no choice but to respect what she wanted, he shifted so he was sitting beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I won't let you go through this alone, I'll never leave you alone baby." He whispered in her ear before softly kissing her temple.

The two of them proceeded to get comfortable as they were in for a long night.

.oOo.

The effects of the Blue Moon that linked the Dreamer and the Dark Lord lasted 24 hours, despite the Dreamer hiding away in the woods it gave the Dark Lord some insight, one of his own had become a traitor.

The Dreamer herself had some insight into the Dark Lord's plans, overhearing him plan something that was coming up, something to do with the Muggle Prime Minister but she did wonder, would it now be a trap?

While the Dreamer wondered if this would happen every Blue Moon and wondered how long it would take until someone came along and truly killed the monster because she didn't want another 24 hours of this.

.oOo.

Voldemort was furious, he had just spent the day having that wretched Dreamer stuck in his head, he doesn't even know how to begin explaining what it was like having her in his head reading his thoughts and finding out his plans but the only upside was that he could do the same thing to her.

He was able to slip into her head even easier than someone he was using Legilimency on, he just had to focus on her and it would happen.

The only thing of use that he managed to get from her head was that Regulus Black was alive…

He like everyone else assumed he was dead, assumed he died by Death Eaters that tracked him down and killed him on sight.

Voldemort can't even find out if what he assumed was true or not because he didn't give the order to anyone specifically, he just claimed that the traitor got scared and ran for it, asking anyone who finds him, to kill him.

He needed to change his plans, track down Black and then kill the Dreamer, end the Prophecy and then kill the Seer that foretold the Prophecy and he knew only one person that could help.

.oOo.

The Dark Lord entered the abandoned house where he normally met Pettigrew, usually every few weeks since he had graduated from Hogwarts.

Peter had told him of the Prophecy that linked the two of them but stated that Octavia and Sirius hadn't work what it exactly meant and as such The Dark Lord was going in blind to the Blue Moon.

Pettigrew may not have been able to turn his friends, have them switch to the winning side but he had been a valuable source of information with him being a traitor within Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix.

Because of Pettigrew The Dark Lord knew of every single one of the Order's hideouts, he could strike at any moment and take them all out but he needed to wait for the right moment. He has been sending his Death Eaters out doing raids, disturbing communities and causing chaos amongst everyone, soon he will start sending them to known hideouts, start with the bigger threats and work down.

But now he needed to take care of the Dreamer that was his first priority. The Dark Lord made the mistake of assuming that the Dreamer was still living at the Potter's without confirming with Pettigrew

He stood there in front of the fire that he had started in the empty fire place to keep warm while he waited for Pettigrew to arrive, he wanted to find out if he knew anything about where the youngest Black was, surely if he was around the Dreamer than surely Pettigrew would have seen at some point or another. He also wanted to find out if Pettigrew knew who had foretold the Prophecy forever linking him and the Dreamer.

"My Lord," Peter spoke as he entered the room, standing in the entry way waiting until he was summoned closer.

"Come," The Dark Lord responded allowing Peter to walk over and take some warmth from the fire.

"Anything in particular you wish to know?"

"Yes, why haven't you informed me of the youngest Black being alive?" The Dark Lord responded.

"I assumed you knew my Lord, I assumed he got scared and ran to Carrow. I'm assuming you didn't?" Peter responded, wary of potentially being punished for not passing on the information regarding Regulus.

"No, I was informed he had died." The Dark Lord responded.

Silence filled the room and the longer it went on the Peter became unnerved, he was scared that he was going to be punished and that maybe the Dark Lord was thinking of which way he was going to go.

"Where are Carrow and Black living?" The Dark Lord questioned as he turned and looked at Peter.

Peter's mouth opened and closed a number of times before the Dark Lord held his hand up telling him to stop.

"So it seems the Dreamer has placed a Fidelus Charm around where she is living."

"A Fidelus Charm my lord?" Peter questioned, he had never heard of this particular piece of magic before and was unsure what it exactly was.

"Briefly, it works like a ward and will hide the property it is surrounding." The Dark Lord explained and Peter nodded.

"How would Black have found the property then? I have no reason to believe that they were in contact before he turned up." Peter responded.

Peter refused to pass on the information he was sitting on that gave away Amycus that told The Dark Lord that Amycus was in contact with Octavia because if he did and something happened to Amycus then his cover would be potentially blown. Only the Marauders, Lily and Albus knew that Octavia was in contact with Amycus. The rest of the Order just knows that the location of Sirius and Octavia's house isn't exactly the safest and no one questioned Dumbledore but trusted that the couple knew what they were doing.

"A Dreamer's magic is different than our own and surely you have noticed it growing up around Carrow, she can harass old types of magic a lot easier than what we would and if she's found the right information it would allow to protect her location well enough that no one can pass it on but also making sure the house doesn't disappear. A Fidelus Charm not only hides the location but also makes the house invisible, anyone could walk by the house and be completely oblivious to it standing before them." The Dark Lord explained and Peter nodded.

It made sense to Peter, Sirius and Octavia lived in a Muggle neighbourhood and there was no way they could all of a sudden make the house disappear because it would cause too much hassle with the Muggles and the Ministry would have to come out and clean up the mess that it caused. The only other way is protecting its location.

"What do you of the Prophecy and who spoke of it first, who was the one that gave the Prophecy?"

"Professor Fairchild, she is the Divination Professor at Hogwarts." Peter responded quickly.

Peter was unsure as to if Octavia knew who it was that gave the Prophecy, the only reason he knew is because he had turned up early to a meeting one day and overheard Dumbledore and Moody discussing the Prophecy.

The Dark Lord didn't even say anything as he left, already planning on how he was going to get to Fairchild while she was at Hogwarts most of the year, protected.

.oOo.

Octavia slowly wondered the halls of Hogwarts, Dumbledore requested her presence but when she arrived he had gone into a meeting with McGonagall and Slughorn regarding two of their students and claimed the conversation with her could wait while he handled the situation.

The Castle felt different now that she was no longer a student, she had been a number of times since she had graduated and the feeling never changed. Despite it being home to her for seven years, the home feeling was still there but it was odd.

"You!" Filch screeched as she rounded the corner and found him standing there mopping up a trail of dirt.

She couldn't help but smirk at the sight, "having fun there Filch?" she taunted.

"You did this, didn't you?" he accused while hold his broom up, pointing at her.

Octavia let out a laugh before she continued along down the hallway, waving her hand discretely and making the bucket of water explode in his face.

"You!" Filch yelled out angrily.

"You can't do anything to me," Octavia sang out as she continued along, thinking a trip to the kitchens while she waited would be a good way to pass time.

.oOo.

Octavia was finally able to see Dumbledore and she took a seat across from him at his desk, she was unsure as to what Dumbledore wanted with her this time. The only time they spoke in his office, it was never good news.

"I have some bad information to pass along to you," Dumbledore spoke and fear filled Octavia.

"Is Anna alright?" she quickly questioned.

"You misunderstand me, I believe the news of the death of a relative would be more important then what I had to attend to with Minerva and Horace." Dumbledore explained and Octavia left out a sigh of relief. "I don't want you to panic but it seems as though Cleo Fairchild as not returned to Hogwarts after the last Hogsmeade weekend."

"She was the one that made the Prophecy linking me and Voldemort isn't she?" Octavia questioned.

She didn't really need to ask the question, she already had a feeling it was correct since why else would she be told of the Divination Professor's disappearance.

It's been two weeks since the Blue Moon, she may have already passed on the information she gathered from being in Voldemort's head to Dumbledore and he's doing as he sees fit.

It also didn't surprise Octavia that Voldemort has found his own way to find out who foretold the Prophecy and now it only made sense that she had disappeared, it also wouldn't surprise her if Cleo Fairchild either never turns up or turns up dead.

Dumbledore merely nodded his head and Octavia looked down at her hands, another person had been harmed in Voldemort's attempt to have her dead.

"For various reasons I haven't visited Anna's parents, they are okay aren't they?" Octavia questioned, quickly changing the subject.

Octavia hated it whenever she thought of the people who had inadvertently been hurt because of her and Voldemort's attempts to have her killed. She hated to think of the people who had been killed, or attempted to be killed because of her, the people who had been emotionally hurt because of Voldemort's actions linked to her. She thinks of Avianna's parents and her best friend, Chloe Cooper who are hurting because Avianna's been sent away for her safety.

"Gideon informed me the other day that they are perfectly safe, they do appreciate the letters you pass on to them from Avianna as well, they appreciate knowing that she is settling in well enough at a new school despite being stared at because transfers rarely happen at Magical Schools."

Octavia nodded in response, she was the only one receiving letters from Avianna. She made her cousin promise her to send all letters to her through the magical post office in America and that they would find her in London before she separated the letters and used Bellamy to deliver them to the intended recipients.

"I do also wish to speak to you in regards to Regulus as well before you leave." Dumbledore spoke, gathering Octavia's attention and she looked up at him. "Has he mentioned if the Horcrux was destroyed?"

Octavia stayed silent for a moment, thinking back on all the conversations she has had with both Dumbledore and Regulus on this particular, sickening conversation. Regulus refused to state where the cave was, not wanting anyone else to go through the horrors that he did, just claimed that it was a cave with water and inferi that helped protect the Horcrux, he wouldn't even say what the object was.

"Regulus gave his elf orders to destroy the Horcrux but he can't go and check because he made it look like he died and we are unsure as to if Voldemort has shared that information with anyone yet." Octavia explained.

She was itching to see if the Horcrux had been destroyed as well, despite her and Sirius being able to turn up at Grimmauld Place and Sirius claiming that it was technically his as well as everything under the Black family name now that his father was dead. It took a while but a letter Gringotts turned up claiming he was now the Head of the Family and was able to claim all that came with it.

They both assumed that despite his behaviour and turning his back on the family he was the only one left after Regulus' 'death', making him the one to continue on the Black name and as such Walburga reinstated him and handing everything over to him just like it should have once he turned 17.

She hadn't voiced her concerns to anyone but there was a part about her own Prophecy that made her believe there was more to Voldemort and this Horcrux, her own Prophecy stated that the connection will be there until the one comes along and defeats Voldemort, if it was Dumbledore wouldn't he have done so by now? Figured out about the Horcruxs and killed him himself? Octavia feared that there was someone else out there, someone else that was destined to kill Voldemort.

"Very well, for now we must continue along as if the house elf has managed to destroy the object." Dumbledore responded and Octavia looked away, not wanting to voice her fears for what has truly happened.

"What about Fairchild?" she questioned, bringing the conversation back to the start of the visit.

"I am doing my best to search for her, for all we know she has gotten lost somewhere and she will turn up since it wouldn't be the first time it has happened since she first began at Hogwarts and Voldemort having no connections to the disappearance at all. I won't shut you on the search Octavia, I will inform you when I myself find new information."

"Thank you," Octavia spoke as she stood up. "I should return home, I have a child to care for and all."

"Of course, I will see you at the next meeting. Take care of yourself Octavia."

Octavia nodded as she headed for the door, still feeling incredibly guilty at the numbers racking up of innocent people being hurt because of her.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **I want to reassure that there is not a Fidelus Charm surrounding the house that Sirius and Octavia are living in because Amycus was able to tell Regulus the location. I know it may be a little confusing about why Peter couldn't pass on the location while Amycus could but it will be explained in due time.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and the Guest for both reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Guest Reviewer, yes I do still plan on continuing this story on until the Deathly Hallows but I plan on starting a new a story to follow Willa's time at Hogwarts, it will be called One of a Kind. For now I am trying to work out Willa's life, she is essentially two years older than Harry and will be two years above him at Hogwarts so I have to work out the life she will have at Hogwarts, her friends, potential boyfriends her part in the events that take place, will she be there or just hear the rumours? I also have to take in account the events that will be changed because of my OC's as well as what I've done differently to canon whether it be slight or huge. I'm glad you love this story and think that the character development is amazing, it means a lot to hear things like that as well as it being the best Sirius/OC story you have read so thank you for that!**


	110. Wildest Dreams

Chapter 109: Wildest Dreams

 **April 1980**

Sirius arrived at Longbottom Manor, unsure as to if Lilith was home or not. He hasn't seen her since the family style dinner they had the other night, Octavia suggested, even though some claim she demanded, that they do weekly dinners to try and prevent them from going so long from seeing each other like they have been doing in the previous months.

It may be harder with Lily being pregnant and no longer able to Apparate but her and James were living in London and were able to catch a taxi to the Leaky Cauldron and Floo where they need to and as such they were doing the dinners at Longbottom Manor, using the formal dining room while her parents had dinner in the kitchen giving the group of friends the chance to talk freely.

Once Lily and James moved back into Potter Manor, the dinners would be moved there to make it easier on the new parents as well as to not cause a hassle to Liam and Augusta any longer.

He finally found Lilith sitting in the library with Emerson sitting on her lap as she read her book he couldn't help but smile at the sight and he wondered if Emerson was as picky with her books as Willa. They found it strange that Willa hated being read the same book twice, he and Octavia had no idea why or how she always knew but they would get two sentences in before she repeatedly said no over and over again until they grabbed another book to read her, repeating the action until they came across a book she either wanted to hear again or hasn't heard previously.

"Paddy!" Emerson squealed as she caught sight of Sirius standing in the doorway smiling at them both. Lilith looked up and gave him a smile and the green light to walk over and join them on the couch.

Sirius let out a laugh as Emerson squirmed her way out of Lilith's hold and climbed over on to his lap.

"She loves you as much as Willa loves Prongs," Lilith pointed out with a smirk.

"Aw poor Moony, no one loves him." Sirius teased.

Lilith shook her head, "now, now you know Emerson loves Moony just like Willa loves you, they just happen to have their favourite."

"Yes but Prongs is slowly but surely being replaced," Sirius pointed out with a grim expression on his face.

Despite Regulus having lived with them for a couple of months every now and then things were tense between the two brothers because of what their relationship was like for so long.

"Regulus?" Lilith questioned and Sirius nodded. "Prongs would love that, how are things with Regulus?"

Sirius shrugged entertaining Emerson with the puffs of coloured smoke was his wand, Emerson loved this trick while Willa didn't, she would just get up and leave or grab another toy to play with. Each girl had their favourite magical trick, Emerson like the coloured smoke while Willa loved it when you made her toys dance.

"It comes in waves, some days are better than others. For Snow it's easy because those two always got along at Hogwarts and at home but my brother and I? We didn't always get along, we were civil at home because we feared what would happen if we weren't, I worried that one day my parents would start doing what Snow's did and I'm unsure as to what Regulus was thinking because he didn't know until after we left." Sirius explained.

"But you're fixing it that means something, you haven't turned him over to the Aurors and you're trusting him that says so much compared to what you thought of him in seventh year and not to mention that you convinced the rest of us to trust you in regards to him." Lilith reassured Sirius.

"Listen I came here for a reason and it wasn't to talk about my brother," Sirius spoke, hoping to end all conversations about Regulus.

Sirius preferred to speak about Regulus with Octavia only, yes the others asked questions about how he was doing and how things were going but about him fixing the damaged relationship that the brothers shared.

There was points where he wanted to talk to James about what he was feeling, talk to someone who hasn't been there for every single thing that happened in their homes growing up and still felt friendly towards Regulus but James didn't want too, he may be more accepting of Regulus but he was still wary of what may happen.

After what happened to Octavia when Snape cursed her so multiple cuts appeared all over her body and Regulus healed her without a second thought, James was definitely more civil towards the boy especially after he found out what Regulus did in his attempt to take down Voldemort.

But issues that surfaced while in school were hard to forget, he couldn't understand as to why Sirius was so accepting of someone who did what he did during their time at Hogwarts. Yes James knew they were family and he has forgiven and accepted all of his friends after the things they've done and knew it stemmed from the same place but he assumed the feelings of confusion he had stemmed from his own lack of siblings.

"What do you want to talk about Padfoot?" Lilith questioned, pulling Sirius was his thoughts.

He stayed silent for a moment, giving Emerson his full attention with a smile on his face.

"Padfoot?" Lilith questioned once more, becoming more interested when Sirius looked up at her with a large smile on his face before he spoke.

.oOo.

Sirius woke up and carefully rolled over so he wouldn't wake Octavia, he knew if she was awake then the whole day would be a waste but when he noticed she was still asleep, he smiled before leaning down and softly kissing her forehead.

He slipped out of the bed and headed downstairs hoping Lilith was already sitting in there waiting for him.

"Morning," Lilith spoke as she handed over a cup of coffee for Sirius and he nodded.

Despite him being in a good mood for what he had planned for today, he was still not a morning person.

"Everything's all set Padfoot, just need you and the boys to make a start on the decorations while Lily, Marlene and I convince her to get into a dress today. Have you decided if Regulus is coming yet?" Lilith questioned and Sirius looked over at her.

As much as Sirius was grateful that Regulus didn't die, that he risked his own life in an attempt to bring Voldemort down he didn't want any problems to arise today and was so unsure as to what would happen forcing both Regulus and James under the same roof for so long.

"Me coming where?" Regulus questioned as he entered the kitchen.

"I'm wary of how you and James will be when forced to spend so much time together," Sirius responded leaning back on the chair.

He wanted his, their, family around but at what cost?

"Whatever you are planning I will attempt to be on my best behaviour for you and O," Regulus responded, walking over and helping himself to the coffee. "Do I get to bring Bridgette along?"

"If I decide you are coming then yes, I have to talk to James and get back to you." Sirius spoke, refusing to look at Regulus.

He was truly trying to fix things with his brother but sometimes it was hard, after everything they've been through during their shared years at Hogwarts, it was hard.

"Thank you again Lilith, I will see you later." Sirius gave a smile before he headed back upstairs to get dressed and leave for the day.

Sirius left the house and headed towards the flat that James and Lily shared hoping the former was already awake and ready for the day, the last time Sirius turned up there with the idea of doing something with James he had to drag him out of his bed. Sirius didn't want that today, not today of all days.

"Thank Merlin," Sirius spoke sounding incredibly relieved at seeing James sitting there at the small table in the flat's kitchen.

"Don't sound too pleased," James grumbled while Lily let out a laugh.

"Oh come on, you aren't exactly the best morning person and don't even get me started on you Padfoot," Lily spoke, warning Sirius.

Lily had only recently began calling Sirius Padfoot, having finally caught on to the nickname that the rest of the friends used. When Sirius first heard it a large smile appeared on his face while Lily rolled her eyes at the action.

"Nope not today, you aren't allowed to pick at my ego today," Sirius retorted as he stuck his tongue out.

"How Snow manages to raise Willa with you is beyond me," Lily teased and James let out a laugh.

"You're kidding right, are we talking about the same person love because I know that is Snow's go to move." James responded.

Lily tapped a finger on her chin with a devilish smirk on her face.

"Alright that's enough, let's go Prongs because Moony and Wormtail are meeting us there." Sirius spoke, hoping to end this conversation.

He was in a good mood today and he didn't want Lily and James to ruin it by poking fun at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. I will see you later love, take care." James gave Lily a kiss before standing up and Disapparating out of the room.

Sirius said goodbye to Lily before following after James.

"Wait, I wanted to ask you something," Sirius called out after James, hoping to do this before they caught up with Remus and Peter, knowing full well that the other two were already there.

"What is it mate?" James questioned, unsure as to what Sirius could want to know today.

"How would you feel if Regulus was there today?" Sirius questioned, not entirely surprised when the grin fell from James' face as he stayed silent.

"It's your day mate, whatever you want." James finally spoke, placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "I see you as my brother and if you want your brother by blood there today, then who am I to stop you? The bad best friend, don't think so mate."

"Means a lot mate," Sirius responded and the two shared a hug before they continued along their path, greeting Remus and Peter when they entered the building.

.oOo.

"Pray tell Lilith, why am I being forced into a white dress? It's a little cold outside." Octavia complained, she wasn't entirely happy that Lilith, Lily and Marlene were forcing her into a dress of all things for whatever it was they had planned.

She wasn't pleased that they had pulled something behind her back because lately nothing had been good, between her almost dying, finding out what the prophecy meant and having to be stuck in Voldemort's mind as he tortured Muggles didn't sit well with her and now she was worried as to what would happen with Regulus because if she could see in his head, he could see into hers.

She knew Willa would be safe, she hadn't been around the day of the Blue Moon, since she was in her room asleep while Octavia was downstairs in the office waiting for the time to tick over and when Octavia realised what was happening she quickly took off.

Sirius had tried to warn Regulus about what could happen but he chose to stay, to help if needed but in the end they both took off on him.

She wished she had Willa with her now to help ease her mind but Sirius had turned up and taken her with him an hour ago, quickly giving her a kiss and ignoring her questions before he Apparated away, returning to wherever he has been hiding today.

"Like the cold has ever bothered you before, your Animagus blends in with it," Lily quickly responded before the other girls could.

"Hey!" Marlene exclaimed and they all turned to face her. "I never thought of it like that."

"Why else would they call her Snow?" Lily pointed out and it was then Marlene's mouth fell open while Octavia slapped a hand to her face.

"Wait a minute!" she yelled grabbing their attention fully. "The animal nicknames, they're all bloody Animagi aren't they?" she questioned, looking over at Octavia knowing if she was they all would be.

"Good one Lily," Octavia snapped but when Lily looked over at her she could tell there was no anger in it. "You can't tell anyone, for obvious reason the boys haven't registered. They all plan to once everything has calmed down, for now they like the advantage of the Death Eaters not knowing, they know mine because I had to register myself as a Magical Beast and my cover is completely useless as such."

Marlene rolled her eyes, "honestly, now after how long and how many secrets you're worried about me spilling what I know?"

"This is a bit different to my parents abusing me," Octavia muttered, still not happy whenever someone brought up that topic.

"Still can't believe Dumbledore and Pomfrey knew but never said anything," Lilith responded sounding a little angry, completely ignoring the look that Octavia was giving her.

"Alright enough stalling," Marlene spoke loudly cutting of the conversation and attempting to lighten the mood back up. "Get in the bloody dress before we force you into it." Marlene threatened.

Octavia looked at the girls for a moment and wondered if she could take them, her wandless magic against three wands seemed easy enough in theory but this also wouldn't be the first time Marlene has threatened something like this, previous times she had always followed through.

"Fine," Octavia responded with a sour look on her face, not at all pleased with the idea of wearing a dress.

.oOo.

Octavia became less pleased as she was forced into a chair while Lilith did her make up while Lily and Marlene did something with her hair. It wasn't like Octavia didn't know how to do these things, she did in fact since it was a part of the etiquette training she had but she refused, hated doing it and finding it completely pointless and only had in the past for special occasions and was even more curious as to what they were planning.

They didn't even say anything as they stood there and watched to make sure she put the dress on, she became hesitant the moment Lilith pulled the dress out and argued against it only to succumb to whatever crazy idea they had.

Her mood became worse as she wasn't told where she was being led, she was forced to walk down the street from Longbottom Manor towards whatever destination the girls had in mind and she kept muttering things under breath which only caused Lilith, who had a grip on her arm preventing her from escaping, to pinch her arm every single time.

It wasn't until they arrived at a church that her curiosity was peaked and was curious as to what was going on, where they passing or visiting?

But when she was dragged inside it all clicked, the white dress, the secrecy, the hair and make-up and the church.

"What did you lot do?" she hissed at them.

"Oh we didn't do a single thing."

"Well technically we got her in the dress and here so it is something."

"Just go find your seats you two," Lilith responded and they both laughed before opening the door and entering the main part of the church, giving Octavia a glimpse of the room before her.

"Honestly what did you do?" Octavia questioned, her voice incredibly quiet as she faced her best friend.

"Nothing, it was all Padfoot. Apparently he has been planning this for months, it wasn't until two days ago when he came to us and we set it all up, to surprise you." Lilith responded, wishing Octavia would smile at the sweet and incredibly romantic thing Sirius did.

Tears built up in Octavia's eyes, "I'm actually getting to marry him?" she questioned in disbelief and Lilith laughed softly, walking over and hugging her.

"Don't you dare start crying," she pulled away, resting her hand on the other's shoulders. "I spent way too long on your make-up because you refused to sit still."

"Rude," Octavia commented, sticking her tongue out.

"You said yes when he proposed, please don't say you actually have a problem with all of this. A surprise wedding because he loves you, you two have been best friend forever, surely he would know what you want, just like he did with your ring."

Octavia shook her head and took a deep breath. "No I don't, it's so much to take in. I always figured we'd argue over planning a wedding and then we decided against it because of Willa I pushed it aside, not thinking about it anymore."

"He did everything, the only thing I did was buy your dress when he came to me but I also knew you wouldn't want a big over the top traditional dress like I did, or even something less over the top but still tradition like Lily's. Your dress is you all over, it's simple and beautiful."

"Thank you," Octavia finally gave Lilith a smile. "Please tell me you are walking down there with me."

Lilith grinned at Octavia, "of course, wouldn't have it any other way now would we?" Lilith turned around and pulled open a cupboard and in turn pulling out two bouquets and handing one to Octavia.

Octavia looked down at the brightly colour bouquet in her hands, if Sirius had truly chosen this then he did know her incredibly well, even more so when she looked over at Lilith's. The two bouquets were practically identical except for the colours, while Octavia's was brightly coloured Lilith's was more pastel, not standing out as much as Octavia.

Despite Octavia being shy and more reserved around people when it came to her private life, having come out of her shell a lot since she first began at Hogwarts she was always believed that her wedding day was all her, that the focus should be on her and her soon to be husband and not the families like she was raised to believe.

She looked up and gave Lilith a smile, "looks like I'm getting married today."

.oOo.

Sirius stood there at the front of the church waiting to see Lily and Marlene enter the room, he would be an idiot to not admit that the girls had a hard job of convincing Octavia to put on the dress that Lilith had picked out for her in the two day time frame that she had been given and then also getting her here.

He was unsure as to what Octavia would truly think about the surprise wedding but he knew her and he believed he knew her well enough to be able to plan her dream wedding.

"Am I allowed to make some joke about her not turning up today?" James taunted.

Sirius snapped his head around and looked at his best mate, wanting to make some snappy remark but he couldn't because it was then he caught sight of Lily and Marlene entering the room, laughing about something and he knew that Octavia was most likely on the other side of the door, seconds from entering.

"Looks like you lost your joke there Prongs," Sirius responded with a large smile on his face.

"Like Snow would give up the chance to finally get to marry you, I remember what her reaction was when I told you guys that Lily said yes to my proposal." James responded.

"Why do you think I did all of this? She never thought we'd be able to get married." Sirius responded just as the doors opened fully.

Sirius turned and looked at where he could see Lilith walking down the aisle, he knew both Octavia and himself wouldn't be able to do this without their best friends up here with them. He knew Octavia wouldn't be able to do this without Lilith standing up there with her but it was in this moment he wished they didn't have them standing with them because he wanted to see his soon to be wife, have some sort of indication of what she was thinking about the whole thing.

It was when he finally caught sight of Octavia his heart swelled at the sight of how breath takingly beautiful she was and it was the smile on her face that made everything worth it. The agonising pain he went through when planning this day, arguing with himself over what he thought she would prefer, it was all worth it for the smile on her face as she walked down the aisle.

He reached for her hand when she reached the stairs to join him and their friends up there, giving her his own large smile.

"Surprise baby," he spoke softly, chuckling when it was obvious she was speechless from the opening and closing of her mouth.

Sirius led her up to where they stood in front of a Muggle priest who was marrying them, he knew Octavia would be confused as to what a Muggle was doing marrying them but he knew that the moment the wedding was over the Prewitt brothers were Obliviating him.

.oOo.

"I can't believe you did all of this Pads," Octavia spoke as her and Sirius danced their way around the ballroom at Longbottom Manor.

After the wedding ceremony was finished everyone made their way back to Longbottom Manor where the reception was being held and the happy newly-weds were having their first dance as husband and wife.

"Anything for you baby," he responded as he spun her around earning a squeal from her.

"But the potential marriage contract?" she questioned when he had stopped spinning

"Won't be an issue because we didn't sign the Magical license for the Ministry, it won't activate it. It was at Prongs and Lily's wedding that I noticed it, the two licenses they signed and that's when I began planning it. That's why I proposed because I knew we could get married but I wanted to surprise you."

"And what if I didn't want the surprise wedding? What if I was mad about it all?"

"You mad at me? Not possible baby," Sirius grinned at her before he leaned down and kissed her, earning a number of catcalls from the group of people watching them.

"I do recall a period of time where I wasn't talking to you, you came crawling back," she teased and a scowl appeared on his face. "I love you," she whispered and it was instantly replaced with a smile on his.

"I love you too and hopefully after today you will never question it."

"Never have before Pads, why would I start now?" she questioned with a smile and he laughed.

"Glad to know."

Octavia took the sign of the music changing and everyone else joining in on the dancing as a sign that she would be able to freely escape the floor with Sirius and allow her to have a proper conversation with him.

"How did you know what exactly it was I wanted?" Octavia questioned as they stood beside the bar, drinks in hand. "I know we've been best friends for years but my bouquet? How did you know something like that?"

"The two weddings we've helped plan already, we would come home and you make your comments about what they had chosen and state what you would want instead. Snow you have inadvertently been planning our wedding ever since Prongs and Lily began planning their own, I just took your thoughts and put them together and I trusted Lilith with your dress, hoped she knew you well enough to find your perfect dress."

"You both did remarkably well, I love my dress and it is something I would have chosen."

Sirius turned so he was facing her and placed a hand on her cheek, "you look beautiful baby and you've made me incredibly happy and I can't wait to make you happy as my wife."

Octavia stepped closer to Sirius and rested her cheek against his chest as she looked over at where Regulus was dancing with both Bridgette and Willa, a smile appearing on her face at the sight.

"I'm glad you let him come," she spoke softly.

"Had no choice, he's family." Sirius responded and Octavia laughed.

"Really, I don't see my brother around here." Octavia pulled away and went to head back to the dance floor but Sirius grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at him. She shook her head, "I understand why Amycus can't be here, I'm happy with who is here. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go dance with the better of the Black family." Octavia teased, pulling her arm free.

"Hey!" Sirius called out, not happy with the comment but was no longer annoyed when he saw that she had grabbed Willa from Regulus.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and YumiKnowsBest for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	111. Tutus and Crowns

Chapter 110: Tutus and Crowns

 **May 1980**

Octavia stood there in the middle of the woods and wondered what was going on, she was dreaming and knew exactly what was going on, she was seeing another sneak peek at the future. But she was confused because for now she was standing in the middle of the woods completely alone.

So she decided to walk ahead, hoping to see something, anything, to indicate as to what she was meant to be seeing.

It was when she came to a clearing and saw the Full Moon shining up in the sky that she wondered if she would catch a glimpse of herself as a wolf or if she would catch sight of her friends, something to help her believe they had changed the future and they will make it out of the war all alive because that dream where Remus claimed that Sirius betrayed them and James, Lily and Peter were dead still sat there in her mind and it terrified her.

She was disappointed when she only saw herself and a werewolf, being Remus, come running through. They were alone and they still hadn't succeeded in saving the lives of her friends.

"What's troubling you young one?"

Octavia spun around at the sound of the voice and was shocked at seeing Florence standing there, she has had a number of dreams since she was introduced to Florence and she hasn't seen the first Dreamer since and she was beginning to wonder if she made the thing up completely.

"Do you think if I stand here long enough the rest of my friends will show up in their animal forms?" Octavia questioned, whether or not she believed for Florence to be real or a part of her imagination she knew she could trust Florence.

"We can stand here for as long as your subconscious lets you, your wolf is stunning." Florence spoke and Octavia nodded.

She had never seen her wolf form, not even bothering herself about standing in front of a mirror to have a look but now she stood there marvelling in her form. She always knew that she didn't have the size to her form that James and Sirius had but she was quick and agile giving her an advantage over the two of them and Remus when he was in his own wolf form.

"You know I thought I made you up, that I was so sleep deprived after Willa was born that I made you up, to help make everything easier. I haven't seen you since and she's almost two years old." Octavia responded.

"I know you've had dreams since I first introduced myself but this is the first one where it doesn't seem to be life and death, in the past they have. When we speak I pull your focus from what is happening before us, I cannot do that if I believe someone's life is at risk, like last year with your cousin."

"Thank you," Octavia responded quietly. "Do you still have no idea as to what is going to come of my daughter?" she turned and faced Florence.

"No, I cannot begin to fathom what will be different about her. She could be like the rest of us Dreamers and be able to perform magical wandlessly but she may also not be, she may be completely normal. I told you to worry about it when she is a little older."

"You know she's a Metamorphmagus."

"You forget that I see what you do, I am in tune with your magic and as such see the same events you do, it's how I exist young one." Florence responded.

Octavia let out a sigh, looking back over at where her and Remus were running around still as animals.

Octavia eventually woke up in her bed and she looked over at where Sirius was sound asleep beside her, she couldn't believe they were married. She leaned over and softly kissed him before she climbed out of the bed and left the room wanting a glass of water but it was when she walked past Regulus' room that she stopped and stuck her head in, smiling at the sight.

Willa was curled up in Regulus' bed with him and there was a book half hanging off the side of the bed, she didn't know when this happened since she had put Willa to bed herself.

She turned her head as she heard someone walking down the hallway towards her and gave Sirius a smile as she held up her finger and indicated for him to come over.

Sirius stood beside Octavia and wrapped an arm around her waist as he also took in the sight, "come on," he tugged on her waist to pull her away from the door.

"What did you see?" Sirius questioned once they were in the kitchen and Octavia had the glass of water she wanted in her hand.

"Just more proof that only Remus and I are the only ones left once this is all done and dusted, mind you it was a Full Moon so I'm still wary of Lilith being around or not."

Octavia had been wondering for a while now as to what Lilith's fate was with this war, she saw nothing to show that she made it through the war and was a part of their, her, life afterwards but she also saw nothing that showed she didn't make it. Lilith was the only one she hasn't seen a single thing about it and it worried her, what would become of her best friend when Voldemort was finally defeated.

Sirius walked over and wrapped his arms around her, he softly kissed the top of her head. "We're changing things, we are changing the fate of Prongs, Wormtail and Lily so we can change whatever fate Lilith has as well."

"But I don't know what her fate is so I don't know if I want to change it and that is what scares me," Octavia responded.

Sirius didn't know what to say, he just softly ran his hand up and down her back. Truth was, he was worried about Lilith as well but like Octavia just said, they were unsure as to what her future entailed and were terrified about changing it and making things worse for her while they made things better for the rest of their friends.

Octavia pulled away and gave him a smile, "I think I may skip the meeting tomorrow, take Willa shopping. She's getting too big for some of her clothes and she hasn't picked a book out for us to read in days, Regulus is the only one allowed to read Winnie the Pooh despite her hatred for repeating books."

"Do you think it's a good idea to skip the meeting?" Sirius questioned, ignoring the comment about the book that was reserved for Regulus only.

"Why I've skipped meetings before because Willa has been sick and I haven't wanted to leave her with someone else, if something really important is mentioned I'm pretty sure you will tell me."

"Alright, are you going to come back to bed?" Sirius questioned, hoping she would say yes.

"No, Willa will be up soon enough and we can't keep constantly relying on Regulus despite how much he claims it isn't a hassle."

A slight frown appeared on Sirius' face for a moment before he leaned over and softly kissed her cheek, "very well, if you are at least going to stay awake promise me you'll take a nap when Willa does because even though we have a meeting today we still have that mission tonight."

"What are you on about Pads? I always nap when Willa does, how else do you think I look this good?" Octavia grinned at him and he let out a laugh.

"I love you," he rested his forehead against her.

"I love you too Pads." She responded with a smile.

.oOo.

Octavia was standing in the shop that sold children's clothes in hopes of finding something, anything that jumped out for Willa. There was only so many times they can use magic on her current clothes to enlarge them, especially if they were originally Muggle clothes because wizard robes were more accepting of the enlarging charms.

She wasn't really paying attention to what Willa was saying in her pram as she had been talking to herself all morning, it also wasn't the first time Willa was talking to herself.

It wasn't until she finally heard the word 'mama' being repeated over and over that she put back the dress she was looking and knelt in front of the pram to see what Willa wanted.

"What is it baby?" she questioned.

Willa held her hand up and pointed towards something behind Octavia, "pwetty." She spoke and Octavia turned around.

She was unsure as to what it was exactly that had caught Willa's eye, in the end she pushed the pram until Willa signalled she was where she wanted to be and Octavia was able to find what Willa wanted.

It took some time but Octavia finally saw what Willa was pointing at and what she wanted, one of the manikins had on a hot pink tutu and matching crown.

She looked down at Willa with a smile, "is that what you want baby?" she questioned and Willa nodded enthusiastically. "Alright, that is what we will buy."

.oOo.

Sirius arrived home from the Order meeting and was shocked at the sight before him when he entered Willa's room with the idea of spending some time with his daughter.

"Snow," he called out, knowing she wouldn't be far, most likely in the bathroom. At the sound of his voice Willa had finally noticed him standing there and she stood up and made her way over to him, wanting him to pick her up.

"Hi princess," Sirius greeting Willa with a soft kiss to her forehead, a scowl appearing on his face as he once again took in the sight of his daughter in a pink tutu and crown.

"Yes, Pwincess." She responded with a grin.

"How was the meeting?" Octavia questioned when she appeared in the hallway.

"What is she wearing?" He responded in a low growl and Octavia let out a laugh.

"What, annoyed it's not a black tutu or that she isn't in that ridiculous leather jacket you wanted to get? Which I still refuse to buy by the way." Octavia pointed out and Sirius stayed silent. "Come on Pads, she looks adorable and the smile on her face means everything."

Sirius looked down at Willa, the grin still firmly planted on his daughter's face. He let out a groan, Octavia was right but he hated that his daughter was wearing pink. They had both been good so far, not constantly dressing Willa in pink, not overloading her clothes with the colour pink.

Octavia stepped closer to Sirius and softly kissed his cheek, "you're acting like I'm happy that she's wearing pink, come on I would have preferred purple or blue or any other colour but pink? Come on Pads, I don't wear pink, pink is not me and I wouldn't make my daughter wear pink unless necessary but I couldn't say no to something that would make Willa incredibly happy."

"Fine but I'm not happy about this," Sirius responded as he walked back into Willa's room, placing her down where she had discarded her toys.

Octavia let out a laugh and shook her head as she stood in the doorway watching where Sirius and Willa began playing with the toys, quickly noticing that his previous annoyance at Willa's attire completely gone.

Octavia headed downstairs to grab some snacks for them before she headed back upstairs to join in with Sirius and Willa, having some quality family time before both her and Sirius had to go out on an all-night mission while both Regulus and Bridgette watched her for the night.

.oOo.

"Is it always this boring?" Peter complained and Octavia and Sirius let out a laugh.

The three of them plus Remus were currently sitting in an abandoned building that gave them the perfect view of a supposed meeting location for Death Eaters, they were told to not attack the Death Eaters, just gain information, unless things turned for them.

"Be nice, mummy hasn't let him out past his bedtime in a while." Remus responded with a smirk, only causing Octavia and Sirius to laugh even harder while a scowl appeared on Peter's face.

It was true, partly anyway, but Peter hasn't been out on an all-night mission before, always claimed it conflicted with his job.

No one really knew what it was that he did for his job, just claimed it was to do with History of Magic and that alone was enough to put them all to sleep. He understand that none of them enjoyed the subject but they all pushed him to follow his dreams, including taking the job originally.

Peter wasn't the only one in the Order that had a job, most of the members had jobs at the Ministry allowing them to spy on potential Death Eaters while others had jobs because they needed the income.

"It's not my fault I have a job while all of you are bums," Peter retorted.

Remus frowned, "I would if I could, you don't think I enjoyed living of Lilith's family wealth?" he snapped in response.

They all knew that Remus struggled to find work and that he hated that he was relying heavily on the Longbottom family wealth, refusing to take the small amount of gold that Lyall offered to help him raise Emerson, he always said that Lyall should keep the gold he worked so hard for them to have when they were family, trying to convince him to take the holiday he had been talking about taking for so long.

"That's what Godparents are for, we get to spoil our beautiful Goddaughter." Sirius spoke with a large grin on his face.

He and Octavia didn't exactly spoil Emerson, because they knew Lilith and Remus would only accept so much before they snapped, it was more they were gifting the couple with clothes that didn't fit Willa anymore. James spoiled Willa so much more than what they did with Emerson but they also knew it would change the moment Lily gave birth because then James would begin spoiling their own child instead.

Remus rolled his eyes but ignored the comment, looking back over at Peter. "Come on Worms, we're just teasing, just like it was back at Hogwarts. As for the boredom aspect, yes it can be pretty boring because we never know what time they turn up."

"I actually prefer these to the ones where Snow ends up almost dead," Sirius responded, attempting to make a joke but instead he received a look from Octavia. "Come on, I don't want to you die."

"Yes because that happens so often," she snapped in response. "I seem to recall finding you unconscious after Prongs and Lily's wedding."

"Snow you are forgetting how many time you've been badly injured, none of us knowing how you will come out of it." Remus cut in before an argument could break out between the couple.

Octavia stayed silent, instead chose to look down at her hands not wanting to see how much her friends hurt over the things she had been through, put them through.

Sirius didn't say anything, just wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her close and allowing him to softly kiss her temple.

Octavia pulled away as she heard a noise down on the ground and shifting into her Animagus form allowing her to better hear what is happening downstairs and it didn't take long for the others to follow while Remus stayed human, unable to turn.

Despite Remus not having an Animagus form he had advanced sense from his werewolf side and it allowed him to hear briefly what was being said down on the ground.

.oOo.

"Okay this is a bust," Remus complained as he looked down at the street below.

"No kidding, these aren't even the high ranking Death Eaters we assume, these even rank low among the families. That one waving his arm about doesn't even have a Dark Mark, you can see the bare skin on his left arm." Sirius added in, leaning back on the dusty floor.

"That and they are getting drunk and not discussing anything worth wild to the Order," Octavia threw in, standing up and stretching out her tired and numb limbs.

"You can't take down the Anti-Apparition wards they put up?" Peter questioned.

Octavia shook her head, "No because then they will realise someone is here, some Anti-Apparition wards are keyed to a person's magical core depending on how Advanced it is. Some may just prevent people from leaving while others prevent people from leaving while setting off an alarm alerting people attempting to hide and get away without being caught." Octavia explained.

Her and Sirius have been researching Anti-Apparition Wards, wondering if it was possible to put them up and allow certain people to leave hoping to trap their home if the location was given up. They had a lot of ideas for ways of trapping Death Eaters but for now all it was just ideas until they could put them into practise.

"So we are sitting ducks hoping they don't notice we are up here," Peter complained and they all nodded.

"Wish we had brought something with us to keep us entertained," Sirius responded and they all laughed quietly in agreement.

.oOo.

Regulus let out a yawn as he shifted Willa in his arms, she refused to walk downstairs for breakfast, sat there on her bed saying up over and over again until he relented and carried her. This wasn't what bothered him, he wasn't even bothered that Sirius and Octavia had left on a mission all night leaving him in charge of Willa or even the fact that Bridgette was upstairs still asleep while he was up organising breakfast.

No what he was annoyed about was having to organise breakfast for the three of them, he couldn't cook, didn't even know how to begin how to use to the Muggle appliances and on multiple occasions Octavia has yelled at him for leaving the pumpkin juice and milk out and not putting them back in the fridge where they belonged and his response was always to say 'what was a fridge?'. The longer the comment went on the funnier it became for him because of the reactions.

"How about we have peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, you know those are my speciality," he commented, looking at Willa.

"Daddy!" Willa squealed as they entered.

Regulus looked up and found both Sirius and Octavia standing in the kitchen with cups of what he assumed were coffee, this wouldn't the first time he's come downstairs to find one of them after a mission and having Fire Whiskey instead of coffee before getting some sleep.

Sirius placed his cup on the counter before he walked over and grabbed Willa from Regulus, kissing her head. "Morning princess, miss me?" he questioned.

"Love you," she mumbled, burying her face in against his neck.

"I love you too princess," he responded.

Regulus smiled at the sight as Sirius walked over to the fridge and pulled it opened. He knew from a young age that he was set to marry Octavia the summer after he graduated and knew they were expected to start having children as soon as possible, so of course he grew up believing he would become a father at an early age.

But now that he was away from his family and technically dead he had the option, even before he left he was hesitant to have children, only wanting one son to pass on the family name to, to keep his family happy.

But now he looked at his brother and Octavia and saw how happy Willa made them, how much he adored Willa himself. It made him question if he wanted children, if Bridgette wanted children and if maybe they had a future together once the war was over with.

"I thought I would help you with breakfast before we head up to get some sleep," Octavia spoke. "Because peanut butter sandwiches aren't exactly the best thing for breakfast."

Regulus grinned at her, "why not? There is wheat, nuts and a whole lot of other yummy goodness."

"I honestly am beginning to worry about what you feed her when we leave her in your care," Octavia muttered as she walked over and joined Sirius at the fridge trying to find something for breakfast.

"Well if you two have this under control, I am going to go back upstairs and get some more sleep. As usual wake me up when you wish to go to sleep," Regulus called out, waving the two of them goodbye as he headed upstairs to join his girlfriend back in bed.

.oOo.

Sirius and Octavia have just gotten back from visiting Lilith and Remus, they wanted to bring Willa with them but they had been informed that Emerson had this nasty cold that wouldn't disappear and they didn't want to risk Willa getting sick and Regulus had no problem looking after her. They entered Willa's bedroom and couldn't help but laugh at the scene in front of them.

Regulus shot them a glare, "shut it," he snapped.

"Reggie," Willa whined as she pulled on his arm.

"Yes Princess Willa?" Regulus questioned looking back over at his niece and it caused Octavia to smile at the scene.

Willa had spotted the tutu and princess crown in a shop a couple of weeks ago and ever since she was constantly wanting to wear her tutu, it was so common that Octavia had even gone out and purchased a couple more, if different colour to help appease Sirius' opinion of them turns out Willa didn't care if it was pink or not, she just liked the tutu.

"Tea?" Willa flashed him a smile while holding up the toy kettle she had.

"Of course," Regulus responded as he picked up his cup and he quickly shot the couple by the door a look. "Why?" he questioned but they just laughed again.

"Where's the camera when you need it? Bridgette would love this," Sirius remarked.

A smirk appeared on Octavia's face before she left Willa's room to grab the camera from her own before returning and quickly snapping a photo of the scene happening in Willa's bedroom.

"Oh come on, that's the last time I babysit for you." Regulus complained.

"No it's not," Sirius said smugly and Regulus shook his head.

"O?" he questioned, looking at Octavia knowing that she would know what he was asking.

"I won't show the photo to anyone, it's just for the album and plus you adore Willa. I reckon you would wear a tutu and crown if she asked," Octavia grinned at him, slightly hoping that her daughter did ask Regulus to do as she suggested.

"Oh please Willa, do daddy this one favour," Sirius pleaded with his daughter, walking over and kneeling beside her.

Willa didn't say anything, she just blinked at him a couple of times before grabbing the crown off her head and placing it on top of Sirius'.

Octavia quickly took a photo of it before Sirius could remove the crown.

When Sirius did remove the crown Willa stuck out her bottom lip, "daddy," she whined and Sirius hung his head, giving Regulus the chance to place the crown on top of his head.

"It's what she wants," Regulus quickly defended himself.

"Can't have Uncle Reggie being left out can we princess?" Sirius spoke, smirking at Regulus but before Regulus could say anything Sirius waved his wand and a crown appeared on his brother's head.

Octavia let out a laugh before she took another photo, "all that is missing is the matching tutu," she mused, grinning when both boys glared at her. "Princess Tea Party all round," Octavia commented before she walked over and joined them all at the table.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night, YumiKnowsBest and Ginny702 for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	112. Very Own Padfoot

Chapter 111: Very Own Padfoot

 **June 1980**

Octavia was standing there at the platform waiting for the Hogwarts Express to arrive with the rest of the parents, except this time she wasn't here on Order business to make sure the Death Eaters didn't attack even though the idea was in the back of her mind just to be safe.

No, this time she was here making things right.

The train arrived and Octavia stood back and waited until the overly excited students caught up with their families until she caught sight of the confused blonde she was looking for. She waited a little longer as the confused blonde searched for her parents, she knew she promised Chloe back in September that she would try and organise for Avianna to spend Christmas break with them and see her best friend, especially now that she had the blood wards placed, there wasn't any way for Chloe to repeat the location, she couldn't even give instructions to the house.

But with Regulus turning up it couldn't happen, not this break anyway but now with Voldemort knowing the truth Regulus wasn't as hesitant. He did worry what his mother would say but since he was technically dead on the family tapestry he wasn't receiving his trust, it was partly why he was babysitting for Sirius and Octavia whenever they needed because he was living off of them.

Octavia had spoken to Chloe parents and told them how she was bringing Avianna country side for the summer break before her and her parents went on a holiday for the remainder of the summer before she was due back at Ilvermorny.

Despite Avianna settling in well enough at Ilvermorny she just hasn't met anyone that she was able to form as close of a bond with that she did with Chloe and Octavia wanted to make it up to her cousin because it was partially her fault for the upheaval of her magical education.

She took pity on the poor confused blonde and walked over, tapping her on the shoulder. Chloe quickly spun around and her confusion increased at the sight of Octavia standing there.

"Your parents aren't coming, they're perfectly fine but I have their permission to take you somewhere before bringing you home later, how does that sound?" Octavia spoke, pleased when a large smile appeared on Chloe's face at the thought of what might be going on.

"Can you shrink my trunk then?" Chloe questioned.

"Well of course, why would I carry such a heavy and large trunk in my pocket?" Octavia mused and Chloe let out a laugh as the older witch shrunk her trunk before handing it back to Chloe to put in her pocket.

Chloe placed her hand on Octavia's arm, "wait!" she exclaimed and Octavia looked at her. "Can we go to Diagon Alley first, I want to get something for Anna."

"Why do you think I'm taking you to see Anna, maybe your sister has some new boyfriend." Octavia responded with a smirk and Chloe's mouth fell open.

Octavia wasn't ruining a secret as such, she had spoken with both Bridgette and Regulus about the possibility of Chloe spending some time at the house and there was a high chance of Chloe seeing Bridgette and realising she was dating Regulus.

"No way! I don't believe you, not that nerd!" Chloe was shocked and Octavia laughed.

"Are we going or not?" Octavia questioned.

All Chloe could manage to do was nod as she placed her hand on Octavia's arm.

.oOo.

Sirius placed a hand over his ears at the sound of the high pitched squeal and moments later it was a blur of blonde hair.

He looked behind him as he felt a pair of hands cover his and he gave Octavia a smile, "if I knew there was going to be this sort of noise I would have retracted the offer of keeping her safe by staying here," he complained.

Octavia let out a laugh before leaning down and giving him a kiss, "she's been a little miserable at Ilvermory this means a lot to her that we are doing this."

"I know baby," Sirius spoke, looking over at where Avianna and Chloe were still hugging.

"Where's Willa?" she questioned, taking a seat on the couch beside Sirius.

"Regulus and Bridgette took her to the park." Sirius responded.

"What about my sister?" Chloe questioned.

"Oh you won't believe this," Avianna cut it with a large grin. "Your sister and his brother are dating," she pointed out and Chloe's mouth fell open.

"Nope I don't believe it, my sister is a nerd, she got sorted into Ravenclaw and spent more time focusing on her studies then boys." Chloe spoke, starting a rant.

"I don't think she realised that Anna said 'my brother'," Sirius whispered and Octavia laughed.

"Glad to know you missed me while at Hogwarts," Bridgette stated as her and Regulus entered the living room.

"How much are you paying him?" Chloe instantly responded without a breath and the room went deathly silent.

Regulus was the first to respond, by letting out a laugh. He looked over at Bridgette and grinned at her, "oh just a few Galleons a week, you know I'm technically dead and can't afford much on my own."

"I knew it!" Chloe yelled.

Bridgette rolled her eyes before looking at Sirius and Octavia, "he's been spending too much time with you two."

"Nah, he won't even get on the motorbike." Sirius responded.

"Good!" Both Bridgette and Octavia yelled together.

"What motorbike, can I get on the motorbike?" Chloe questioned and Bridgette slapped a hand to her face.

"No, mum and dad will kill me if you went on that thing, honestly it's a bloody death trap. And you," Bridgette pointed a finger at Sirius. "If you ever take my sister on that death trap of yours I will skin you alive, starting with your bollocks." Bridgette threatened.

Sirius held his hands up, "understood."

"Is that all it takes? Can I threaten to skin you alive the next time you go out on that thing?" Octavia questioned.

"You love me," Sirius grinned at her and she shook her head.

"I'm debating that today, now Chloe are you staying for dinner?" Octavia questioned.

Chloe didn't even get the change to reply as Avianna slapped a hand over her mouth, "yes Chloe is staying for dinner. I haven't seen her in almost a year, she's staying for dinner and maybe the night?" Avianna pleaded with the two of them.

"Alright so if this many people are staying for dinner I will need a hand and since most of you all grew up in magical homes and don't actually know anything Muggle wise, Anna?" Octavia spoke and they all looked offended.

"Come, you can sit while we cook." Avianna looped her arm through Chloe's before dragging her towards the kitchen.

All Chloe did was look over her shoulder at her sister and mouth 'help me', causing the others to laugh and for her to glare at them.

.oOo.

 **July 1980**

"How does it feel?" Lily questioned and Octavia stopped what she was doing and looked at her.

"Sorry?"

"Having a two year old, I swear there are moments where it feels like yesterday we are back at Hogwarts." Lily pointed out.

"I have a two year old? Where is this mysterious child?" Octavia mocked.

Lily rolled her eyes, "this is why it feels like only yesterday we were back at Hogwarts."

Octavia shrugged and went back to icing the cake she made for Willa's second birthday, "you married one of us and as such knew exactly what you were getting into."

"So did you."

"Yes but as everyone likes to point out I'm very much like my husband." Octavia pointed out.

"Why is the cake this colour?" Lily questioned, changing the topic of conversation not sure how this would turn out.

"Because Sirius is annoyed that Willa is obsessed with this pink tutu and crown that she found a few weeks ago. Even though I brought her some other coloured ones and she will happily wear them if we put them on her but if she picks out her tutu, it's always the pink one. So she isn't allowed a pink cake." Octavia explained.

Placing down the knife and looking at the cake, she doesn't know how it ended up this way. It was meant to be purple icing with blue flowers but she stuffed them up and in the process smeared the colours together but yet it worked out. She knew the boys wouldn't care, they would just be happy if it was edible.

"Makes sense but I think it's partly because of you as well, I don't think I have ever seen you wear pink."

"Hello pink clashes with red, you should know this." There was a small smirk on Octavia's face as she spoke and Lily just shook her head. "How are you doing with your pregnancy, you have what two weeks left?" Octavia questioned, walking around and taking a seat next to Lily

She knew if she continued working on the cake she would keep going until she thought it was perfect, they didn't get the chance to really celebrate Willa's first birthday last year because it was overshadowed by everything that happened on the Hogwarts Express coming back from Hogwarts, figuring out where Avianna was going to finish her magical education and not to mention the Death Eaters also decided it was the perfect day to launch an attack on the Zonko Warehouse.

Octavia didn't want to get her hopes up but she was hoping that today would go perfectly, that they would be able to spend the day with Willa and celebrate her birthday at Potter Manor along with the rest of their friends.

"Yes two weeks left, al-" Lily was cut off by the sound of two pairs of feet come running through the kitchen.

The girls shared a look and it wasn't long until Marlene came running into the kitchen behind the sets of feet. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Marlene muttered as she chased the two sets of feet.

Octavia and Lily had still yet to see who was attached to the feet, they didn't suspect it was Emerson, she was only a year old but it seemed as though she had definitely inherited Lilith and Remus' calmer nature.

It wasn't until she saw the tiny hand reach above the bench aiming for the cake that she became curious, she magically lifted the cake into the air and they heard a set of giggles. She placed the cake closer to Lily before walking around and coming face to face with a set young boy twins.

"Now who might you two be, trying to steal my cake at that? Maybe you won't get any." Octavia spoke, looking up at Marlene.

"I'm really sorry, I promised Gid I would watch them while he and Fab had to check in at the Ministry last minute. They promised their sister they would watch the twins, the rest of the boys are sick and Molly has a four month old and the older three keep passing this flu back and forth between them. I honestly didn't believe two toddlers could cause this much trouble." Marlene quickly explained.

"I think I may put this up on a higher cabinet if we are going to have three trouble making toddlers running around," Lily spoke as she stood up with the cake.

"Thank you," Octavia spoke with a smile before looking back at Marlene and took a deep breath, looking back down at the twins. "Let me guess Fred and George?"

"Yeah how'd you know? They try not to talk about their sister too much, try and keep her and her family out of harm's way."

"I may have seen something years ago that suggested Willa was friends with a set of twins called Fred and George, if they're trying to steal cake I'm seriously afraid of what they will get up to when they're fifteen." Octavia scratched the back of her neck as she knelt down in front of the twins, still standing there looking up at her curiously.

"Hi, I'm Octavia but you can call me O. You're Fred and George?" She questioned, quickly taking notice of the letters on their sweaters indicating which twin was which.

"Can we have cake?" they questioned together.

Octavia let out a laugh before standing up, "maybe later but how about we get you two hyped up on sugar just in time for your uncles to arrive."

"They're going to kill you O," Marlene warned but she just smiled at her innocently before grabbing the twins' hands and leading them into the living room where everything was set up for Willa's birthday.

.oOo.

Octavia stood there in the back yard as she watched three very hyperactive toddlers run around after a black dog and a stag.

She was thrilled with how well the day had turned out despite Fabian and Gideon surprising her with bringing the twins with them but it was quickly noticed just much the three of them got along.

Her and Sirius had been talking about finding other children for Willa to socialize with, Emerson was still a little younger and wasn't able to run around as well as she could and Nymphadora was getting older, not particularly interested in the same games that Willa was. If it wasn't for Willa being a Metamorphmagus then she would have been able to spend time with the other children in the street but they couldn't risk magic being exposed by an innocent little girl who didn't understand and know any better.

She looked over at where Lily and Alice were sitting, both of them heavily pregnant and weeks from their due date. Despite Willa not having many other children to play with, it wouldn't be long until there was more, it may be a few years until the new children are old enough to play with but Octavia could see the people around her now, being around for years to come despite what her dreams were telling her.

"What are you worried about?" Remus questioned as he appeared beside Octavia.

"I just never realised how vital it can be for children to socialise with other children, I know Willa has Emerson and Nymph and we try to make sure we spend so much time with Willa and Regulus spends time with her as well and I think having Anna around has helped lately but seeing her with Fred and George who are only three months older than her is so different to seeing her with everyone else, there isn't an age gap like with Nymph or Emerson."

Remus turned to look at Octavia properly, worrying about what she was thinking. "Don't tell me you are starting on this whole not being a good enough mother for her. Snow you are an amazing mother to Willa, you do so much for her and she is loved and cared for. You know what bad parents are, your parents were bad parents and you are nothing like your parents."

Octavia nodded, "I know, I would never hurt Willa the way my parents did but I was at least socializing with other children my age, I had Padfoot and Regulus."

"Yes but Snow the age gap between you and Padfoot is the same as Willa and Emerson, it's just more noticeable while Emerson isn't running around like that." Remus pointed to where the toddlers were running around and Octavia laughed.

"Those two are going to sleep incredibly well tonight." Octavia pointed out.

"Don't you mean three?"

"No I mean Padfoot and Prongs." They both laughed in response. "Alright I think it's time for Willa to open her presents before she crashes because in all honesty, she will." Octavia spoke as she walked over to where they were running around still.

.oOo.

Octavia collapsed onto the couch beside Sirius, Willa's party was over and they were back home. Sirius was asleep on the couch and Octavia couldn't help but shake her head at the sight while Willa was on the floor playing with some of her new toys.

She was glad Willa clearly enjoyed her party and even though she had only just met Fred and George she was upset to see them go and all Octavia could do was promise that she will see them again, unsure as to when she will see them again.

Octavia rested against Sirius, she knew there was one present still to give to Willa but Sirius wanted to wait until they were alone, she had no idea what Sirius had gotten Willa and she couldn't understand as to why he didn't want to give it to Willa with the rest of her presents.

"How is she still not asleep?" Sirius questioned, his voice sounding husky from the sleep lacing it.

Octavia laughing softly before she shifted and looked up at Sirius, "it was all the sugar, I think Fabian and Gideon got revenge and loaded her up on sugar when I wasn't looking. What was this present you wanted to give her separately?"

Sirius opened his eyes and seemed more alert at Octavia's question and quickly stood up from the couch letting Octavia fall back on the couch.

"Padfoot," she scolded but Sirius continued up the stairs laughing at her.

Octavia continued to stay there laying on the couch, if Sirius was going to do what he did then she was going to hog the couch and he could sit on the floor or the armchair.

She was perfectly relaxed and almost asleep when she had something thrown at her, she opened her eyes and there sitting on her was a stuffed toy that resembled a black dog, very similar to the one that Sirius transformed into.

"Padfoo'" Willa spoke.

Octavia looked over at her daughter and she was pleased to see a smile still etched on her daughters face, she looked up at Sirius who was standing behind the couch. "You brought her, her own Padfoot?"

Sirius just nodded as he picked the dog back up and walked around to sit in front of Willa, "mine?" she questioned, wrapping her arms around the dogs neck and they both laughed.

"Yes princess, you have your own Padfoot now." Sirius responded.

Octavia was happy, today meant everything to her, today was all about Willa and she clearly enjoyed her day. The large grin on her face, the same one that has stayed on ever since she realised she was at Potter Manor and was allowed on her broom, the same one that was still there when she met Fred and George for the first time and realised she could run around like crazy with the two of them and it was still the same one as she sat there on the floor strangling the black dog that was the same size as her.

"Nothing can ruin today," Octavia whispered to herself, making herself comfortable on the couch.

But she wanted to kick herself the moment a Patronus entered the room, she had jinxed the situation by being to content, she didn't want to leave, didn't want to leave Willa on her birthday but she had to.

The phoenix Patronus indicated it was Dumbledore sending them a message and something has clearly gone wrong, they had hoped they could make it through the day without anything going wrong with the Death Eaters.

"Alright princess, it's time to go annoy uncle Reg." Sirius spoke as he walked over and picked up Willa, along with her own Padfoot.

"No daddy," Willa cried in response, placing a tight grip on Sirius.

Sirius' heart broke and he looked at where Octavia had sat up on the couch, not once in the two years when they have left her in the care of someone else has she ever complained about them leaving but today, today she realised the day was all about her and she didn't want her parents to leave.

"I'm sorry but we have to go and look you have your very own Padfoot," Sirius spoke as he and Octavia headed upstairs to where Regulus had disappeared to when they returned from the party.

Willa cried against Sirius' neck where she had buried her face as she was carried upstairs towards Regulus' room.

Sirius hated that Willa was crying, having worked out that she was being given to Regulus while he and Octavia left the house, went and did what they were required of by Dumbledore.

"No," Willa repeated over and over as she cried against his neck and Sirius stopped walking, looking over at Octavia.

"I've stayed home before and Dumbledore's message didn't specify that he needed both of us," Octavia pointed out with a shrug as she leaned against the wall. It was killing her as well, the way Willa was reacting to the fact that they were having to leave once again wasn't sitting well with her.

She wanted to stay at home, stay with her daughter who was clearly distraught at the idea of having to be away from both of her parents on a day that was clearly about her. But Octavia hoped that maybe Willa will be okay with just one parent staying behind and with the way she was clinging to Sirius it would be easier if Octavia left on her own this time.

"And you think I'm thrilled with the idea of you going off on your own Snow?" Sirius questioned.

"What do you propose we do then Pads?" Octavia retorted.

"Dumbledore sent a message to us knowing that there was every possibility that Regulus would have overheard it, in the past when Dumbledore has needed us he has sent someone else to collect us if he didn't want Regulus to know about the last minute mission. Take Regulus with you, I will feel better about it knowing he is there protecting you while I stay here with Willa." Sirius suggested.

Octavia nodded, walking over and softly pressing her lips against his before doing the same action to Willa's head.

A smile appeared on her face as Sirius placed a hand on her cheek, "stay safe baby, can't lose you."

"Promise." Octavia responded, her voice barely above a whisper before she continued along down the hallway towards Regulus' room hoping he was still around and hasn't left to go visit Bridgette.

.oOo.

Octavia appeared at Diagon Alley with Regulus by her side, he was actually surprised when she had come and asked him to join her on a mission from Dumbledore.

James had been the first to spot them and he ran over, stop short when he noticed it was Regulus standing there behind her. "What's he doing here?"

"We had trouble leaving Willa behind, Pads stayed at home and suggested I bring Regulus, he knew about the mission since he was on the same room as us when Dumbledore's Patronus appeared." Octavia instantly responded, lying to James and hating herself for it but it was the only way it was going to work, for them to say that Regulus was in the room and there was nothing they could do.

James nodded, "we're cleaning up, buildings are destroyed and damaged and then someone has to speak with the goblins as Death Eaters attempted to break into some of the more secure vaults."

Octavia didn't say anything, she just looked over at Regulus before they followed after James and set work on repairing Diagon Alley.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	113. Finding Out the Truth

Chapter 112: Finding Out the Truth

 **September 1980**

Octavia was currently sitting on the dining room table at Potter Manor, staring at the message on the wall. No one was able to remove it yet and it gave James and Lily chills every time they walked past the room, James hated being here, in the same house that he grew up in with his parents and having now lost both of them, his father having been killed in this exact house well it wasn't the best feeling for James but with the protective wards surrounding Potter Manor it was the safest place for them.

There was a sour look on her face as she stared at it, she wanted to remove it, make it somewhat easier for James and Lily to live here and raise Harry.

It was at the end of July that Lily had gone into labour, being a mere two days late and she was incredibly frustrated, Andromeda had told her that she will go into labour when she was ready and Lily's response was 'isn't there some potion you can give me?'. Her comment caused everyone to start laughing, easing their minds in such a dark time.

Octavia didn't know how Lily felt since she went into labour a month early and Lilith was two weeks early so neither of them knew how it felt to be overdue but when Harry graced the world the group of friends were once again smitten by the baby in the group.

Octavia had even turned looked at Sirius with wide eyes and he instantly knew what she wanted, 'no way in hell Snow,' he responded before turning around and leaving the room. The others thought it was hilarious, watching the couple and taking a bets on how long until Sirius caved like he always did with Octavia but in the end it was Octavia that caved.

It was back in August that there was the first Order member death, up until then no one had died only been badly injured. Yes friends and family members of Order members had been hurt for a way of drawing Order members out. Robert Hopkins was the first Order member to die, he was in the same year as Octavia at Hogwarts but the two didn't get along since Robert was convinced that she and Sirius were spies on this side but it didn't mean that the death didn't shock her.

Despite all of Octavia's near death experiences, it was with the first Order member funeral that Octavia dropped her want for another child.

"What's on your mind baby?" Sirius' voice broke through Octavia's thoughts and she let out a groan before laying back down on the table.

"A baby you refuse to give me," she responded with a slight smirk on her face causing Sirius to laugh.

"Come on, we have enough concerns regarding Willa, do you really want to throw another one into the mix?" Sirius questioned.

Octavia shook her head before sitting up once again, "this message, I've tried everything to remove it and nothing is working. It must have been done with dark magic but obviously more advanced than the dark magic we were shown before we left home." She spoke, letting him in on what was bothering her.

Sirius walked over and sat beside her on the table, "Regulus has tried on multiple occasions."

"I still can't believe he was there that night, what would have happened had we not moved out, had we continued to live here?" Octavia spoke.

It wasn't long after Harry was born that Regulus finally told them that he was there the night Fleamont died, not being able to keep the secret from them anymore. Sirius and Octavia were shocked, James was furious until he found out which Death Eater it was that killed his father and since he has been out for blood.

"Don't think like that, Regulus even stated he was concerned about what would happen if he came across us, stated he wouldn't be able to kill us." Sirius responded, turning to face her. He placed a hand on her neck. "Regulus is here, with us on this side and it's something you've always wanted. There is most likely plenty of things he's done in the small amount of time he was a Death Eater and he will slowly over time tell us what he had to do."

Octavia pulled away and jumped off the table walking over and standing in front of the wall, there was a cold feeling coming from the message and she knew she was the only one that could feel it and she's only felt it once before and that was her first mission back when she found that dead child and she assumed it was a part of her Dreamer abilities.

She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the wall, there was only one thing she hasn't tried previously. " _Bombarda Maxima,"_ she spoke and the wall blew up, a loud noise ringing through the house.

"Merlin's pants Snow!" Sirius yelled and it was moments later that Remus came running into the room to see what the noise was.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here?" Remus yelled and they both looked at where Octavia was standing, staring at the newly removed wall from the house.

"The message is gone," she responded softly.

Remus and Sirius shared a looked as Octavia left the room, leaving through the newly renovated wall.

Sirius rubbed a hand up and down his face, sneaking a look at Remus before letting out a sigh, "you go tell the other's that everything is fine, Snow just thought it would be fun to renovate a house that isn't hers."

He left through the gap in room, hoping to catch up with Octavia and make sure she was okay because she wasn't known to go blowing up walls, her temper didn't work that way, it was his that did.

He managed to catch up to her, finding her laying down in the grass outside. He walked over and sat down beside her, both of them staying silent.

"If you did that at home, I believe it would be the last straw for Mrs Bakersfield." Sirius joked.

Octavia turned her head and looked up at him, giving him a small smile as she held in her laugh. "I don't know what you are on about," she responded softly, sitting up straight. "I think I worked out what was used to burn the message into the wall."

"What's that Snow?" Sirius questioned.

She took a deep breath, "remember my first mission for the Order and I mentioned how I felt something dark and cold mere moments before we came across the dead child? I got the same feeling with that message, what if I can detect the killing curse? It is essentially a charm, I will never consider to cast it wandlessly but there is a possibility."

Sirius gave her a look before letting out a laugh, "I really did marry a freak, didn't I?" he joked and a large smile appeared on Octavia's face.

"You regretting the wedding you planned already?" she teased.

Sirius held up his hand, showing only a small gap between his thumb and index finger. "Only a little," he responded, pleased when she laughed.

"I don't like this idea of being able to feel death, knowing it's coming before I see it or find it." Octavia spoke, all signs of previous laughter and happiness disappeared as she lowered her head and stared at her hands resting in her lap.

Sirius reached over and placed a hand on hers, softly running his thumb over her rings, the same ones that gave him immense pleasure in seeing on her hand indicating that she was his and his only. He knew he was being territorial over her but he had always been this way and she accepted him for who he was whole heartedly, extremely territorial over what was his and his shocking temper.

"I know baby," Sirius murmured as he lifted their joined hands to his lips, softly kissing her knuckles. "But as always, you will get through it. You are tough and a fighter, you will take it in stride like you do everything else."

"I blew up the wall," Octavia spoke and Sirius barked out a laugh.

"Yes you did, it was bloody brilliant but I am unsure as to how Prongs and Lily will take it though."

Octavia didn't say anything in response she just stood up and brushed off the loose grass from her clothes, frowning when she caught sight of a stain on them, hating that old habits were hard to get rid of.

Sirius caught the frown but didn't comment, he knew exactly what was bothering her but she was getting better at not voicing her displeasure of dirt, grease and grass stains that came from her parents. She didn't get annoyed at Willa for being a child, for running around having fun while she got herself covered in dirt and mud and Sirius was proud of her for keeping quiet. He understood that some values were ingrained further in her than they were in him because of the abuse she received from her parents as well as the summer she spent at the etiquette school.

Octavia turned around with the idea of heading inside to apologise to James, to apologise for the noise and potentially waking Harry up and for the lack of wall within the dining room but instead she stopped at the sight of him leaning against the outside wall watching the two of them with an amused expression on his face.

"So he planned the whole wedding, surprised you and everything and now, only a mere five months later he is already wanting to run for the hills." James spoke, pushing himself off the wall. "How bad are you in bed?" he grinned at the couple.

"You're just jealous Prongs, I remember the first few months after Willa was born and I clearly remembering threatening to bite Pads' hands off every time he even suggested having sex." Octavia responded calmly as she walked towards him, patting him on the shoulder and laughing as an annoyed look appeared on his face.

It was when Octavia was back inside, that she heard James call out behind her, "You blew up a wall in my house Snow!"

She entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table flashing her friends a smile, she knew if James was making jokes about her sex life with Sirius then he wasn't mad about the destroyed wall.

"Heard you were redecorating," Lily mused while Lilith laughed.

"Yep, the dining room was looking a little bland with four walls and I thought opening it up to the living room would do wondrous things in terms of spacious feels." Octavia responded as she reached for the glass of pumpkin juice she left sitting on the table, it was then she noticed that both Willa and Emerson weren't in the room any longer. "Where's Willa?" she quickly questioned, she trusted her friends, she truly did but she was terrified something was going to happen to Willa and the more she thought about things the more she thought about how there may be a traitor amongst the Order.

"The girls were startled by the noise of you blowing the wall up, so Moony took them upstairs to keep them entertained with some of the toys." Lilith explained.

Octavia felt relieved and she tried not to show it, she knew she couldn't always be constantly on everyone's case about her own daughters were a bouts, she had been relying more and more on Regulus to babysit because she knew he wouldn't leave the house with her without letting her and Sirius know and the house was extremely protected.

She trusted Andromeda and Ted, trusted them with her life but she was paranoid when it came to Willa and Sirius understood feeling the same concern because she was such an unknown in their world, the first of her kind.

Octavia had the idea of standing up and heading upstairs, checking on Willa herself but she felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders keeping her down in her seat.

"She will be fine," Sirius whispered in her ear before softly pressing his lips in her hair, taking his previous seat beside her.

"So if Snow has finished redecorating _my_ house, how about we continue on with our previous discussion before she got fed up and left." James teased but Octavia just flashed him a smile.

It was at that point that Remus returned to the kitchen, "the girls are asleep, down for their afternoon nap." He spoke, holding up another baby monitor and Octavia nodded, giving him a small smile of thanks.

"We were talking about how you only chose one Godparent, a Godfather and no Godmother," Octavia responded, bringing the conversation back round to when she had previously left.

It wasn't that she wasn't interested in the topic of Harry's Godparents, she was especially considering Sirius was the Godfather and potentially one day she will raise him along with Willa if her dreams came true but she left so she could calm down.

She wanted to warm them, convince them to pick a Godmother as well because Octavia had seen a potential future and in that potential future, both James and Lily die and Remus claims that Sirius betrayed them. If Sirius betrayed them and James and Lily were dead, who got Harry?

"James respects my decision Snow, my parents didn't name Godparents for me, it's unusual for me to name Godparents and as such I can't chose between Dorcas and Mary, I honestly don't know how you all did it. I _hate_ thinking about the possibility that I will die and be unable to raise my child." Lily spoke.

It was at this point that Octavia excused herself previously, she didn't want to think of Harry being all alone being raised by strangers that weren't who she considered family, especially when she had seen on a number of occasions that both her and Remus were the only ones who make it through the war.

"Then don't pick a Godmother, write a Will, leave Harry to people you trust the most. We are in a war and can die or do you not remember what happened to Hopkins last month? Pads and I have done it, even listing Dromeda in case none of us make it out so Willa is still with family." Octavia snapped.

"Snow," Sirius warned.

Octavia didn't say anything, just glared at him before she turned and once again stormed out of the room.

Harry had taken that moment to wake up screaming and Lily left the room to check on him, leaving the four of them alone since Peter and Dorcas hadn't been able to make it since they were both working.

"Guess we know who dies then," James muttered, taking a sip of his juice before deciding that Fire Whiskey is a better option.

"Mate, she is terrified of that possible future and is doing everything she can to make sure you don't die as well as making sure Harry stays with family just in case." Sirius spoke up.

"Then what happens to you huh? What happens to you for her to be so worried about where Harry ends up, to harass my wife into picking someone to watch over Harry in the event of our death? A death she's seen." James responded, placing his hands on the kitchen counter.

Sirius looked away from James, he knew exactly what Octavia had seen in regards to his own future and he was dead set on that not happening, dead set on the fact that he won't betray his friends and as such, James and Lily won't die.

"It's not just Prongs and Lily that die is it?" Remus spoke up, noticing Sirius' action.

Sirius didn't want to tell them the truth so instead he stayed silent, everyone else fell silent and it wasn't long until James placed a glass of Fire Whiskey in front of everyone.

"No one tell Lily, I will work on the Godmother and Will thing." James spoke and they all nodded.

Sirius downed the Fire Whiskey in one go before he stood up and left in search of Octavia once more, he had to let her know that they worked it out, her persistence and them making sure Harry was left in good hands gave them the information they needed, the same information she had tried hard to make sure they never found out.

.oOo.

Octavia made her way through Hogwarts, ignoring the stares she received from the students as she made her way towards Dumbledore's office. She didn't care that she was breaking his rules, she wanted to tell him what she knew of the fate that was James and Lily Potter's future in hopes that she could change it, change everything that she had seen and have the future she wanted where her whole family lives.

She forced the gargoyle statue to open and she opened Dumbledore's office door without even knocking, she wasn't even phased by the look McGonagall had given her at the interruption.

"Minerva, we can continue this tomorrow. I believe something else now requires my full attention." Dumbledore spoke and it wasn't long until McGonagall was gone, leaving the two of them alone.

Octavia walked over and took a seat where McGonagall was previously seated, she took a deep breath before opening her mouth to speak. "I had a dream third year that showed me that James, Lily and Peter don't make it out of this war. They found out about the dream, a slip from Sirius but we refused to tell them who, just stated that not all of us makes it out alive. Today they found out that James and Lily won't survive because I kept harassing them about naming both a Godmother and a Godfather."

Dumbledore stayed silent as he took in what Octavia had just told him, "you're leaving the part about Sirius out of this, I know he was named Godfather." Octavia looked away, hoping to hide her shock and prevent from answering his unspoken question. "The conversations taking place before and after the meetings aren't an illusion to me, I do hear of them."

"I want my family to live," Octavia responded instead.

Dumbledore nodded and he began telling her of the Prophecy he had heard early in the year, a mere six months ago.

"Wait, I'm sorry can you repeat that?" Octavia spoke, a little unsure about what she had just heard.

"You heard me correctly Octavia, I said another Prophecy has been made and this one stipulates Voldemort's downfall will be born at the end of July." Dumbledore responded.

"So Willa? Because she's my daughter, the first of her kind and the child of a Dreamer? Why can't I take her place instead, she's only two?" Octavia questioned, anger filling her at the potential future her daughter may now have.

"No, I believe the Prophecy may refer to another child, it was foretold a few months ago and at the time I was unsure as to if anyone else knew about it but now I want to start taking precautions. Your location is already very well protected in case Voldemort just assumes it is Willa."

"So if not Willa then who? I can only think of Harry and Neville," Octavia's eyes went wide.

Frank and Alice Longbottom were also due to have a child, it allowed the two girls who had barely spoken before bond over sharing pregnancy stories. Alice had gone into labour days before Lily, giving Frank a son, someone to inherit the Longbottom legacy one day.

"No, it can't be them, they're only two months. There is no way they can be the ones to bring down Voldemort. This war will be going on for years if that's the case." Octavia spoke, not giving Dumbledore the chance to speak.

"We do not know that Octavia," Dumbledore spoke, holding a hand up to prevent her from continuing along. "Prophecies are always misinterpreted for something they do not necessarily mean from the beginning. Yours was easy because you are the Dreamer this time around, there isn't another one and there are never more than one Dreamer at a time. This could mean anyone, it may not necessarily be as we see it. There may be someone else out there with the power to take him down, we have to see how things play out." Dumbledore spoke, explaining his own theories.

Octavia's brow furrowed, "A Wandless you mean, could there be a Wandless existing at this point in time?" she questioned, there was a part of her hoping there was, wondering how the two would be able to work with each other and learn from each other.

"I haven't heard anything but I have spoken to both the Potters and Longbottoms about this and they are taking precautions. For now, I need you to improve the warding around Potter Manor, Voldemort knows where the house is located."

Octavia now realised why Dumbledore was telling her this, because she had seen proof that they may potentially die and he wanted her to help protect them.

"Why me and not Fabian or Gideon?" she questioned, she didn't believe her ability in placing wards were better than one of the highly skilled Aurors.

"You have surpassed them in terms of warding, they find the ones you place to be excellent. I believe they even made a comment about how quickly you can pull them down. I believe that is your gift at Charms coming into play."

"That's why you're telling me about this, because you two believe that it will be Harry and James and Lily will lose their lives as a result. You want me to do everything I can to protect one of my best friends and his family, _my_ family."

Octavia responded, doing her best to keep her composer. Growing up, ever since third year she worried about what the cause was for James and Lily to die and now she believed it to be at the hands of Voldemort and she wanted that to change, she couldn't let them die because of him.

"Voldemort was once a student of mine, went by a different name back then though. I have many theories about why he is doing what he is but I believe with Harry being a half blood just like he is, I think Tom will think that Harry will be his downfall because they are the same, a Pureblood parent dirtying their blood by mixing it with someone below them in regards to Pureblood society."

"He surrounds himself with Purebloods with hopes that they will accept him, realise he is also a Pureblood, why would he even consider that a half blood would be his downfall?"

"It is just a theory, it is all theories. Do what you can with the wards if you wish to protect your family." Dumbledore spoke, dismissing Octavia.

.oOo.

It was when Sirius was returning from the woods in his Padfoot form that he finally came across Octavia, he was in the woods hoping she had taken off in there to calm down but he couldn't find her he was at a loss of where she had gone.

He shifted back into his human self and walked towards her, worrying when he noticed the tear stained cheeks as he stepped in beside her. He knew what she was doing, she was checking the wards surrounding Potter Manor. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Octavia stayed silent as she flicked through the wards surrounding the property, checking to see which ones were in place and which ones she could place on top of what was present. She knew Sirius wanted her to speak, to tell him what was bothering her and why she had been crying but she couldn't.

She knew there was a reason as to why James and Lily hadn't told them about the Prophecy and for now she couldn't bring herself to tell him about it.

The two of them stood in silence.

Sirius was unsure as to what would happen if he questioned her about what was on her mind.

While Octavia couldn't bring herself to willingly tell him what was on her mind.

Sirius took a deep breath and stepped around so he was standing in front of Octavia, he grabbed her hands to stop her from checking the wards, they were just frustrating her.

"Where did you go baby?"

"I think I know how Prongs and Lily get killed," Octavia spoke softly.

Sirius wrapped his arms around her and held her close, pressing his lips into her hair. They both stayed silent for a few moments, the potential death of their friends was something of a sore topic between them and Octavia hated talking about it all.

"We'll change it, we're changing the future and all of our friends will be there and we won't lose our family. We're doing so much, so much to make sure everyone makes it out alive. Please don't focus on the bad, we need to focus on the good, like Willa, Emerson and Harry."

"Or a new baby," she responded, pulling away and grinning at him.

"We've had this conversation before baby, we aren't having another child until after Voldemort is taken down."

Octavia nodded and pulled away completely, "I know of a couple of other wards that can be placed around the Manor, I will be in soon."

Sirius didn't say anything, just placed a hand on her check and softly kissed her cheek before heading inside.

.oOo.

"I went to go see Dumbledore," Octavia spoke.

It was later that night and Octavia was climbing into bed beside Sirius after checking on Willa who had woken up because of a bad dream.

Octavia was terrified that she had passed on her own ability to see the future to Willa but it was when Willa spoke of the scary clowns that Octavia relaxed, she knew her daughter was terrified of clowns, didn't understand why but knew none the less.

Sirius opened his eyes and looked at her but didn't say anything, waited for her to continue.

"I went to him to tell him about the dream I had letting us believe that we lose our family, he gathered that something happens to you but I refused to tell him, the last thing we need is Dumbledore to think you may be a traitor. It ended with Dumbledore telling me of a Prophecy that he heard not long ago."

"So he told you how he believes it may be Neville or Harry?" Sirius spoke.

It took Octavia a second but then she realised, he knew about the Prophecy and hadn't told her. "You knew!" she screech before getting off the bed and leaving the room.

"Snow," Sirius called out as he followed her.

"You fucking knew! You kept this from me!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"What the hell are you two on about?" Regulus questioned, interrupting them as he opened his bedroom door, having heard their yelling in his own room.

"Not now," they both snapped in response.

Regulus held his hands up and shut the door, letting the two of them go at it.

"I knew what would have happened when I told you, you would have gone into this flurry about protecting them, making sure that Voldemort didn't go after Harry and potentially kill them." Sirius spoke once Regulus disappeared, hoping to calm Octavia down because the last thing they needed was for her to lose control with Willa in the house.

"I thought we had no secrets, we both agreed on no more secrets and look at what you did! You kept something big from me!" Octavia yelled before she stormed down the stairs.

Sirius followed after Octavia, becoming increasingly more worried as he noticed her clench her fists. He walked over and gripped her arm, Apparating the two of them away.

"What was that for?" she snapped, anger blazing in her eyes.

Sirius took a step back from Octavia and held his hands up, "lose control here, don't lose control in our house where our daughter is asleep."

Octavia glared at him before turning her back on him, it didn't take long for her to throw a gust wind at a tree causing it snap and fall over.

Sirius transformed into Padfoot and curled up on the ground, waiting until she calmed down.

Octavia didn't know how long she stood there, sending out bursts of magic towards the trees in attempts to take out her anger on something other than her loved ones.

But it was when she no longer felt angry, instead she felt drained that she collapsed to her knees on the ground and it wasn't long until she saw a head belonging to a black dog nudge its way on to her lap.

She placed a hand on his head and softly petted him, "thank you," she whispered and the dog let out a whine before shifting back.

"I feared how you would react to the news, I feared how you would put all your focus on protecting them and not helping take down Voldemort. I made Prongs promise me that he wouldn't tell you." Sirius spoke as he wrapped an arm around her.

Octavia leaned her head in against him, burying her face against his chest as the tears built up. Now that all her anger was gone all she felt was fear and terror.

"I know baby, I don't want to lose them either but we need to focus on taking down Voldemort. Promise me you won't lose sight of our objective." Sirius spoke.

"I promise," Octavia mumbled against his chest and the two of them sat like that in the middle of the woods while Octavia calmed down.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and the Guest reviewer for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **For the Guest who left the review about Sirius and Octavia having a son, this chapter completely shuts that idea down. Aside from the war they have their own concerns regarding Willa and how she will be different, they don't want to worry about two children and the unknown that surrounds them.**


	114. A Glimpse into the Past

Chapter 113: A Glimpse into the Past

 **September 1980**

Octavia stood there outside Potter Manor while she stared at the invisible wards surrounding the property, she was trying to figure out what else she could place with hopes of protecting her friends, hoping she wouldn't lose the people she loved dearest and considered family.

But it was frustrating her and she was coming up empty, she knew she had to apologise to James and Lily. Lily, for getting on her case about a lack of Godmother and James, for reacting the way she did and allowing him to work out that the two of them don't make it through the war according to the visions, the one vision she had many years ago indicating not everyone lives.

She took a deep breath before stepping forwards to the kitchen doors where she could see the couple through the windows where they were attempting to feed baby Harry.

A smile appeared on her face, remembering the struggle she had at one point with Willa when it came to feeding time but it was the inner feeling that she couldn't explain, the same feeling she got when Harry was first born, the same feeling that told her she wanted another baby, another child with Sirius but she knew that they had to wait because they had enough fears with Willa.

"Snow," James greeted her coolly when she entered the kitchen.

She gave him a small smile before turning and looking at Lily, "I wanted to apologise, my actions last week in regards to your choice in no Godmother, in only having Pads listed as the person to raise Harry should something happen to either of you is your choice and I shouldn't have a say in how to raise your son."

"Apology accepted but I understand where your fear is coming from, I worry every day for the safety of our friends, I worry for all of their lives and what will happen to Willa, Emerson, Neville and Courtney should anything happen to any of you." Lily responded, giving Octavia a smile.

Courtney happened to be the eight year old daughter that Benjy shared with his wife, most of the Order were unaware that he had a daughter, keeping her secret with hopes of protecting her existence and not allowing the Death Eaters to capture in hopes of getting to him. But Octavia had overheard a conversation that Benjy had with another Order member, she was unsure as to how Lily found out, it was shock to discover that the other witch knew of the secret child.

"I will keep my mouth shut in regards to your choices with raising Harry, you and Prongs are completely different to what Pads and I are, we will choose to raise our children completely different and I respect that, I respect our differences but in saying that, I also now know about the Prophecy and I am doing everything I can to make sure nothing happens to you, any of you." Octavia spoke, this time her gaze shifting to James and he gave her a slight nod.

"It's appreciated."

Octavia gave them both a smile, before looking at James. "Can we talk?"

"Of course, let's go into our newly renovated dining room," James teased before leading her out of the kitchen.

"Are you mad at me?" Octavia questioned once the two of them were in the dining room.

She looked around and took in the differences a week has made, now that the rumble was cleaned up the missing wall actually opened the space up and it seemed as though Lily had redone the paint job to make the newly joined rooms match a bit more.

James looked over at Octavia, "mad? Never, I could never be mad at you guys, even after what Padfoot did with Snape I wasn't mad as such, he almost handed Moony his biggest mistake. I am terrified though."

A frown appeared on Octavia's face, only for a spilt second. "I never wanted you to know, I couldn't believe it myself that you wouldn't make it through the war."

"Don't you mean Lily and I? It's why you were so dead set on her naming a Godmother, you also have reason to believe something happens to Padfoot." Octavia tilted her head but didn't say anything. "We're changing the future, we've already heard how you once believed that Lilith and Moony's daughter was meant to be named Sutton and now she is named Emerson."

"I know of the Prophecy, Harry is born at the end of July, what if Voldemort hears word of the Prophecy and assumes it is Harry. This could be how you and Lily die." Octavia pointed out.

"Or we could die in some car crash," James shrugged. "The Prophecy could reference to Neville, or Willa."

"Or someone else?" Octavia questioned.

"Unlikely, did Dumbledore tell you the whole Prophecy or just an overview."

"Overview."

"It stated the child of the parents who have defied Voldemort thrice and born as the seventh month dies. Not many people are actively fighting against Voldemort, one would think that Voldemort would automatically think of you. How many times have you come across Voldemort, defied him and lived to tell the tale." James spoke, pointing out one possibility.

"Three but it's not possible, you said born as the seventh month dies. Willa is born in the first half of July, she won't be considered." Octavia spoke, taking a seat at the table and placing her face in her hands.

James didn't say anything as he walked over and took a seat beside her, placed a hand on her back.

"Would you risk your life to save Willa, would you face death knowing she will get to live?" James questioned.

Octavia lifted her head and looked at him, tears building in her eyes. "Of course, wouldn't even question it." She responded.

James nodded, "if I die protecting Harry then that's all that matters, if he grows up happy and loved because of my sacrifice then that's all that matters. But as I've said already, we are trying to change the future and I know you Snow, so incredibly well and I know you will try so incredibly hard to make sure Lily and I survive, that what you've seen doesn't come to be."

Octavia sat up straight, putting on her mask and removing all traces that she was on the verge of tears.

"Snow I love you and your dragon Patronus, despite it not showing itself very often because you show Padfoot more, is very fitting of you. You will do everything to save your loved ones even at the risk of your own safety, don't get yourself killed with trying to save us. We will continue to move along like we are, planning to take down Voldemort with hopes that he hasn't heard the Prophecy, that he has no idea that it may be Harry or Neville and that he doesn't come looking for us. We make it so a possible future you've seen doesn't come to be."

"I don't show the dragon because I don't want everyone to know I have two Patronus', I don't know what it means having two and until I find out, it stays hidden." Octavia responded.

"Everything will be alright Snow," James spoke quietly, placing his hands over hers.

"I hope so," she responded, just as quietly as she lowered her gaze.

.oOo.

 _Octavia was confused as she stood there, she stared up at a house, something would resemble the family homes she was used to growing up in but this one was different, it was situated up on a hill away from the town. Was this purely a Muggle neighbourhood?_

 _She was used to the family homes of families her family associated with, except for the Black's, to be built in the middle of nowhere, being miles from the closest Muggle and even Potter and Longbottom Manor followed suit with that tradition, to an extent anyway._

 _It was when she caught sight of someone making strides across the lawn, looking for something in particular and she knew the man looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't quite pick it, couldn't pick who this person resembled._

 _"This is different," Florence spoke._

 _Octavia turned her head and looked at the First Dreamer beside her, wondering what she was on about. To her this felt like every other future moment dream she's had in the past, the only thing bothering her was trying to put a name to the face._

 _"What do you mean?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at Florence before putting her gaze back in front of her, where the stranger was standing._

 _"I mean this isn't the future," she stated calmly._

 _Octavia's head snapped around and stared at Florence, startled by what was said, she didn't have the ability to see the past, only the future, that was the point of being what she was, a Dreamer, they had the ability to see only the future, or at least that is what she believed._

 _"That's not possible," Octavia pointed out._

 _"Nonsense, I myself was able to see the past. Mind you it was when I was much older and had a past to see, Dreamers before you and succeeding myself were also able to see the past but no one has been able to in centuries, not since they were discovered and first written and researched." Florence explained and Octavia nodded._

 _If Dreamers in the past had seen the past, what other abilities had stayed dormant among them that she couldn't learn about in the books?_

 _"So what are we seeing?" Octavia questioned._

 _"Let's follow and have a look for ourselves." Florence responded._

 _Octavia nodded before following in behind Florence, despite knowing she couldn't get hurt she had this creepy feeling following the stranger into the house, almost like a part of her secretly knew what was going to happen and she didn't want to witness it._

.oOo.

Octavia shot up in her bed and woke up, instantly making a run for the toilet to throw up, feeling insanely nauseous over what she had seen in her dream.

"Snow?" Sirius questioned with a yawn, sleep lacing his voice as he spoke.

Octavia turned her head, having rested her face against the cool tiles of the bathroom floor after her stomach stopped turning on her with hopes that the cool feeling with help settle her mind as well.

"You know I can see the past now," she mumbled, carefully sitting up when she saw the confusion on his face. "My dream, wasn't of the future, wasn't of this war, wasn't giving me an insight as to if our friends live or die and it wasn't giving me insight into Willa's life as she grows up. I saw the past, an event that has already happened and I cannot change it."

Sirius didn't say anything as he walked over and took a seat across from her on the floor, resting his back against the shower.

"This is different."

Octavia nodded, "I don't know what to do with this information, I do not know how it can help us in this war." She spoke softly.

"So it's to do with Voldemort."

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," she repeated, hearing the same words she heard in her dream. She never knew Voldemort's real name, Dumbledore had never told her and obviously the Death Eaters didn't know because they had never said anything to make her believe otherwise.

"So the monster has a name, who knew." Sirius responded and Octavia laughed.

"Tell me what to do Pads, what do I do with this information?" she questioned.

A frown appeared on Sirius' face, he hated seeing her like this, like she was lost and confused. "Tell me what you saw, tell me everything."

Octavia nodded, before making herself comfortable on the bathroom floor and reciting everything she saw in the dream.

Sirius scrubbed a hand up and down his face when she finished. "So, Voldemort is technically a Gaunt, a family we believed to have died out in 1943, a family our great grandparents were close with until they decided it wasn't worth it because of the attention the Gaunt family were attracting from the Ministry with the views on Muggles."

"He's also an heir of Slytherin," Octavia threw out and Sirius let out a breath.

"Yes, a Gaunt and a Slytherin. I believe that is a terrific combination," Sirius muttered darkly.

Octavia banged her head back against the tiles, annoyed that he wasn't really helping.

"Careful love, I quite like that tile colour." Sirius mocked.

"You aren't helping," she snapped, letting out a growl in response and Sirius laughed.

He shifted closer to her, taking her hands in his and brushing his lips against her knuckles. "What more can I say? It's not like we can go and talk to his family, find out what they know, remember we learnt this when we were younger. As far as the families are concerned, all worthy family members belonging to the Gaunt family are dead."

"He took a ring and a locket, Reg said he took a locket, do you think the ring is also a Horcrux?" Octavia questioned, a dark look appearing on her husband's face.

"No, it's bad enough he had one. Let's hope that is all he had." Sirius quickly responded.

A knock on the bathroom door interrupted them and they both looked over to find Regulus standing there with Willa in his arms and he looked quite disgruntled at the sight of her, it appeared as though she had thrown up and he couldn't bring himself to clean her up.

"Oh baby," Octavia spoke as she stood up, walking over and grabbing Willa to wash her face off.

"She came and woke me up, saying she wasn't feeling well," Regulus explained.

Sirius nodded before scrunching his face up, "think you need a shower brother," he commented and when Regulus looked down at his shirt he noticed some vomit on there.

"Just great," Regulus muttered to himself as he turned and left the small bathroom.

"We should talk to Dumbledore," Octavia spoke, pulling Sirius' attention back to her.

"Again, I don't know what good the memory will tell you. I don't want to brush this off and anger you baby but it's the past, it's nothing we can change and we can't speak to any of the Gaunt family members. Dumbledore must already know some information about Voldemort, he was obviously a teenager at one point and you have his name, he comes from what was at one point a Noble Pureblood family so he would have had his name down at Hogwarts."

"Fine, _I_ will go to Dumbledore," she rephrased and Sirius decided to stay silent.

Octavia gave Willa a smile as she washed the last of the vomit out of her hair, wondering what could have caused the young child to throw up like she did.

Sirius walked over and softly kissed Octavia's temple, "whatever will give you peace of mind baby." He spoke into her ear, brushing the wet curls of their daughter's hair behind her ear, earning a giggle from her.

"Must have been a once off thing if she is laughing," Octavia spoke with a smile, glad to see a good sign.

"Come on baby, let's get some breakfast." Sirius spoke, as he turned and left the room.

Octavia nodded, picking Willa up and walking out of the room with her resting against her hip. She knew that food would be the last thing on Willa's mind if she threw up, especially if her stomach was still turning. Even Octavia was worried how her stomach would be with food but she also knew Sirius wouldn't leave her alone until she ate something.

.oOo.

Octavia sat there at the top of the Quidditch Pitch, she felt like it had been way too long since she was last on a broom, last played Quidditch and the last time she felt like she had no concerns.

She knew it was going to happen, turning up with no notice at Hogwarts requesting to see Dumbledore but she was fine to wait until he was free.

She figured one of the elves would tell her when she was ready, or a ghost but when she heard footsteps behind her she turned and found Dumbledore himself heading her way.

"I feel like I am back at Hogwarts about to be in trouble for skipping class," Octavia mused.

Dumbledore's lips tugged at the corner as he took a seat beside her in the stands, "You did have a knack for causing mayhem as a student," he responded and Octavia flashed him a smile.

"Never," she responded sweetly.

"Why are you here today?" Dumbledore questioned.

"I had a dream last night," she looked over at him. "Did you know Dreamers could also see into the past?" she questioned and by the look on his face she knew the answer to be no. "Apparently it can happen but hasn't for centuries."

"Interesting," Dumbledore commented.

Octavia had told him all about Florence and they were both still unsure as to how true it was, how real Florence was but for now she held no danger. Florence couldn't hurt Octavia if she tried and Octavia was unsure as to if Florence could alter the moments she saw.

Octavia launched into the story about what she had seen, the conversation taking place between Voldemort and Morfin, his maternal uncle before Voldemort went and killed what was remaining of his paternal family.

"I knew about the conversation taking place between Morfin and Voldemort. I was curious about the boy known as Tom Riddle when he was enrolled at Hogwarts, I was the one to tell him of his magical side but there was something different about him. I thought maybe once he was enrolled at a magical school and around people like him then maybe he would turn out differently like others have previously but I was wrong and I wish I had done something differently back then." Dumbledore spoke and Octavia nodded in response, staying silent for a moment.

"So you've always known who Voldemort is or was?" she finally questioned.

Dumbledore gave a slight head nod, "Indeed but it hasn't been relevant for anyone who didn't already know, what you learnt, that he is a descendant of both the Gaunt and Slytherin family isn't relevant. Yes he may be doing what he is doing because he believes it is what his ancestors want but for now it has no help with us taking down Voldemort."

"Not even if he created more than one Horcrux?" she retorted.

"We have to have hope that the elf Regulus ordered has managed to destroy the Horcrux and hope it is the only one allowing us to take down Voldemort."

"You mean for Harry to take down Voldemort," Octavia snapped as she stood up and walked towards the railing.

Octavia wasn't at all surprised that Dumbledore didn't respond, she has stated how she finds this latest Prophecy to be ridiculous. She doesn't understand how a baby can take down Voldemort and she doesn't want to think about how this war will go on forever.

Octavia only stood there for a couple of moments before she got fed up with the silence and left, heading home to where her family was, the only place that allowed her to truly forget the horrors her world was in.

.oOo.

Octavia entered the living room and found Sirius in his Padfoot form, carefully pouncing at the giggling two year old and she couldn't help but smile at the sight.

It was the moments like these that she wanted to protect, she wanted to take down Voldemort with hopes of having more of these moments with no lingering fear in the back of her mind but she was terrified that Voldemort has made more than one Horcrux and render him invincible until they were all destroyed and she was still unaware as to if Kreacher had destroyed the first one.

It only took seconds for Octavia to forget her concerns and transform into Snow, joining in on the fun with Sirius and Willa.

.oOo.

Regulus entered his room, a little shocked at the scene in front of him.

Ever since he moved into the house that Sirius and Octavia shared he was allowed his own space, his own room and as such he kept what little things he owned along the way in the room.

Sirius and Octavia never once invaded his privacy by going through his things, until now that is.

Octavia was currently going through the books he had placed in the small bookshelf here, the same ones he kept safe at Bridgette's flat once upon a time.

"Funny, I thought this was my room." He commented but she didn't even budge.

"I'm looking for your books on Horcruxs," she replied.

Regulus raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, he walked over and placed his hand on the bookshelf. "You must really suck at warding if you didn't find this one, I placed it in case Willa found her way into my room again, the book isn't exactly suited for children."

"Thank you," was all Octavia said as she grabbed the book from him.

She was grateful that Regulus was thoughtful enough to think of what would and wouldn't be suitable for Willa, despite him on a number of occasions claiming he only feeds her peanut butter sandwiches and apple juice.

"Did you ever come across anything that indicated what would happen if someone made more than one?" she questioned, having flicked through the book but not really wanting to read any of this, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know how they were made.

She knew it wasn't as simple as killing someone because Voldemort has killed heaps of people, as have many Death Eaters so if that was the case then those Death Eaters would have a Horcrux. Even she should technically have one if it was.

She knew there had to be something different about the process and as much as she was curious about it all, she didn't know if she wanted to know that type of magic because as days go by and she becomes more concerned with saving her loved ones instead of her sanity she slowly lets in more of the darkness that's always been there, the same darkness that comes with being a Carrow.

"No, not exactly. It states that although it is possible the person doing so may lose themselves completely, no longer have their humanity no longer feel 100% human. They are literally stretching their soul, the more they spilt it the less they have. Think of it this way O, Voldemort spilt his soul in half, keeping half for himself, while the other half went into a locket. If he made a second one then the remaining half of his soul would be spilt again."

Octavia nodded, still staring at the book in her hands. She became disgusted with what she was holding and handed it back to Regulus. "How?" she questioned softly, noticing how his body tensed at it, his hand freezing for a moment as he placed the book back on the shelf.

"That I couldn't find the exact details of. All I could find was the spell, nothing stating whether it was to be cast before or after the killing, if anything else has to be involved and whether or not the object you are using has to be within reach. I found the information I needed to be sure of what Voldemort had done, not how he did it."

Octavia placed her hands on her hips and took a couple of deep breaths, hoping to calm her stomach. The amount of times she's felt nauseas today, she would think she was pregnant and suffering from morning sickness again.

"You alright?"

"This piece of magic is utterly disgusting, to think that someone actually wanted to do this, is insane. I look back on the one person I killed, I hate that I did and I would never think of splitting my soul, having a reminder of that one event that I regret." Octavia spoke, disgust showing on her face.

She knew the moment she saw his eyes widen slightly, she knew her mistake. She ranted on for too long and had told him that she's killed someone.

She still had no idea if that person was dead or not but she didn't know how that person would be able to survive the fall.

"You killed someone?" he questioned, his own voice quiet with shock and she nodded. "When?"

"The train ride back to London at the end of your seventh year, I saw Death Eaters on the train and had to help. Said Death Eater was preventing me from getting to my cousin." Octavia explained, unsure as to why Regulus lowered his head, refusing to look at her.

"I was involved, I was overseeing the task for some potentials." Regulus spoke quietly and it was all he managed to get out before Octavia had him pinned against the wall with her magic.

"You!" she screeched, stepping closer to him. "You're the one to blame, why Anna was almost killed, why that poor girl was killed, why Chloe was hurt in the process, why I had to kill someone to protect Anna. It was all you!" she yelled at him.

"What's going on in here?" Bridgette questioned, entering the room and witnessing the scene in front of her.

"You know he's to blame, for Chloe getting hurt, Anna almost getting killed and having to move schools," Octavia spoke, venom dripping from her voice.

Bridgette nodded before walking over and placing a hand on Octavia's shoulder. "I know, I know what happened and what the mission was. He was beside himself O, he didn't want to do it and as much as I hate that I'm saying this considering your kindness to me in the last few months but I decided that two missing students were better than dozens dead or injured. I hoped the moment you received word of what happened to Anna you would fight looking for her. Something happened Christmas break seventh year and Reg changed, if he didn't go through with the mission he would have ended up dead. He hated that he was helping them kidnap Anna." Bridgette spoke.

Octavia just shook her hand off, keeping her gaze on Regulus. "You should have told me! I told you I would always love you, I would protect you. Why didn't you tell me of the mission!" she yelled at him, tears building up as she let Regulus fall to the ground.

"Because I didn't know what would happen if I did, I was the only one that knew of that mission prior to the train ride, the four potentials found out once on the train, I had to tell them. I didn't know what you are until the attack at Potter Manor, I didn't know how you could save me from being killed or tortured if the mission failed. I'm just lucky he didn't turn on me, I'm lucky that Death Eaters were already in the sky when you and the rest of the Order arrived. The other Death Eaters saved my ass by saying if someone had tipped them off sooner, they would have arrived sooner or taken Anna and that other girl off the train. I didn't know what could happen." Regulus responded.

Octavia didn't say anything, just left the room. She couldn't believe Regulus knew about the mission to kidnap Anna and he didn't even try to tell her, she now wondered how much Amycus knew and if he was keeping anything vital from her.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **I know I've already spoken to a couple of people about this but I would love to hear from all my readers as to what plot holes they found within the Harry Potter Series that always bothered them or even if they have any thoughts as to how young witches and wizards grew up. I know two things that always bothered was why Fred and George never noticed Peter Pettigrew on the Marauders Map or even how they learnt how to write and basic knowledge, were they home schooled, attended Muggle schools or was there actually schools for young witches and wizards?**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and YumiKnowsBest for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	115. Treacherous

Chapter 114: Treacherous

 **November 1980**

It took Sirius forever to find Octavia after she took off after finding out from Regulus that he was involved the near successful attempt in kidnapping Avianna, she was furious that he was involved, that it almost happened and that Avianna almost ended up dead.

Sirius managed to calm her down, convince her that Regulus was doing it to save his own skin like the Slytherin he was, self-preservation, it was what they were good at.

Octavia took in what he was saying and eventually followed him home but she didn't say anything to Regulus, she stayed quiet for a couple of days until Regulus cornered her, fed up with the silence.

"I can leave if you wish," he spoke, appearing beside her on the deck.

Octavia didn't say anything at first just looked down at the coffee cup in her hands, she let out a sigh, finally looking up at him. "Don't, I enjoy having you here and I meant it when I said you are safe here and I will always give you somewhere to stay. You are technically dead and can't exactly go anywhere else and it's not like you can take a Polyjuice Potion. You adore Willa and it means everything to Pads and I."

"She's family, just like you two." Regulus responded, "I'm trying to gain penance for my mistakes, for everything I did while believing what Voldemort was telling us, for what I did while I was trying to work out what he did and for what I did while I was trying to get away from his ruling without putting myself in danger. O, I didn't fake my death just to keep mother safe, I did it for you and Sirius as well. I may not have known why he hated you so much but what do you think would have happened had I disappeared, had he believed I switched sides?" Regulus spoke, pointing out something that Octavia has never considered until now.

She turned around and leaned against the railing, looking through the living room window and spotting Sirius and Willa running around, Willa was attempting to chase Sirius and he was easily letting her win, only to have her stomp her feet when she did having caught on to what was happening.

She smiled, the older Willa got the more moments she wanted to preserve, wanted to keep her daughter as innocent and carefree as she happened to be now but she feared what will happen as the war progresses. Willa was incredibly fond of James and Lily, how will she react when and if they disappear? She adored Regulus, what if Voldemort caught up with him? Killed him for being a traitor or if he found out about the stolen locket.

She not only wanted to save her loved ones and protect herself from the pain of losing them, she also didn't want her daughter to have to go through that pain at such a young age. Willa wouldn't even understand that they were dead, she would only understand that she couldn't see them anymore, that they weren't going to visit anymore and that they were gone. She was no longer able to go flying with James or listen to Remus read her books in the funny voices, no longer have Lily, Lilith and Marlene all spoil her with clothes just to take countless photos because they could.

And she feared how Willa would react to having Sirius gone, no longer having her father around, no longer able to chase him around the house whether it be as a human or Padfoot.

She feared the most for how her daughter would react to everything.

"O?" Regulus questioned, the silence going on for too long.

Octavia shook her head, pushing her fears aside knowing they will only weigh her down and put her at risk of losing a duel at some point and she looked back at Regulus.

"Voldemort would have come straight to Sirius and I because everyone knew of us to be friends at Hogwarts," Octavia spoke, answering Regulus' question.

"I did it to protect Willa, before I even knew her, before I knew you had a daughter. At the time, I just knew I was going to be an uncle." He quickly responded.

But it's been weeks since Octavia found out the truth about the train attack and just as long since Regulus confronted her.

She felt like she was in a routine, go out on missions for the Order, going home and spending time with Willa before crashing and repeating it the following day.

Octavia was becoming exhausted the longer it went on, she wanted a break from it all but she couldn't, not until Voldemort was gone.

Voldemort had recently began attacking the homes of Order family members in hopes of luring out the Order members but so far they were all safe, just mourning the loss of their family members.

Families like the McKinnon and Bones had all taken to living in their ancestral homes, knowing they were safe as most ancestral homes were safe locations with the other side not knowing where they are because of the way the locations are. It's spread by word of mouth and for centuries, both the McKinnon and Bones families have been on a side of light, not associating with the darker families and none of the members have switched sides.

Octavia heard a noise behind her and she spun around to find Sirius come up over the roof of the house, she gave him a small smile before looking back ahead of her.

"Everything alright baby?" he questioned, taking a seat beside her on the roof.

"Yesterday was Halloween, a holiday we normally celebrated at Hogwarts or the last two years we have with friends and family but this year, this year we partook in a Muggle tradition, we took Willa trick or treating."

"And Willa had a ball, she's been hyped up on sugar all day, even Regulus and Bridgette had fun dressing up and mixing with Muggles. What's the point?" Sirius questioned.

Octavia turned and looked at him, giving him a sad smile. "We live amongst Muggles and live like them, I feel like we're losing our heritage. I get why we chose to live here, why we continue to live here but some days, the quiet days when we are able to be at home with Willa and we don't use magic."

Sirius let out a laugh, "Snow we grew up in households that were cold and distant, your parents abused you mentally and physically. What heritage are you so afraid of to lose? We're away from our families and we don't want anything from them, the only reason we accept your share of the Carrow wealth is because of Willa, neither of us are working to make a living so we use their money to raise her, to keep it so we can continue to fight in this war _against_ them."

"We don't use magic Pads," she gritted through her teeth.

Sirius shifted closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "We knew what it would mean, living in this world and we wouldn't have done if we couldn't handle it. We don't know what will happen once the war is over, we may move back into the magical community, live in a big house with a large backyard that gives Willa the ability to fly with no concerns of being seen by someone who shouldn't."

Octavia stayed silent, she knew he was right. After the war they could reassess where they wanted to live, choose to continue to live here or move to the countryside and allow Willa to have the magical childhood she deserved.

"We grew up around magic, we had house elves and our parents used magic for everything they did. Are we doing the right thing by supressing that part of Willa, are we being bad parents?" she questioned and he visibly flinched

Sirius forced Octavia to look at him, "where are these fears coming from baby? Willa is loved and healthy, why are you thinking we are bad parents now all of a sudden?"

Octavia didn't respond, she stayed silent for a moment.

She knew where the fear was coming from but she couldn't bring herself to tell Sirius, not just yet, not until she had seen Andromeda and things were confirmed.

"Just a bad dream is all Pads, not a future, just a rather normal nightmare." She responded instead, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them.

She hated lying to him but she didn't want to tell him this, not until she knew for sure and especially after he spent so long convincing her it was best to wait until after the war before they tried for another child.

She couldn't tell him she thought she was pregnant once more.

Sirius wrapped his arms around her in a hug, "Willa is safe, happy, healthy and loved, what more could we possibly hope for her baby?" he whispered in her ear and she pressed her lips into his neck.

"I was being silly," she responded, laughing slightly.

"How about we act our age, forget all the problems that exist in the world and enjoy the fact that Regulus is currently reading Willa a bed time story so we can lay back and enjoy the stars above us." Sirius laid back on the roof and watched as Octavia hesitated.

She continued to sit there and look out onto the street where she could see the street, her thoughts clouding her mind.

"Snow?" he questioned softly.

Octavia didn't respond, just laid back and rested her head against his chest breathing his scent and closing her eyes.

"I love you Pads," she whispered and he kissed the top of her head.

"I love you too baby," he responded quietly and the two of them fell into silence watching the stars and the sky.

.oOo.

"How are you feeling?" Sirius questioned as he walked over and sat beside Octavia on the couch.

Octavia shifted the ice pack on her shoulder allowing her to turn and face him properly, Lily had gotten her and the rest of them onto a Muggle invention known as 'ice packs', it helped diffuse some of the pain that she had from attacks without having to take a Pain Potion, it wasn't as good as a Pain Potion but it would do in some cases like this particular one.

"I'm fine, I've been thrown into things as a wolf before but the Death Eaters knowing where we are going to be at all times has become ridiculous Padfoot, honestly if it keeps happening I'm going to stop going out. So far we've been fine but there is no way I'm going to risk Willa growing up without us," Octavia spoke as she leaned back and rested her head on the couch.

Sirius was shocked with what she said, she has been stating for years that she wanted to help with the war. "You're thinking we have a traitor?" he questioned.

"I do, we've had no new members since us, Regulus and Bridgette may help out from time to time with clean ups or duels when contacted but they don't sit in on meetings, they babysit for us on occasion so they never know what's going on within the Order."

"You've really thought about this?"

Octavia nodded, "either someone has been turned along the way or someone has been a spy from the start."

"But who though and if that's the case why haven't they given up our location or any of the Order locations, wouldn't that be the easiest way to take us out, ambush us in the middle of the night?"

"No idea, maybe Voldemort hasn't asked but as for our location, I've put a Blood Ward around the property Pads, only you, me and Amycus can tell people where we are, well Regulus now too I suppose since he's your blood. It's specific to strong Black and Carrow magic, so not even distant relatives can repeat our location."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well I did, I told you I was thinking of looking into what wards I can put around the house that the Muggles won't notice. I figured if the less people know I put it up then maybe we can work out who tries to give up our location."

"Okay fine I'll take that one, I remember that conversation briefly. But it can't be one of our friends, not only do we know them and trust them with so much, Amycus is still alive. If they were the spy wouldn't they tell Voldemort that Amycus knows where we are?"

"If the spy can't tell Voldemort where we are maybe they assume that Amycus can't either and the spy probably assumes Regulus sent me an owl. Remember there are only four people who know he turned up in the middle of the night, unless he told Bridgette."

"But then who, because I seriously want to know who I can and can't trust around Willa."

"I'm the same Pads and I hate to think this after everything we've been through but Moony?"

Sirius stated silent as he processed who she just suggested, "why Moony Snow?"

"Think about how often he disappears, he's a werewolf. What if he changed sides to keep Lilith and Emerson protected. Neither of them will tell us where he goes and what he's up to, despite Dumbledore knowing he is up to, what if he isn't?"

"But it's Moony, the same old Moony I've shared a dorm with for seven years, the same one you convinced me he was the same person after I found out he was a werewolf."

"I know that and I hate myself for thinking but it all lines up, we know Voldemort is rallying werewolves because they're at a disadvantage in terms of work. Most places refuse to hire a werewolf and we've heard his complaints about struggling to find work. He's always gone, disappearing at odd times and Lilith doesn't even bat an eye so she has to know and remember how defensive she got when I asked what he was up to?"

"You think they both have?"

"I don't know what to think, I hate thinking two of my best mates, Willa's Godmother, are traitors. Prongs and Lily's wedding got crashed but theirs didn't? Both weddings had pretty much the same guests and you organised ours last minute, no one had time to let them know."

Sirius scrubbed his face with a hand, "this is insane Snow, you know what will happen if we start voicing out thoughts."

"No kidding, why do you think I told you and no ones."

"Told no one else what?" Regulus questioned as he entered the living where the two were sitting.

They both looked at him before at each other.

Regulus held a hand up, "that look means it is Order business, I get it. Most of the Order doesn't trust me because I signed up as a Death Eater, its fine. I'm just glad you two and Bridgette trust me, that's all that matters to me."

"And your niece adores you."

"Speaking of my trouble making niece, where is she?"

"Left her at Dromeda's a bit longer while I rest, I got thrown into a tree today."

"Death Eaters again?"

Octavia nodded but didn't say anything in response, she leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes. She hated that she was thinking Remus was the traitor, but he was the only one that looked guilty, had any reason to turn against them.

A small smile appeared as she felt Sirius press his lips against her temple, "I'm going to get Willa." He spoke and she opened her eyes.

"No it's fine, I will get her. Dromeda can look at my shoulder as well to make nothing is seriously wrong." Octavia stood up and placed the ice pack on the table, stretching her shoulder out.

"Should you be Apparating? We can get Dromeda to come here." Sirius responded.

Octavia gave him a smile before leaning down and softly kissing him, "you worry too much," she teased.

She wanted to see Andromeda alone, have her check her shoulder out and see if she was pregnant like she feared. One step at a time, first she would find out if she was or wasn't pregnant and then she would deal with telling Sirius, unsure as to how he would react.

"Have you two forgotten I was here?" Regulus commented.

Octavia turned and flashed him a smile, "you could always move out," she grinned at him as a scowl appeared on his face.

"You know damn well I can't, I am technically dead and as such my vault and all its contents have been passed on." Regulus responded and a large grin appeared on Sirius' face.

"I know, do you know how marvellous it felt all those months ago when I received a letter stating it was all mine."

"You touch it and you die," Regulus threatened.

"You wouldn't, you wouldn't leave Willa without her father."

"Why? I'd be a better father figure anyway."

"Alright that's enough you two," Octavia spoke up, cutting into their argument. She wasn't even surprised when they turned and looked at her with sheepish smiles on their faces, a lot of their arguments these days was just playful banter between them, it was no longer the heated arguments they had while at Hogwarts. "You know what, do you what you want. I'm going to get Dromeda to check me out, just don't blow the house up, I really like this house." Octavia commented before she made her way to the office and Apparated to the Tonks' residence.

Octavia stayed silent as Andromeda checked her out, the two of them in the living room while Nymphadora continued to run around the house going on about something, some new gift she was given by her grandparents with Willa following around after her.

Andromeda had taken a seat beside her on the couch and she continued to ignore the look she was being given by the older witch, she could see the disappointment on her face and she hated that.

"When were you going to tell me you were pregnant?" Andromeda finally spoke, breaking the silence.

Octavia shrugged, finally twisting around and looking at her. "Not much to tell when I don't know if it's true or not. My period was late and I was feeling a little nauseous, similar to my morning sickness with Willa but not quite as bad."

"What happened out there today?"

Octavia was confused, Andromeda has never once in the past asked what was happening when they went out on missions. "Why?"

"How did you hurt your shoulder?" Andromeda questioned once more and dread filled Octavia.

"I was thrown into a wall as Snow, what's wrong?" she questioned.

"Running the diagnostic spell it shows signs that you were pregnant but it seems as though that you being thrown into the wall caused you to miscarry. I'm so sorry O, I didn't even know you and Sirius were wanting more children."

Octavia couldn't respond, she went numb at the word miscarry. So she was pregnant but she lost the child, the potential baby she hadn't gotten around to telling Sirius about and now she was terrified of his reaction.

"Mummy crying," Octavia was broken out of her thoughts by Willa's voice and she looked down at her daughter giving her a smile.

Willa pulled herself up onto Octavia's lap before kissing her and burying her face in her neck, "don't cry mummy."

Octavia couldn't say anything, she just wrapped an arm around Willa and used her free hand to wipe away the tears, looking over at Andromeda.

Andromeda didn't say anything, just placed a hand on Octavia's arm before she stood up and left Octavia alone with Willa.

"Let's go home to daddy baby," Octavia spoke softly, feeling Willa nod against her neck.

.oOo.

Octavia was laying on the hammock slowly swinging herself as she got some solace, Willa was hyped up on sugar and as a result she was running around yelling at the top of her lungs while Octavia had a headache that wouldn't stop and she needed some peace and quiet.

It was only yesterday that Andromeda had told her she was pregnant and had also lost the child but she hadn't brought herself to tell Sirius just yet.

She opened her eyes as someone climbed in the hammock beside her and she knew it was Sirius, could also tell he was cold and warmed him up only to have him burrow himself in against her and she laughed at how childish he was being.

"Good, you still know how to laugh," Sirius commented as he pressed his face against her.

Octavia rolled over and wrapped her arms around Sirius.

"You've been in this funk ever since you returned with Willa from Dromeda and Ted's yesterday, what happened. You're alright aren't you?"

Octavia looked up at Sirius and slowly nodded, "I'm physically fine Pads, was just given some shocking news."

"What did Dromeda tell you baby," Sirius ran his fingers through her hair, watching with a small smile as she closed her eyes, looking rather calm at what he was doing.

"She said I was pregnant," Octavia spoke softly and Sirius' hand froze, midway through her hair and she opened her eyes, looking at him and was worried at what he was thinking.

Sirius swallowed, "you're pregnant," he repeated.

Her eyes filled with tears, tears for the loss of a child she didn't even know she had, didn't get the chance to love. "Me being thrown into the wall yesterday caused me to miscarry. I was pregnant and didn't know before losing the baby."

Sirius wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, resting her head on his chest. "Oh baby," he spoke softly.

Octavia didn't say anything, she felt a weight being lifted off her chest with telling him. He didn't sound angry or disappointed, in fact he sounded upset, hurt almost at the idea of her miscarrying.

Nothing else was said between the couple, they stayed liked that on the hammock mourning the loss of a child they didn't even know they were going to have.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night, RumiKnowsBest and Ginny702 for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	116. The Traitor Among Us

Chapter 115: The Traitor Among Us

 **February 1981**

Sirius and Octavia weren't given long to mourn the loss of the child they didn't know about as Voldemort had cranked up his plans, causing more mayhem and destruction in the world around them.

In fact he had kidnapped the Muggle Prime Minister, hoping to get the Ministry of Magic to realise he was serious, hoping to get his own views out into the world.

The Order was unable to find him alive, they found his body, just like some of the other highly respected members of the community, lying face down in the fountain within the Ministry of Magic.

Everyone was trying to go on with their lives as normal as possible, Sirius and Octavia, James and Lily, Remus and Lilith were all married and had children to care for. They helped with Order missions as they came around but their families were always a priority.

But Peter, no Peter was trying to figure out how to prevent his girlfriend from thinking of any possible future, it was becoming too much for him.

He paced in his home, the same one he shared with Dorcas. He needed to find a way out and didn't know how he was going to do it

He stopped pacing and looked over at where Dorcas was unconscious, tied up to a chair.

He sat down in the chair across from her, looking at her in silence wondering how he was going to fix this mistake. He couldn't believe he fucked up this badly, normally he would hang out at his parents' home, wasting away the day while pretending to be at work but the book he wanted was at the flat he shared. He thought she would be at work, but returning home and seeing her standing there in the kitchen, well he was wrong.

The calm, loving and sometimes scared demeanour he normally has on around her and his friends was gone in an instant, he was sick of pretending and he just wanted an out.

There had been rumours of a traitor amongst the Order, it was the only way considering how many of their missions had been broken up by the Death Eaters, how many plans they had devised were handed over, how many times they turned up just have no one there. So it didn't take long for Dorcas to make the connection.

"It's you!" she screeched and nothing else was said as Peter raised his wand and hexed her, causing her to lose consciousness and fall to a heap on the ground.

And now Peter needed help cleaning up this mess and he knew his father would help him, his father had been offering for a while now to make it look like an accident, for him to look like the grieving boyfriend.

.oOo.

Octavia reached up and wiped at her cheek, she still couldn't believe this happened.

Octavia looked over at where Peter was sitting, a blank still on his face, the same look that had been there for a couple days now, Peter wasn't even able to tell them of the attack and as a result one of the other Order members had to inform the rest of them of the attack.

Peter was lucky, he had lived through the attack but looking at him now one would wonder if he had hoped he had died instead of Dorcas, he wasn't speaking to anyone was just silent and sat there.

No one knew exactly what happened as Peter claimed he was knocked unconscious and when he woke up Dorcas was dead, he couldn't even tell Dumbledore or Moody who attacked them, just claimed Death Eaters.

Sirius wrapped an arm around Octavia and pulled her close, softly kissing the top of her head.

Octavia didn't know whose idea it was but they had taken a group photo, to remember those who were risking their lives to save their community. They wanted to be able to cherish those they fought alongside of, so they did. They found a few moments where everyone was free and they took a photo, it was early in the morning but it was the only time everyone was free before the real life workers had to begin their shifts.

It was only hours later that Dorcas was found dead.

They weren't even allowed a proper funeral for Dorcas, instead they were sitting in the Bones ancestral home listening to people say lovely things about her.

The Ministry had suggested that funerals weren't the way to go at the moment as Death Eaters had begun attending them and causing a scene, causing more destress to the loved ones of the deceased. The Ministry had put that suggestion out in November and it didn't take long for the wizarding community to realise why it was suggested.

Octavia wanted to be able to say goodbye to her friend, a girl she only come to know during her final years at Hogwarts and she was glad she was able to know the girl, that Peter was able to find love.

It was different when Robert was killed, yes Octavia felt the loss of him but she wasn't devastated like she is now, having lost someone she considers family.

"I know baby," Sirius whispered before pressing his lips into her hair.

Octavia didn't say anything, she just turned and buried her face in his chest as another batch of tears came through.

At some point Octavia had pulled away from Sirius and left the room, she couldn't take it standing in there anymore and she needed fresh air.

Octavia heard someone coming out to join her and she knew it was Remus, she didn't feel comfortable around him anymore, not ever since she began thinking that he was the traitor they had amongst them and things were getting worse.

She shifted away from him when he took a seat beside her.

"What's your problem Snow?" Remus questioned.

"I think saying goodbye to Dorcas is my problem," she snapped.

"Maybe at this moment yes, but no, I mean more recently. You refuse to be alone in a room with me, you barely visit us anymore and I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I saw Willa."

Octavia stood up and faced Remus, "it all comes back to secrets. What is your secret, where are you always going off to? Leaving my best friend _alone_ while she raises your daughter. Where the hell are you going Remus!" she yelled at him.

"What are you getting at?" Remus questioned, standing up to look at her properly.

"Your disappearances are oddly strange, we can't always find you when we need you and it is rather odd considering we have a traitor amongst us." Octavia suggested, not phased when anger washed across the werewolf's face.

"You're suggesting it's me? What about you? It is rather suspicious that you always come away injured from duels with Death Eaters, you are in contact with a Death Eater and you willingly let one into your house. You always go on and on about how you are trying to keep your location a secret but yet everyone keeps finding out where you live."

"Oh yes because I surely enjoyed being abused by my parents just to turn out like them, how they wanted me too," Octavia laughed bitterly. "But you, you're the werewolf, the one that is shunned by our community and I know exactly what Voldemort is preaching for them. It wouldn't take much convincing for someone like you to easily turn sides!" Octavia yelled, her anger getting the better of her and her theories were coming out as a result.

"Snow," Lilith's soft voice came from behind her and where she turned she found her best friend standing there with tears in her eyes.

"Lilith, I…" Octavia started but stopped, she didn't know what to say. She had her theories and stood by them, she thought Remus to be the traitor because it made the most sense.

"You said your peace Octavia, you obviously no longer trust us, you are convinced that we are traitors to the Order." Lilith responded and it was then Octavia realised, whatever it was Remus was doing and where he was going, Lilith knew 100% and was going to side with him.

"Prongs and Lily's wedding got crashed, yours didn't. Don't you think it's a little odd considering it was virtually the same guests?"

"Yours didn't either."

"Because Padfoot told you all about it two days prior."

"You say it would be easy for a werewolf to turn and be on Voldemort's side but what about you? You're a Dreamer, the most feared Magical Beast out there and Voldemort isn't going on about changing things just for werewolves, it's all Magical Beasts and Beings that are shunned by the Magical Community and you've done nothing but complain about being classified as such since you were." Lilith spoke, her voice cold and calculating and Octavia didn't know what to think, she hasn't seen her best friend like this since she found out the truth about her, that she could perform wandless magic.

"Is that what you think? Both of you?" Octavia questioned.

"Just look at your family, they're full of Death Eater's, both yours and Sirius' and you are in contact with one who knows where you live while another lives with you. How do we know they don't all know where you live and are just waiting for the perfect moment?" Lilith spat out and Octavia narrowed her eyes.

"Let's go Lil, we obviously aren't welcome anymore." Remus spoke, pulling on Lilith's arm heading towards the wards so they could Apparate out.

"He's going to get you killed, both you and Emerson." Octavia called out.

"And your daughter will be a freak just like you!" Lilith yelled over her shoulder moments before they disappeared.

Octavia stood there for a moment, as it sunk in as to what just happened. Her and Lilith had never spoken like this to each other before and now they had turned on each other for no reason except Octavia believing Remus to the traitor.

She took a deep breath before walking towards the wards Apparating home herself.

When she arrived at home she walked upstairs and stood in the doorway to Willa's bedroom, scrunching her face up at the sight of her blonde daughter. She knew Willa was just imitating Bridgette's hair colour but it wasn't something she was used to seeing, she much preferred Willa's bright red hair that matched her own.

She only stood there for a moment before turning and heading back downstairs, she didn't want Willa to realise she was home because she didn't want to become angry at Willa for no reason until her bad mood disappeared.

Octavia lost track of time when she was in the kitchen, slowly and carefully cutting up the vegetables she needed for the stir-fry she was planning on cooking for dinner. Normally she would haphazardly cut up the vegetables not really caring but right now she needed something to distract her mind and this seemed to be working.

"What happened today?" Sirius' voice rang out and Octavia looked up at him briefly before back down at the vegetables in front of her. "Planning on feeding an army there love?" he mocked.

"Well between you and Regulus it may as well be," she muttered. She looked up at him and noticed the look on his face, "do you trust me?" she questioned.

"Always. Now what happened today? I may not have heard you through the windows but the conversation taking place between you, Moony and Lilith wasn't exactly friendly either." Sirius leaned against the counter, looking straight at her with a look on his face that just suggested she try and argue with him on this.

She let out a sigh before placing the knife down on the board, "I was angry, he cornered me outside and next thing I know Lilith and I are throwing accusations at each other about who the traitor is."

"We think its Moony and they think it's us," Sirius guessed.

Octavia nodded, "I pushed away two of our best friends Pads."

Sirius didn't say anything, he just walked over and stood beside Octavia, placing a hand over hers.

"I have to make a start on dinner, can you go ask Bridgette if she knows where Regulus went and what time he will be home," Octavia spoke, pulling her hand away and turning back towards the fridge.

Sirius let out a sigh but disappeared from the room, going to do what was asked of him.

.oOo.

Octavia stood there at the top of the hill overlooking the small meadow where she could see a small number of Death Eaters meeting for whatever reason.

She was meant to be meeting Marlene here but yet she hadn't heard a word from her, she had even sent her Patronus off with a message and nothing.

This mission was a bust, Octavia didn't want to go down there in case more showed up because then she would dead or in Voldemort's clutches so instead she had to suck it up and leave, the idea of checking on Marlene in mind.

Octavia stopped dead in tracks and dropped to her knees at the sight before her, the McKinnon home was in ruins with the Dark Mark in the sky indicating someone had died in the house.

She didn't want to be going through with this pain so soon after losing Dorcas, she couldn't bear the thought of losing Marlene. It didn't even make sense, the McKinnon's had only just moved locations because the last one became too risky after one of Marlene's brothers was followed home last week.

The last she heard only a small number of people knew were the McKinnon's were now living.

She quickly sent off her Patronus informing the others of what she had come across, not wanting to venture in the house alone in case it was a trap.

Octavia was still sitting there staring at the destroyed home that she believe Marlene to be in when Sirius walked up behind her, he knelt in front of her and took her face in his hands, wiping away the tears with his thumbs.

"Baby," he spoke softly.

"I'm hoping that she isn't in there, that she stayed at Fabian and Gideon's last night but I can't go in there not alone and not knowing if it's a trap or not."

"I know, come on, the others are here, we can go and scout out the place now." Sirius spoke and Octavia finally took notice of him.

She slowly nodded and allowed Sirius to pull her up.

Octavia felt numb as she entered the house, barely paying attention to what was being said around her. She was fond of Marlene's family, having spent many occasions with them over the years but Marlene, Marlene was family.

She wondered the house, making sure nothing fell on her head as she searched for the remaining McKinnon family members hoping someone was still alive.

She walked up the stairs, arriving on the second level and heading for the bedrooms, it seemed as though the Death Eaters stormed the house in the middle of the night, taking the family by surprise and as she checked the bedrooms one by one it was obvious that was the case.

But she couldn't bring herself to open the last door in the hall, the same one that belonged to Marlene's bedroom.

By now there were fat silent tears running down her cheeks, after having found dead body after dead body and now she stood in front of one of her best friend's rooms and she couldn't bring herself to open it.

It was when she wiped away the tears and focused on her magic that she felt the cold and darkness that came with the killing curse and her stomach dropped. She wrapped her hand around the door handle and opened it, not wanting to see what she knew as on the other side but she had to.

Octavia entered Marlene's bedroom, staring at where Marlene's body half laid on the bed and half hanging off it, her eyes wide open and there was no sign of life in her.

She couldn't take it, standing there where so many died in this house and she Apparated home to where she knew life to be, where Willa to be laughing and giggling at something but she felt a sharp pain before everything went dark.

.oOo.

Sirius heard it, the loud screeching sound of wards being disturbed. He placed a hand over his ears for a moment before wondering who set the wards off without them being dismantled first.

He knew that McKinnon family had many wards surrounding the property and he also knew that everyone who had arrived to search the property knew that so it meant someone tried to join them, to attack them while they were grieving the loss of their own.

"Sirius," he heard Gideon's voice call out for him and he headed towards it, wondering why he was after him.

He didn't know how Gideon could be here, here at a house where the family of the girl he loved was dead, where the girl he loved was potentially dead. He wouldn't be able to be as calm as Gideon sounded if it was Octavia he was searching for.

He finally found Gideon standing up on the second level outside Marlene's room, it was obvious that the man was in pain for the loss of his girlfriend.

"What is it?" Sirius questioned, he didn't want to see Marlene's body, he couldn't bring himself to it and he would just take the others word for it that the girl was dead.

"I found out who triggered the ward," Gideon responded softly and it spiked his curiosity.

Sirius walked closer to him and stuck his head in the doorway, instantly spotting Octavia positioned on the floor awkwardly.

"I'm going to go grey because of her one day," Sirius commented as he walked over to her and knelt beside her on the ground. "Do you know what ward it was that she triggered?"

"I've never seen it before Sirius, it is possible to create new wards just like spells, just like O has done previously."

"You're saying it's possible that the Death Eaters created this, as a trap." Sirius quickly responded, running his fingers softly across her face.

"Yes." Gideon stated.

Sirius fell silent, he was unsure what to think. He knew Octavia and knew she was smarter than just abruptly leaving a property without checking the wards and seeing which ones were in place but if Gideon was right and it's something he's never seen before and he was more inclined to believe it was something the Death Eaters created then maybe Octavia didn't see it and now he was worried as to what she was going through.

"Let's get her home, hopefully Regulus will know what the ward was." Sirius spoke, carefully lifting Octavia up and holding her close as he left the house to head home.

.oOo.

 _Octavia ducked, avoiding the bludger that was coming her way._

 _She was confused, she didn't know why there was more than the usual two bludgers being used in this Quidditch Match but then again playing against Slytherin she didn't expect anything other than dirty tactics._

 _It was when she think she was dodging one bludger that another one hit her from the opposite side, knocking her off her broom and sending her to the ground._

 _A scream left her lips as she fell, she hoped that one of the Professors in the stands would help slow her fall but she hit the ground with a thud and her body exploded in pain and last thing she saw before blacking out was an unfamiliar face._

.oOo.

"What do you mean you don't what's happening to her?" Sirius yelled at Regulus.

"I mean I didn't hear anything of anyone inventing wards, definitely not one to place her in a coma like state." Regulus responded and they both looked at where Octavia was placed on the bed. "She's twitching, like she's having a nightmare. I have never heard of anything like that before, have you?"

Sirius didn't get the chance to respond, there was a banging on the door followed by silence and finally followed by a scream.

Sirius walked over and opened the door and found Willa sitting there on the floor throwing a fit at being kept out of the room.

"I'm sorry, I tried to distract her but it wouldn't work no matter what I tried." Bridgette apologised and Sirius waved her off before picking Willa up.

It was already discovered that Octavia wasn't physically hurt, Andromeda had already checked her out and tried to wake her up but it wasn't working and Andromeda tried everything she could think of and that was when Sirius turned on Regulus, hoping that the ex-Death Eater would know what was happening to his wife.

"Daddy," Willa complained as she buried her face into the crook of his neck and he held her close. "Bee is mean." She complained once more and Sirius looked over at Bridgette.

Willa was unable to say Bridgette properly and as a result stuck to calling her Bee, it struck Bridgette as odd the first time she heard it. Bridgette never really had a nickname growing up, never saw the point of it and it wasn't until Regulus started calling her Bridge that she realised they can be affectionate when coming from the right person

"I just wouldn't let her in here," Bridgette quickly defended herself and Sirius nodded entering the room once more.

He placed Willa on the bed and watched as Willa crawled over and curled up beside Octavia, not even attempting to wake her up.

"Fix this," Sirius hissed at Regulus.

"How, I don't know what is wrong. How can I fix what is wrong with her when I don't know what it is?" Regulus responded but Sirius didn't say anything, just walked over and joined the girls on the bed.

.oOo.

 _Octavia had enough, she felt like her body had been shattered into a million pieces a thousand times and she had enough._

 _It didn't take long for her to figure out that whatever these strange dreams she's having aren't real, that she is trapped here for some reason and she can't work out why._

 _Every time she opened her eyes it was slightly different, Quidditch matches against the different houses, her parents taking her punishment too far, something as simple as flying her broom and falling off, accepting Sirius' proposal about going on the wretched motorbike and falling and other times she was hit by a car crossing the street._

 _Despite what happened every time she opened her eyes and all the familiar faces surrounding her, there was one that wasn't familiar._

 _Right now she was in the Ministry of Magic, she wasn't sure as to what was going to go wrong this time but instead she was more focused on following the one person who has been haunting her dreams that she didn't know._

 _"Stop!" she called out hoping they would stop, everyone around her in the Ministry stopped except that one person, they just turned and faced her with a smirk before turning and continuing on and it wasn't long until the roof collapsed._

 _"Merlin's sake," she muttered before she was buried under the rumble._

.oOo.

"Mummy," Willa whined and Sirius slowly opened his eyes, he watched as she attempting to shake Octavia awake.

"Princess," he spoke softly and her head turned to look at him.

"She won't wake up," she stuck out her bottom lip, it wobbling as if she was holding in tears.

Sirius reached out and tucked her curls behind her ear, "I know princess, she's hurt and will wake up when she's better."

"Make her better daddy."

"I can't princess," he spoke softly, holding up an arm for her hoping she would curl back up in her previous position.

Sirius had returned home yesterday with Octavia and they were still no closer to working out what was wrong with her than they were the first time.

Every now and then Octavia's whole body would twitch to indicate she was living a nightmare and Sirius didn't know how to help her and it killed him.

Even Willa could tell something was wrong with Octavia and she refused to leave the bed, threw a fit when she was forced to leave so Sirius relented and let her sleep in the bed with them but Sirius didn't get much sleep anyway.

"Daddy," Willa spoke.

If it was any other circumstance Sirius would laugh at the way she was acting, how angry she was attempting to be but he just found the whole thing adorable.

"I know princess, I want mummy awake too." Sirius responded, heart breaking as tears welled up in her eyes moments before she curled back up in his arms.

He pressed his lips in her hair, "I promise princess I'm trying everything I can to wake mummy."

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	117. Torment

Chapter 116: Torment

This time when Octavia opened her eyes she didn't know where she exactly was, it was a room she hadn't seen before. It was pristine and nicely decorated, and she was highly confused.

Every single time she woke up she recognised where she was, but this time she didn't.

She sat up on the bed and looked around, hoping more than anything she would recognise something but it was also then that the unfamiliar face she had been chasing finally appeared in her line of sight.

"Who are you?" she questioned.

"I'm surprised you're not asking where you are," he responded and a growl came from her.

"I'm still dreaming, I know that much."

"Which means you are already seeing the future, interesting for someone so young." He mused.

Octavia was confused, this person had to have had previous knowledge of Dreamers to understand that she was getting her ability to the see the future so young compared to previous Dreamers and it made her question who this person was.

"I'm dreaming which means I don't care where I am because I have a feeling that my body is perfectly safe, who are you?" Octavia questioned once more.

"My name is Torment so to speak." He responded. Octavia raised an eyebrow that name meant nothing to her and for she all knew the guy was lying to her. "I'm a Wandless."

"And you get your name from your personal ability, I'm assuming your ability is my dreams?" Octavia always wondered if there was a Wandless running around in the magical community, Dumbledore told her he hadn't heard as such but now she was looking right at them.

"Yes that is correct, my ability can bring out your nightmares. I placed a ward around the dead family's home, one that would only affect you."

"So you were there?"

Torment shrugged, "not exactly, it isn't our place to be in their war. We aren't the same as them, we don't follow the same rules."

"They're my family and as such I protect my family, if the only reason you brought me into this hell hole is to convince me otherwise it won't work. You could have spoken to me on the street."

"Not allowed," he commented.

"You've sided with Voldemort haven't you?"

"He doesn't fear us, he sees potential in us."

"No he plans to use us," Octavia spoke calmly. "Why can't you see that? That guy has tortured me on countless occasions, made my own flesh and blood do the same thing."

"He wants to use us in his fight against the Ministry, you don't even know what his plans are for us."

"To be his soldiers," Octavia cut him off and she felt her leg break in two, causing her to screaming out in pain.

"I was being kind up until now, do not interrupt." Torment spoke, sounding oddly calm. "Now where was I?"

Octavia sat there on the bed and watched as Torment walked back and forth in front of her, she wanted to know exactly what it was he brought her here for.

"That's right, he plans on banishing the laws that limit us, that belittle us. You made the mistake of getting caught by the ministry, you think we all enjoy being labelled as Magical Beasts? He plans on banishing that law and allowing us to be ourselves. Tell me, how would you feel no longer being classified as a Magical Beast?"

"I won't do it the way Voldemort wants, I won't betray my friends and family."

"But your family are on his sides, I know who your brother and sister are. I've been inside your head, I know everything that there is to know about your loved ones Dreamer."

"No they aren't my family," Octavia started but she stopped speaking at the sound of his laugh.

"You're kidding right, again I've been inside your head. I know you're in contact with your brother."

Octavia stayed silent, her and Amycus have gone years secretly being in communication and they haven't been caught yet. She had even heard from Regulus that Amycus was in Voldemort's inner circle, the same circle that consisted of people that he trusted the most. Why would Voldemort believe something he despises over someone he clearly trusts?

"Believe what you want, I've been in your head and I know your memories and thoughts, it's all allowed me to create this hell dimension for you."

"What do you want with me?" Octavia questioned, she figured the quicker she could get out of him as to what he wanted with her the quicker she could go home.

Torment didn't say anything, just gave her an evil smile before she felt everyone bone in her body break.

.oOo.

"What the bloody hell is happening to her?" Sirius yelled out.

"Padfoot calm down," James spoke and Sirius turned around and faced him.

"You're telling me to calm down? What if it was Lily laying there on the bed like that and Harry asking why mummy won't wake up, why you can't do anything to wake her up?" Sirius snapped.

"Sirius you yelling like you are isn't doing Octavia any good, we are all trying our hardest to wake her up but we do not know what the ward was that she tripped when trying to leave." Dumbledore spoke.

"It's been a week, a week she has been like that and as it is I'm struggling to get her unconscious body to swallow the Nourishment Potions. I can't even get Willa to sleep in her own bed." Sirius added in, collapsing on the chair in the corner of the room. He placed his face in his hands letting out a groan.

"We'll work it out mate, none of us want Snow to stay like that." James spoke but Sirius didn't look up, he just pressed the palm of his hands deeper into his eyes, hoping to prevent the tears from escaping.

.oOo.

Octavia doesn't know how long she has been stuck in this hell dimension but she has had enough, she's had enough of having her body break into a million pieces over and over again.

She wanted to corner Torment again and truly find out why she was stuck here, why he continued to cause her body to be crushed, broken and separated over and over.

She was just grateful she hasn't seen images of Sirius and Willa being hurt yet.

"I prefer breaking bones," Torment's voice came from behind her.

"Let me go, please. I've already told you I'm not siding with him and I don't honestly believe you should as well. I do not care what he has told you Torment, he does not have our best interests at heart. He doesn't like that we can perform magic in a way that he can't."

"I know that," Torment spoke, the softest Octavia has heard his voice in all the times they've spoken.

"Then why are you keeping me here?" She questioned, once more hoping he will finally break and tell her.

"Wandless get their gifts at strange times, sometimes it's when we are protecting our loved ones or ourselves. But mine, mine came out in a bout of revenge. My parents abused me much like yours, except my parents were Muggle, I am a rarity, a Wandless Muggleborn. I was 16 and had enough of it, I just wanted revenge and somehow I put a ward around their bedroom and when they left, I was drawn into their subconscious and able to punish them in ways I couldn't imagine. Do you ever wish you could get revenge on your parents?"

Octavia shook her head, she didn't want to stoop to their level, she wanted to leave her parents behind and forget about the horrid childhood she had.

"I'm not fighting Voldemort, the Ministry has no idea who I am, where I am but yet Voldemort managed to track me down. I agreed to side with him with hopes of staying safe, I have no idea if any of his followers know who I am, I found out about the ploy to barge the McKinnon home and have them killed, I took my chance and jumped in placing a ward to get you in my grasp. My hope is that you can take him down."

"You're a coward."

Torment shrugged, "maybe so but I am a Wandless that hasn't been given a wand nor allowed to attend a Magical school. I home schooled myself in regards to my own magic, much like you have but I do not have a fancy magical education behind me, allowing me to perform well to live through a duel."

"You want me to feel sorry for you?" Octavia spoke before she let out a laugh. "You're insane if you think I feel sorry for you after you kidnap my subconscious and put me through all this torture. I will bring Voldemort down because it's what I want, I want to protect my family and have my daughter grow up in a safe environment. I'm not doing this because you're insane and should be locked up." Octavia spat at him.

She felt her bones breaking all over again but this time when it was over and she opened her eyes she was in her own bedroom. She shot up in the bed and locked eyes with Sirius, where he was sitting across from her in the oversized arm chair in the corner of their room.

"Hi," she spoke softly before quickly patting down her body, making sure it was perfectly fine and hasn't gone through the amount of pain that it had over who knows how long. To her it felt like weeks in Torment's hell dimension but in reality, she had no idea how long she was actually in there.

Sirius stood up and slowly made his way over to her, taking a seat in front of her on the bed. "What happened baby?"

"Where's Willa?" Octavia quickly questioned, she knew Sirius had questions but she had to make sure she was okay.

"She's fine baby, Regulus is attempting to bathe her."

Octavia let out a sigh of relief, she trusted Sirius and she knew he would never lie to her, especially in regards to Willa.

"I met a Wandless," she responded softly, standing up and stretching out her stiff limbs.

"How baby, no one else was in that house but the two of us and the rest of the Order members that turned up."

"He was there after the Death Eaters, set a trap just for me. He gets called Torment because of what he can do, I spent however long in my own personal hell dimension." Octavia responded.

She quickly put a smile on her face as she heard the thunderous footsteps make their way down the hallway, she knew it could only be Willa unless something had change in Regulus' personality since she last saw him.

"Mummy!" Willa squealed before she ran over and attached herself to Octavia's legs and it didn't take long for Octavia to lean down and pick up her daughter, holding her close and marvelling in the notion that her daughter was perfectly safe. "Missed you so much."

"I missed you too baby, so much it hurt," Octavia responded, tears building in her eyes.

She looked over and found Regulus standing in the doorway, he tilted his head at her before he disappeared from view, she assumed he was giving them a moment alone as a family.

She stepped closer to Sirius as he wrapped his around both her and Willa, "she refused to sleep in her own bed, had to sleep with us while she waited for you to wake up." Sirius spoke in her ear and Octavia looked up at him before kissing the top of Willa's head.

"I'm here now baby, I'm perfectly fine." Octavia whispered, giving all three of them assurances.

.oOo.

Octavia sat there in the kitchen on one of the bar stools, just staring at the cup in her hand. She hadn't even had a sip of the tea she made, she knew coffee at 3am was a bad idea and she thought maybe tea would help but she couldn't get past the smell of it.

Her mind was exhausted after what she has been through but her body was buzzing, almost like she could run a marathon but she couldn't leave the house. The look on Willa's face when they attempted to put her to sleep in her own bed was traumatising and in the end the parents relented and let their daughter sleep in their bed, saying 'one more night only'.

Willa was fairly independent for an almost three year old and Octavia assumed it was because of how much time she spent in the care of other people because her and Sirius were out fighting to make their world safer for her.

Octavia let out a sigh before she stretched her back out, her body still felt stiff despite how many times she walked through the house with attempts to stretch it out.

In the end she was in the hell dimension for a week, 7 days she lived the torture that Torment was putting her through.

She didn't know what he was hoping to achieve by tormenting her like he was but then again he was named Torment for a reason, she wanted to tell herself that if he had come to her instead of doing what he did then maybe, just maybe she would have heard him out better but instead she was kidnapped and tortured.

She heard the floor creak behind her and she quickly spun around and she found Sirius standing there with his hands held up.

"Didn't mean to scare you, are you alright?" Sirius questioned.

They haven't spoken about what Octavia went through, he only knew that she spent the week in a hell dimension because it's all she was able to get in before Willa came barrelling into the room.

"Just have a lot of my mind," she spoke softly turning back around to stare into the cup of tea that she still hadn't had a sip of.

She felt Sirius wrap his arms around her as he stood directly behind her, he rested his chin on her shoulder. "Talk to me baby."

"I don't know how he does it, the Wandless that is, but he can pull my subconscious into this other dimension, one where he can control everything. I felt every bone in my body break countless times and I don't know why he was doing it. I'm just grateful that he never once made anything happen to you or Willa, I can deal with the pain happening to my body, I was abused by my parents for fifteen years but seeing you or her going through that much pain, I wouldn't be able to cope." She spoke, her sentences sort of mushing together as she ranted.

Sirius stayed silent and the longer it went on the more agitated Octavia felt, she pulled away from him, turning to look at him. "Say something, anything Pads."

His brows furrowed for a moment and she let out a groan, pushing him away from her as she stood up from the bar stool and walked towards the sink to place the untouched cup of tea in there.

Sirius snapped out of his daze and grabbed her arm preventing her from leaving the room, "I'm sorry, it's just you said hell dimensions and I was pulled in by the thought of it. I didn't mean to diminish what you said at all."

"I need to go running," Octavia spoke softly, pulling her arm from his grasp. "What do you think the neighbours will think of a wolf running through the streets?" she mused while walking away and not staying long enough for his response.

Moments ago she couldn't bring herself to leave the house but now her mind was too much, she _needed_ to leave and needed to clear her head.

It only took moments before she had a black dog join her and in that moment she just hoped Willa wouldn't panic the moment she woke up in a bed all alone. She knew Regulus was home and would look after Willa if she woke him up but she fell asleep in their bed and to wake up alone, she didn't want to think what could possibly go through her daughters head at that action.

.oOo.

Octavia paced back and forth in Dumbledore's office while he followed her with his eyes. He wanted to know everything that happened with the Wandless she had met and at first she didn't know what to say and every time she opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out. She would close her mouth and take up pacing again.

"You said he was a Wandless?" Dumbledore questioned.

Octavia merely nodded, unsure as to if she could speak words at the moment. Sirius hasn't asked anymore questions about what happened, not since the night they went running through their neighbourhood as Willa had attached herself to Octavia, following her around like a shadow where possible.

"His name was Torment, he torments his victims with a hell dimension. He said he came to his gift while getting revenge on his parents." Octavia spoke, finally finding her voice.

This was nothing, it was just information she had come across and she felt like it was something, something that was easy to give up.

"How come he let you out?" Dumbledore questioned and Octavia turned and looked at him.

"You knew of him?" she questioned, angered lacing her voice and Dumbledore just nodded in response at first.

"I have, only for a couple of months now. I looked into him, did some research but decided he wasn't worth following up on. You are the first one to come out of his hell dimension, I believe his parents are still residing in a bed at the local hospital, unsure as to what is wrong with them. He hasn't been taught how to harness his magic properly and he was one of the many Wandless who weren't gifted a wand." Dumbledore explained.

Octavia walked over and took a seat in the chair, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "He wants me to take down Voldemort but both my Prophecy and the one that is either linked to Harry or Neville suggests it won't be me, I'm merely a distraction for Voldemort until they are ready."

"That Prophecy may not even come to the light of day."

"Mine did," Octavia spoke darkly, quickly turning around as she heard a noise behind her. "Were you expecting anyone else?" she questioned, not turning back around to face the Headmaster.

"No, I cleared my schedule, unsure as to how long our discussion would take." Dumbledore responded.

Octavia stood up and pointed her wand at the door waiting for whoever was on the other side to show themselves.

It didn't take long for the door to open and when it did it revealed Severus Snape, Octavia pushed him against the wall and pinned him there all while pushing her wand into his neck.

"What the hell are you doing here Snape?" she snarled at him. She knew he was a Death Eater, Regulus confirmed as much when he said that Snape was reason she had her body sliced open like it was, covered it all the tiny cuts that refused to close up and stop bleeding no matter how hard any of them tried.

Octavia ignored the look in his eyes, she didn't care what he had gotten himself into, she didn't trust him after all the things that's happened over the years. He chose to be a Death Eater on his own accord, regardless of what older students were in his ear about it.

"Octavia, we will finish this conversation another time." Dumbledore spoke and Octavia refused to move. "Let Severus go, I will be perfectly fine."

Octavia slowly lowered her wand but she still refused to leave, she stood there watching Snape as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Why can't I get into your head?" he questioned.

"That's an invasion of privacy Snivellus," Octavia snapped.

"Octavia that is enough, go home to your family and we will continue our conversation another time."

"But," Octavia started to speak but Dumbledore held a hand up for her to speak.

"You act as if you haven't seen the error of someone's way, how it has been beneficial to us." Dumbledore responded.

Octavia turned and looked at Snape, "you made your bed, now you have to lie in it."

"Octavia that is enough," Dumbledore quickly responded.

All Octavia did was give Snape a glare before she turned and left Dumbledore's office heard home.

She was damn curious as to what Snape was doing there, a Death Eater at that but was Dumbledore right could more people being seeing the error of their ways like Regulus did?

She walked the castle in silence, mulling everything over in her head about what she went through. She needed to work out why Torment was so set on the fact that she will be the one to take down Voldemort when her own Prophecy stated otherwise.

When she was out Hogwarts grounds and able to Apparate she stood there for a moment, looking back at the Castle and as usual it seemed quiet from this far out. She had a strange feeling regarding Snape but she had to trust Dumbledore and that he could protect himself if the situation should rise.

Octavia returned home and ignored the look Sirius gave her as she walked past him heading for the kitchen.

"You're home early," he commented, entering the kitchen behind her.

"Something happened with the students that Dumbledore had to take care of, I didn't stay long enough to find out what." She responded hoping he would take her lie and not question it.

"So you didn't get to talk to him about the Wandless at all?" he questioned and when she looked over at him she knew he wasn't buying the story one hundred percent.

"Briefly, as I said there was something with the students."

"Don't lie to me Snow," Sirius gritted through his teeth.

"Fine, how about we were interrupted and if Dumbledore wants everyone else to know he'll tell us?" she responded, sounding slightly angry.

"Willa's been asking for you," was his response and she knew he wasn't happy.

"Pads," Octavia spoke, she was worried about his reaction and how mad he was.

"You didn't have to lie in the first place, I'm going to visit Prongs and Lily. Regulus is still out with Bridgette." Sirius spoke before leaving the room.

Octavia let out a sigh before she scrubbed her hands up and down her face. "Fuck," she muttered before turning and heading upstairs.

When she entered Willa's room she found the toddler to be sound asleep sprawled out on her bed. Octavia smiled before she walked around, picking up the toys Willa had left on the floor.

"Mummy," the sleep laced voice came from behind Octavia and when she turned around she found that her daughter was in fact awake and looking at her.

Octavia walked over and picked up Padfoot off the floor before laying down on the bed, waiting for Willa to curl up beside her.

"Didn't mean to wake you baby."

"Missed you," Willa spoke, voice still sounding sleepy as she made herself comfortable against Octavia, hugging her Padfoot.

Octavia didn't say anything, just ran her fingers through Willa's curls as the girl slowly fell asleep.

.oOo.

When Octavia woke up she noticed she was still in Willa's room, she doesn't remember falling asleep in there and was worried about Sirius since she assumed he would have woken her when he got home.

She carefully pried herself free from Willa hoping not to wake her before leaving the room, heading to her own hoping Sirius was in their bed.

She entered their bedroom and found he was sound asleep on the bed and she couldn't help but softly laugh at how similar it was to when she found Willa earlier.

She quickly got changed before joining Sirius in the bed, pushing against his limbs that were hogging the bed and allowing her to fit beside him.

When she made herself comfortable she noticed a pair of grey eyes watching her.

"You that mad at me you don't want to share a bed with me?" she questioned and was met by silence, the longer the silence went on the more increasingly worried she became.

But it all disappeared when his arm came around her waist, pulling her close. "You lied to me, openly lied to my face," Sirius responded.

"I know," Octavia spoke sounding dejected.

"I love you Snow, I truly do but please don't lie to me. Just tell me if you can't tell me, okay? I get that you and Dumbledore have conversations between the two of you, I get they may involve Regulus and the Horcrux he found but don't think I'm an idiot that doesn't know when you are lying."

"Okay. I'm sorry Pads."

"I know baby." Sirius shifted closer to her, pressing his lips against her forehead. "Harry's gotten so big."

"The kids going to be tall and lanky like Prongs."

"Better than Willa having your height," Sirius teased.

"Nothing wrong with my height," Octavia spoke, trying to make it seem like there was nothing wrong being short.

Sirius let out a laugh, "then why isn't there a single thing on the top shelf, anywhere in the house." He responded, a growl coming from Octavia.

"Keep going that way and I'll go back to Willa's bed."

"Try baby," Sirius responded, his voice sounding husky and she knew she was in trouble.

Octavia pulled her arm free and softly patted the top of his head, "be a good boy and go to sleep." She spoke lightly, laughing a little when he growled at her.

Sirius didn't say anything, shifted the two of them so he was laying on top her placing his arms on either side and effectively trapping her underneath him.

"I love you," Octavia spoke softly, wrapping her arms around his neck but she laughed when Sirius gave her a wolfish grin and leaned down to kiss her deeply.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	118. Safety Precautions

Chapter 117: Safety Precautions

 **March 1981**

Octavia was furious, she wanted to personally kill Snape but Dumbledore refused to tell her where the snake was. She didn't care that Snape had willingly decided to turn on Voldemort, become the spy Dumbledore always wanted, tried to get Regulus to do. She doesn't even know why Snape had the sudden change of heart but she suspected it was because of Lily.

Snape had told Dumbledore that Voldemort has heard the Prophecy, the one linked to his downfall and automatically assumed it was referring to James and Lily Potter as the ones who have defied him thrice and marking Harry as his downfall.

Octavia's mind instantly jumped to Remus and Lilith, she still believed them to be the traitors she tried to voice her concerns and theories to Dumbledore but as soon as she said traitor he refused to hear a bar of it. Dumbledore claimed he wanted to work it out on his own, not wanting to hear everyone's theories as to who they claimed to know who the traitor ones, too many theories and suggestions would skew his own thoughts.

She was currently standing in the woods behind Potter Manor, she had just spent the last however long taking her anger out on the trees and she was practically waiting for a joke from James asking how many trees were left in the woods but Octavia always stuck to the same small number of trees, not permanently damaging all of them.

She fell in love with the woods on the property when she moved in, she wanted Willa to be able to enjoy it as much as she did when she was older, with Harry and they couldn't do that if Octavia destroyed it.

But now, looking at the Manor she knew they couldn't stay here any longer they had to be moved for their safety. She just hoped they would agree with her.

Octavia walked towards the Manor and entered hoping they were home, she also she would be able to have this conversation with James because she was still unsure as to if Lily knew about the dream she had years ago stating that James and Lily don't make it through the war.

She entered through the kitchen door and found the room empty and continued through the house, looking for any sign that someone was home. "Prongs?" she called out hoping he could hear her and come looking for her, that and she didn't scare him by all of sudden appearing behind him.

James' head appeared from one of the side rooms, giving her a smile when he spotted her. "Everything alright?"

"No, you need to leave here." Octavia stated and James letting out a laugh, it didn't take long for him to realise she was being serious.

"Your serious," he let out a groan. "No jokes."

"I'm serious and why would I joke in such a serious situation," she had a slight smirk on her face and he shook his head, this long and she still wasn't over the jokes regarding Sirius' name.

"We aren't leaving."

"Please." She pleaded with him.

James didn't say anything, just turned and entered back into the room and Octavia followed. She walked over and took a seat across from in one of the couches.

"You're insane Snow. This is our home, my childhood home, the home that took you in when you left yours. Why the hell would I leave?" James snapped, not in the mood for her ridiculous ideas.

"Because Voldemort thinks the Prophecy is about Harry."

"I know that, Dumbledore told us as well. I don't care what wards you put around the property but we aren't leaving, bring the wards in if you have to."

"Prongs," Octavia started but a stern look from James made her stop

"Don't, Lily and I have spoken about this, we're Gryffindors and we don't run. We have no reason to believe he will come after us. He's probably laughing about the whole thing, a toddler being his downfall. Hell I find it rather laughable myself."

Octavia couldn't see the humour in it that James could, she wanted him to take this whole thing seriously. "Prongs I had a dream that said you and Lily die, isn't that enough for you?"

"How do we die? When do we die? Hell Snow, where do we die? Can you tell me any of that?" James questioned.

"No but-"

"No buts Snow. I love you, I really do but until you can tell me otherwise I'm not moving. I've had enough of this bogus theory you all have about each other and I'm not hearing it." Octavia assumed Sirius had mentioned something to him about their idea with Remus being the traitor because she hadn't and she wondered if Remus and/or Lilith had been in his ear as well. "Do what you want to the wards but we aren't moving and that's final. We've spent years attempting to change the future, maybe we have. Please respect our wishes Snow."

Octavia took a deep breath. "Fine," she finally responded, her voice sounding incredibly low.

James took a deep breath before standing up and taking a seat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. "I promise as soon as we hear any different, that things change then we will re-evaluate."

Octavia nodded, pulling away. "Just to be safe, what other properties are under the Potter name?"

James let out a laugh, "you and your multiple back-up plans."

Octavia grinned at him, pleased that despite him refusing to move out he was taking her concerns seriously.

She wanted to feel about the whole thing and knowing they were safe elsewhere but then again, with a traitor amongst them are any of them really safe? What if James and Lily move only to have that location compromised as well?

She knew a blood ward would be perfect but she would have to convince James or Lily to cast it, not only would that be an issue she didn't know what family Lily had out in the world. She knew Lily's parents past away last year in a car accident, them all being there for her in her time of need. She also knew that Lily's sister wasn't exactly friendly towards her, if the Death Eaters knew she had a sister how much would it take for the sister to give up the new location, if she knew.

Despite all the worries as to unknown family members, there was a reason she hadn't told anyone but Sirius of the blood ward she placed around their own home and that was because it wasn't something that was practised anymore.

Long ago Fabian and Gideon had given up checking the wards around their home, Octavia trusted herself and as such she didn't have to worry about them finding the ward.

The ward may not be classified as Dark Magic, especially not the same as The Three Unforgivenables but it did also raise eyebrows when someone was caught using it. The Ministry always suspected that something else was going on, what do you need to so badly hide that requires such complex wards?

She looked over at James and knew he was curious as to what she was thinking about, the expression on his face said it all.

"I'm just going to see what I can do with the wards, see what ones are still up, if they need strengthening before going home and seeing which I can still place around the property." Octavia spoke as she stood up.

She didn't stay to wait for James' response, just continued on outside heading towards the edge of the property checking the wards.

She knew if she wanted to completely dismantle them and move them closer to the Manor so they weren't so spread out she would have to make sure the Manor was empty, restructuring wards or putting them in the same place as previous ones didn't require so much effort or magic but completely pulling them down and placing new ones in a new spot required more effort and magic and she was unsure as to what would happen if people were inside.

.oOo.

"What are you doing?"

Octavia's eyes snapped open as she was startled, she looked over and found Regulus standing there with an amused expression on his face.

"Checking the wards around here," Octavia sat up and faced Regulus.

She was previously in her backyard laying on the ground as she went through the wards, the wards placed around her home were different to the others, she had previously taken them all down and put them all up wandlessly, making them more difficult for someone else to shift through and alter them. She had tested them with Sirius on a number of occasions to make sure they were still working effectively.

"Looks like you were taking a nap to me." Regulus mused, walking over and taking a seat beside her.

Despite it still only being March it was rather warm that time of the year and Octavia was also enjoying the small amount of warmth that was coming through.

"You wanted to be a Curse Breaker originally so you have to have some knowledge of wards, have you ever tried to look at what ones I have placed around here?" She questioned and Regulus nodded.

"Basic knowledge, Bridgette has been teaching me. I can notice the wards placed around the property, but can't really tell you which ones except one because it is like a bright light, a blood ward O?"

"No one can repeat our location except you, me, Sirius and Amycus. Alecto doesn't know we are here and we trust Amycus and you."

"How can you have wards placed around a property so close to Muggles?" Regulus questions.

"It's the wards I have placed, they have no effect on the Muggles. It's simple things like only certain owls can get through the barrier, the blood ward I had placed, the Apparition wards."

"Okay, now I definitely know the Apparition wards, why can't I detect those?" Regulus questioned.

Octavia grinned at him while she held her hands up, wiggling her fingers around. "Wandlessly, I experiment with Sirius. When I put a ward in place using wandless magic they can't be detected properly with a wand, yes you will see a ward is there and if you use enough magic you will eventually find out what is placed around the home but in a hurry, it won't work."

"That's pretty ingenious O," Regulus spoke.

"Well what can I say?" she responded with a smirk.

"Anyway, the reason I came out here. Willa is down for her nap and I have a date with Bridgette. Are you going to be alright until Sirius gets home?"

"I'm not a child Reg, I will be perfectly fine on my own but thank you for your concern."

"Where is Sirius anyway?" Regulus questioned and Octavia fell silent, averting her gaze. "Very well, I don't know when I will be home."

"Don't get caught," was Octavia's response as she stood up, brushing off the grass and dirt before heading inside making a start on the cleaning that had to be done once again because Willa was running through the house like a hurricane.

Despite Octavia knowing full well that Voldemort knew Regulus to be alive he was still dead to the Ministry and she didn't understand how, Voldemort had connections within the Ministry. Why hadn't he set people on the trail of Regulus and have him placed in Azkaban or even set his Death Eaters on him when he left the safety of the house.

Regulus had gotten to the point where he no longer cared if he was believed to be dead or alive, most of the time lately he had been out helping clean up the destruction caused by the Death Eaters and he was seen in public, long ago given up his fake looks but yet nothing ever happened, nothing was ever said.

Octavia stopped in the living room and stared the mess Willa made, she scrubbed her face before letting out a sigh.

Willa was almost three and she had so much energy that sometimes she refused to have a nap, preferred to running around the house, being chased or chasing someone, whether they were human or in their Animagus form.

Octavia knew she could pull out her wand or wave her hand the house will start cleaning herself but she liked the distraction, she liked that she was wasting time while Willa napped and both Sirius and Regulus were out of the house.

Despite the fact that Willa was well accustomed the T.V and enjoyed watching it both Sirius and Octavia couldn't sit there in front of it and were unsure as to where their daughter's fascination came from but allowed the Muggle technology in the house for the sake of their daughter.

Octavia was wiping down the kitchen counter after the mess she made, after she had cleaned up the mess caused by Willa she set ahead for making peach and mango pie for dessert. They were meant to be having dinner with James and Lily for his birthday and for some reason, the strange combination was James' favourite type of pie.

She heard a noise and looked up, finding Sirius standing there looking at her. "Hi," she spoke softly, giving him a smile.

"Prongs will be pleased to see what you are baking," he responded a sour look on his face and she let out a laugh.

"Oh come now, we both know you will still devour your slice of the pie, just because you aren't a fan of peach and mango doesn't mean anything."

Sirius didn't say anything, just hummed as he walked over and took a seat on one of the bar stools. "How long as Willa been asleep?"

Octavia let out a groan. "Fuck, I forgot to wake her up and now she will be up all night again."

"Tell me again why we let her act like a big girl and stay up all night? Tell me why we didn't even attempt to dissuade her."

"Because we were both delirious from lack of sleep due to our mission the previous night and it's not like we can force her to sleep. I'm not hexing our daughter and we don't have the required potions."

"We're not going to get any sleep tonight," Sirius complained. "I'm going to wake her up, hopefully at some stage she will sleep and if she doesn't, no naps tomorrow because I swear we aren't having a repeat of this for days."

"Oh but Pads, nap time is so much fun." Octavia spoke, winking when he looked at her enjoying the sight of the wolfish grin he gave her.

"We can fun any time baby," he responded before leaving the kitchen.

Octavia began wiping down the counter getting ready for the pie was ready, she knew it would be ready about now but before she had the chance to check on it she heard a bang upstairs and dread filled her at where that sound could possibly come from.

She ran upstairs going straight to Willa's room hoping both her daughter and Sirius were okay but she was confused when she entered the room.

Willa was sitting on her bed crying, Sirius looked completely dumbfounded at the mess that was now in the room. Willa's clothes were all over the place while her draws that originally housed the clothes was in pieces all over the room.

"We're okay, I just… I really don't know." Sirius spoke, looking around as if there was someone hiding in the room.

Octavia walked over and picked Willa up, hoping to calm her down. "daddy mean, he not let me sleep."

"You were only meant to nap for a little while baby," Octavia responded looking back at Sirius. "The explosion happened when you attempted to wake her up?"

"Yeah I guess, it all happened so fast I couldn't comprehend what was happening, one minute she was arguing with me for waking her up and getting her out of bed and the next she's crying because of the loud noise."

"Accidental magic I suppose," Octavia responded and it was then they heard the screeching noise, the one belonging to the smoke detector downstairs. "Fuck the pie," Octavia complained.

"Fuck," Willa repeated.

"Great, just great, what a marvellous day today has turned out to be. Baby go to daddy."

"No," Willa responded, wrapping her arms around Octavia's neck.

"I'll go," Sirius spoke, now realising that because of what happened he was in the bad books with his own daughter.

Octavia waited until Sirius was gone before she placed Willa back down on her bed, "no, no nap." Octavia spoke when she realised Willa was attempting to go back to sleep.

"Sleepy."

"That's your own fault for thinking you can stay up all night."

Willa made a noise in response that Octavia couldn't understand, she look back at her daughter. "Use your words Willa."

"I'm big girl."

"Yes you are and big girls don't have naps." Octavia responded, hoping Willa will take it and not go to sleep. She needed Willa to stay away for the next couple of hours before she gets put to bed for the night.

"Nymph naps." Willa pointed out and Octavia took a deep breath.

Octavia didn't know where this attitude that Willa had all of a sudden had come from, the last couple of weeks had seen Willa picking what fights she could with both Sirius and Octavia.

Octavia was at a loss, if she said Nymphadora wasn't a big girl in response Willa will repeat the comment the next time the girls are together. Willa has yet to learn what the word secret means and repeats everything.

"How about this, no nap and you can have sweets." Octavia responded, hoping to barter with the child.

Ever since they realised Willa has this endless source of energy, whether or not she has had copious amounts of sugar, they have tried to limit the amount of sugar Willa has, even more so than usual.

"No," Willa responded and Octavia bit her tongue.

In the end Octavia stayed silent, refusing to speak as she walked around and picked up Willa's clothes that had been thrown across the room. The only word she said to her daughter was her name when she caught sight of the girl drifting off.

"What's going on in here?" Sirius voice came and Octavia looked over her shoulder at him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Someone here thinks she's allowed to sleep whenever she wants." Octavia responded.

"How about no nap and we go for a fly with Prongs?" Sirius questioned and Octavia wanted to kick herself for not thinking of that.

"No," Willa responded, pounding her fists against her bed.

Sirius raised an eyebrow before walking over and helping Octavia, "pie's ruined."

"You sound so pleased at that," Octavia mused and Sirius let out a laugh. "It's like she's found a game in arguing with us, wondering how long till we break. I even bartered with sweets."

"And that didn't work, maybe she does need the nap."

They both stood up and looked over where Willa was now sitting on her bed playing with her toys, completely unaware that they were watching her but it was when she caught sight of them watching her she let out a yawn before laying down in her bed.

"Definitely a game," Octavia spoke turning back around. "If we ignore her she will go back to playing with her toys."

"Or we will have a repeat performance."

"And tomorrow we will go to the zoo," Octavia snapped in response, taking a deep breath. "Sorry," she apologised.

"I know baby, I remember what you were like after Willa was born and sleep deprived."

"I want to try fixing the draws when Willa's not in here, the pieces are all over the place."

"Later, we have to leave." Sirius spoke, looking at his watch.

Octavia stood up, noticing the look on Sirius' face. "What is it Pads?"

"Just wondering if that one would have been a boy and what it would be like raising a boy."

Octavia's face fell, realising what Sirius was on about. The baby she lost a couple of months back. "I know Pads, I want to give Willa siblings but we both agreed to after the war. We will start trying after the war."

"I know baby, come on."

.oOo.

The three of them entered the kitchen at Potter Manor where everyone was gathered, Octavia was displeased that both Remus and Lilith were there after what happened a few weeks back but she had to remember this was for James, for his birthday and if he wanted the traitor here then she would have to deal with it.

She ignored the two of them, greeting only James, Lily and Peter seeing how Peter was doing after losing Dorcas.

"You two look like a mess," Lily commented.

Octavia and Lily had followed James and Sirius into the empty ballroom allowing Willa to ride around on her broom, not wanting to let the girl outside but she didn't question it, happy that she was going for a fly.

"It's been one of those days, Prongs' pie was ruined so there's that as well."

"He will be devastated but I also made cake."

"Good nobody likes that pie except for him anyway." Octavia responded and they both let out a laugh. "Willa also learnt a new word today, although I don't think she actually knows what it means."

"Knowing you and Padfoot, it could be anything."

"Hey!" Sirius called out from across the room. "This one is all Snow."

"Some things happened and I was distracted from the pie, letting it burn slightly causing smoke and the smoke detector was set off and I said fuck." Octavia responded. "As I said, it's been one of those days."

"What started it all?"

"Our mission the other night, Willa refusing to sleep last night and accidental magic. It all added up."

Lily placed a hand on Octavia's arm. "If you ever need a break."

"Thank you." Was all Octavia said in response.

The only people she trusted to look after Willa now were Andromeda and Ted and Regulus and Bridgette, she trusted James and Lily she did but with their location somewhat compromised and the fact that they are still trusting Remus, she didn't want to risk Willa.

She knew without a doubt that if Voldemort got a hold of Willa she would coming running and do whatever it is that he wanted from her without question.

.oOo.

Dread filled Octavia as she made her way through the street, she had heard from Fabien and Gideon that the Muggle police were searching the property and that Ministry isn't able to intervene just yet because they were Muggles with no proof of foul play from the Magical Community.

Octavia stopped in front of the barrier and looked up at where Avianna's house stood, where her parents still lived.

One of the neighbours had called the police, stating that they hadn't seen their neighbours in some time and Octavia was beginning to question if the Apparition wards had been disturbed but she could feel them still in place so someone broke in during the middle of the night.

She needed to get into the house and find out where Avianna's parents were and if they were okay because she didn't want her cousin to go through the pain of losing her parents.

It was when she caught sight of people finally leaving the house that she would get her answers, she pushed her way through the crowd.

"What happened here?" she questioned.

"Who are you?"

"They're my aunt and uncle, I was coming to visit them when I saw the crowd. Please tell me they're okay." Octavia pleaded with the muggle.

"Do they have anyone else living with them?"

"Well my cousin, their daughter but she's at boarding school. What happened to my aunt and uncle?" she questioned once more hoping she would get told the truth.

"Someone will be in touch with you once we have all the details," the muggle responded and Octavia had enough.

"O!" she turned her head at the sound of her name and found Benjy heading her way.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned.

"I could ask you the same thing, I'm here because of what happened."

Octavia nodded and turned back to look at the house, noticing the Muggle was gone. "Anna's parents live here," she responded and Benjy placed a hand on her shoulder.

"The Muggle Police view us as a specialised unit, call on us when there is strange and unusual cases with thanks of the Minister. Me being here isn't a good sign O, I'm really sorry."

Octavia didn't say anything, she looked at the house for a moment before she turned and left letting Benjy do his job while she headed to a safe place to Apparate, she had to inform Avianna of the death of her parents and she feared what would happen when she did.

.oOo.

Octavia stood there at the entrance of Ilvernormy, Dumbledore had sent word ahead to the current Headmistress, Temperance Twelvetrees. This was the same Headmistress that made Avianna's transfer from Hogswarts to Ilvernormy much smoother than it normally would, allowing her to be sorted before the rest of the students arrived.

"You must be Octavia," Octavia turned around at the sound of the voice and saw who she assumed to be the current Headmistress.

"I am and you must be Headmistress Twelvetrees, thank you for allowing me entrance on to your grounds as well as everything you have done for my cousin." The Headmistress nodded and the two of them made their way across the grounds.

"Avianna Carrow is such a bright girl, very enthusiastic about everything as well for someone of Pureblood status."

"She was raised as a Muggle, my aunt and uncle put her up for adoption. It was when she arrived at Hogwarts that a blood test was done."

"Her first year, as I assume you have heard was tough for her but her second one, this current year she has been doing a lot better, she's been making friends and joining clubs like every other student."

"I'm glad, she hated leaving Hogwarts and the friends she made behind. I'm glad to hear she is fitting in well." Octavia responded, stopping as she looked up at the Castle in front of her. "It's breathtaking."

"Yes it is, isn't it? I assume Hogwarts is much the same, come I will bring you to my office while I have one of the Professors grab Avianna for you."

Octavia nodded and followed the Headmistress through the school, taking in everything that was different but also same between Ilvernormy and Hogwarts. She hadn't set foot on another Magical School grounds before, didn't see the point before now but she was glad she got the opportunity.

"You don't have the previous Headmaster or Headmistress portraits hanging?" Octavia questioned as she looked around the office while she waited for Avianna.

"No, just the previous one, different traditions I suppose. If you excuse me I have a meeting with my Potions Professor, Avianna shouldn't be much longer." Headmistress Twelvetrees spoke and Octavia nodded at her, allowing her to leave.

"You want to see me," Octavia turned at the sound of Avianna's voice, clearly shocking her cousin by her presence. "What are you doing here?" she quickly questioned.

"Anna," Octavia spoke softly.

"No, you're only here because someone's dead. You wouldn't come here and risk someone finding out you came here unless someone is dead. You wouldn't be let on the grounds unless someone is dead." Avianna responded as tears built up in her eyes.

Octavia merely nodded, unsure as to what to say. Avianna clearly understood why she was hiding and what would risk her exposer.

"Who?" Avianna questioned.

Octavia didn't know how to do this, how to inform her cousin that her parents had been killed. "Your parents." She responded softly and the tears instantly started running down Avianna's face.

"No your wrong. You promised me you would protect them, it's why I agreed to come all the way out here away from them!" Avianna yelled.

Octavia walked over to Avianna and hugged her cousin but she just fought against her.

"No, you promised me!" Avianna yelled once more.

"I did everything I could, I placed the wards I could without interrupting their way of life but remember they refused to be moved or have Auror supervision. They wanted a normal life, remember you were sitting there with me in Potter Manor while we had this conversation with Dumbledore and Sirius." Octavia spoke, hoping Avianna's anger will disappear.

"My parents are dead, I don't care what they said you should have done everything you could despite what they wanted."

"I did, I gave them Auror supervision but when we're starting to get knocked off one by one or the attacks on the community are getting worse it's hard. I did everything I could Anna."

Octavia stood there leaning against the desk, silent as she waited for Avianna's anger to disappear and they can have a rational conversation.

Avianna reached up and wiped away the tears, "when is their funeral?" she questioned softly.

"I don't believe you should attend Anna, it will be a trap. There will be Death Eaters watching their funeral with hopes that you will turn up. I want you to stay here from now on, surely you have a friend whose family will take you in for the breaks."

"Let me get this straight, you came all the way here to tell me my parents are dead and now you're telling me I can't attend their bloody funeral. You're certifiably insane." Avianna snapped and Octavia took a deep breath.

"How would your parents feel if you went all the way back home to attend their funeral just to have you killed? Everything we've done to protect you is all ruined because you went back home. I know how much it sucks not having a funeral for someone, James' father was killed and we didn't have a funeral because the Ministry is advising everyone against them and same when Peter's girlfriend Dorcas was killed."

"I'm going home," Avianna threatened.

"How Anna? You go to the Magical Congress to go home that and the moment you appear in the Ministry back home any one of Voldemort's Death Eaters hiding amongst them will grab you, they will kill you."

"Because you pissed him off! My parents are dead because of you!" Avianna yelled and Octavia hated herself, she was partly to blame.

"I know," Octavia spoke softly, lowering her gaze and staring at the floor.

.oOo.

Octavia pulled her shoes off before throwing herself down on her bed, not even looking up when she heard movement in the room.

"How'd Anna take it?" Sirius questioned and she finally turned her head to look at her.

"She hates me but at least she won't be returning to Britain any time soon."

"I'm sorry baby."

"As she said, it's my fault. I pissed him off, he put a target on Anna and as such he turned on her parents." Octavia responded, burying her face in the bed when she saw his eyes narrow.

"The only ones to blame are the ones who killed them." Sirius spoke, walking over and taking a seat on the bed beside her.

"Anna hates me," Octavia spoke into the bed and Sirius didn't say anything, just wrapped an arm around her waist as the two of them slowly fell asleep.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	119. Moving Day

Chapter 118: Moving Day

 **May 1981**

Octavia sprung up in her bed and begun hyperventilating, her quick movements caused Sirius to stir beside her.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Sirius became wide awake, noticing the panic attack that Octavia seemed to be moments from having.

"I saw Prongs and Lily dead…" she whispered and Sirius quickly moved on the bed so he was kneeling in front of her.

He cupped her face, forcing her to look at him. "They can't be, you spent weeks working on those wards, strengthening them and making sure that no one can sneak up on them."

"I don't know Sirius, I'm not a fucking mind reader." Octavia snapped and attempted to pull away from him but he just gripped her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, tell me what you saw, please?" he pleaded with her, he had never seen her like this after one of her dreams, not even when she saw Amycus die.

"The two of them were just lying there on the floor dead, the house was destroyed. They were at Potter Manor, I recognised the living room where they were. We need to move them Pads, they need to go somewhere safer, with more spells and protective wards, somewhere Voldemort can't find them."

Sirius frowned before wiping away the tear that had escaped, "we will protect them Snow, we won't let anything happen to them. They're family."

Sirius didn't say anything else, he laid down on the bed and wrapped an arm around Octavia's waist pulling her down beside him.

.oOo.

James woke up by a sound coming downstairs, he was confused because he remembered Octavia working incredibly hard on the wards surrounding Potter Manor. He looked beside him and quickly noticed that Lily was also awake, looking scared for the sake of their son.

"Go get Harry and be prepared to run, remember how I showed to pull down the Apparition wards in case they get put up?" James spoke and Lily nodded before she climbed out of the bed and went in search of where the noise was coming from.

He didn't think things were happening this fast, he couldn't believe that Voldemort was that scared of a child that he would come after them straight away.

He entered the living was livid at what he saw. "Merlin's pants, Snow!" He yelled, startling the girl.

"I'm sorry, I hope that wasn't valuable." Octavia apologised, looking at the glass covering the floor.

James pulled his wand out and waved it, instantly fixing the broken vase before looking at her. "What's wrong? Why are you here in the middle of the night?"

"You need leave, tonight. Please." She pleaded with him.

James didn't want to have this argument again in the middle of the night but then again why was she here in the middle of the night. James walked closer to her and it was then he noticed, the small signs in her eyes.

"What did you see?"

Tears pooled in her eyes and James couldn't handle it, he didn't even need a response. "Okay, we'll leave."

"Now?" Octavia choked out and James wrapped his arms around her.

He was completely worried as to what she had saw, it was obviously bad enough that she was this distraught and he was unsure as to what he should think about it.

James has known for years that there was a possibility that Octavia would see the outcome of the war and he knew that from overhearing snippets of the conversations taking place between her and Sirius that they knew, more than they let on anyway. He always wondered what exactly it was she saw and what made her believe what was happening to be true.

But he also knew she wasn't naïve, she grew up in a home knowing about the darker side of things and knowing what was happening, she grew up knowing that her siblings will become Death Eaters and one of them signed up as one the summer after her first year at Hogwarts.

He was the naïve one growing up, being sheltered by his parents, it was with meeting Sirius and Octavia, even Remus, that he was allowed to see the horrors in the world that he was protected from because of his parents.

It was because of all them that he knew that Octavia wouldn't take her dreams lightly, he knew that she only trusted them because she had seen the proof behind them, seen them come true and his Goddaughter was proof enough.

"Why don't you go home to Padfoot and Willa while Lily and I start packing?" James questioned and Octavia pulled away from him shaking her head.

"He's going to be so mad at me."

"Why?" he questioned, unsure as to what would be happening between two of his best mates, the same ones he could see were destined to be together when they were all eleven.

"I snuck out of bed, I had to tell you and get you to move. You promised that if I had a dream that allowed me to answer your questions you would move without even questioning me."

"I know Snow, but not in the middle of the night. Now go home before you really do cause Padfoot to go grey."

"I'll have to remarry."

James let out a laugh at her comment but stood there and watched as she disappeared almost instantly and that was when the façade he had up in front of her broke and he collapsed to the ground.

Being told that Voldemort wanted his son was different.

Being told that not all of their friends make it out of a war was different, it was a war and there would surely be casualties.

Even seeing Octavia's reaction to them not choosing a Godmother was different.

It shook him to the core seeing her like this, having the proof in front of him that he and Lily do die, die at the hands of Voldemort because he wants their son dead. The only thing James couldn't bring himself to do was ask if Harry made it out alive, he convinced himself that he did. He convinced himself that his death allowed Harry to have a life, a childhood and a future.

It took a couple of minutes to calm himself down before he left in search of Lily, knowing if she was no longer in the house she had escaped to their hideout. The property he looked into after the last visit from Octavia about their potential deaths.

James had refused to tell Lily what he knew, that they may die in the future at the hands of Voldemort because of the Prophecy that was foretold linking Harry and Voldemort. But now he thought maybe he had to, maybe he had to panic his wife and just hope she understands.

He hoped that Lily understood why they were now going to shut themselves off from the world with practically no visitors.

.oOo.

When Sirius woke up once more he quickly noticed that the bed was empty beside him, it was normal for Octavia to leave the bed during the night whether she went to the bathroom or downstairs to get a drink. He was used to rolling over half asleep still and wanting to wrap his arm around her, holding her close even more so with the war getting worse and more of the Order members being killed.

Sirius whole heartedly believed that there was a traitor amongst the group, they were slowly being picked off one by one in their own homes. He agreed with Octavia, Remus seemed like the likely candidate.

Now having woken up fully waiting for Octavia to return, he sat up in the bed and wondered where she really was, he could see that there was no crack of light coming from the bathroom and hoped more than anything that she was downstairs.

After having grabbed a pair of pants he made his way through the house, checking in Willa's room before heading downstairs in search of his wife. His paranoia increasing with the more rooms he found empty.

He couldn't even check the wards of his home to see if they were disturbed, they were made so that only Octavia could truly check them.

It was then as he passed the office he heard the distinct sound of someone Apparating that he opened the door and found Octavia standing there.

"You know running from our marriage only works if you stay gone," Sirius joked, knowing full well that she was still shaken from what she saw earlier.

"Couldn't leave Willa alone with you, she may starve." Octavia responded, her heart not truly in the joke and he could see it and hated it. "I went to see Prongs," she explained further.

"Well at least two of us have had heart attacks tonight, you scared me Snow. Me waking up in the middle of night and finding you aren't in the house, we're being picked off one by one at the moment and you choose now of all times to leave in the middle of the night."

Octavia merely nodded but didn't say anything else.

Sirius took a deep breath before walking over and wrapping his arms around her, one of his hands automatically going into her hair. "I know baby, I'm worried about them as well but you can't go giving people heart attacks in the middle of the night. Come back to bed and then tomorrow we will go and help Prongs and Lily find somewhere new to live."

.oOo.

"Snow stop," Sirius scolded.

Octavia looked at him for only a moment, her fidgeting stopping before she started again and Sirius took a deep breath.

The two of them were currently at the Potter's having left Willa in the capable hands on Andromeda while Regulus was off with Dumbledore, helping him with something.

"Is she alright?" Lily question, noticing Octavia's actions as she entered the room.

Sirius didn't respond, just looked at his wife knowing full well that she was ignoring the look he was giving her. He was worried about her, she had barely slept after they went back to bed and she was just tossing and turning all night keeping him up as well.

It was as the sun was coming through their bedroom that he had enough, rolled over and pinned her down with an arm.

Sirius sat up straighter as he saw the couch cushion go flying across the room, only to hit Octavia square in the face.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked over and gave James a death glare, "Prongs!" she screeched.

Sirius sat there, unsure as to what was about to happen but it was with the grin that James had on his face before sending another couch cushion towards Octavia and in turn she threw one back that all previous tension in the room was gone as they all started laughing.

"Alright now that it seems as though Snow is no longer wound up, what are we going to do?" James as he sat there on the couch bouncing Harry up and down on his lap.

"First things first would be to find a new home," Octavia pointed out. "I find this place home too Prongs, your parents took me in when I needed someone too."

James stayed silent, giving Harry attention for a moment before looking at Lily briefly. "After our last conversation Snow I started looking into the properties under the Potter name, there's one I don't think anyone under Voldemort's ruling will know about."

"Wouldn't it be easier to buy a new property though?" Sirius questioned.

He wanted to keep James and Lily safe, keep his family protected and the fact that they were willingly moving into a property that has been in the family for who knows how long. He knew at one stage there was a Black family member that married into the Potter family and this was before the Potter family became fully fledged blood traitors and he was concerned as to how much his family may know about the Potter family holdings.

"That's the thing Padfoot, mum and dad brought this when I turned 17. It was meant to be a wedding present for when I got married, I have no idea why dad didn't mention it but it's there."

"Where?" Octavia questioned.

"Godrics Hallow." James responded with a grin and Sirius let out a laugh.

"As long as you don't go around claiming you are a descendant of Godric Gryffindor again," Octavia teased.

"Come on, one time in third year." James tried to defend himself.

"No, several times, seven years." Octavia said with a smirk.

"I never heard this," Lily spoke.

"It's also those two baiting each other," Sirius whispered towards Lily and she looked at him.

"Fine, I'll stop if you admit you're a descendant of Salazar Slytherin." James grinned at her.

A scowl appeared on Octavia's face and Sirius let out a laugh. "I thought that was me?"

"Nah you just married the Slytherin princess."

"Sh, don't go telling people my secrets." Sirius hissed at James.

Octavia looked between the two of them, noticing their large smiles. "You're both prats."

"But yet there is a smile on your face Snow," Sirius responded, incredibly happy at seeing a smile on her face.

There had been so much going on with her in the last few hours and Sirius was worried. Even when Octavia had the dream that showed Amycus being killed for protecting her she didn't seem as distraught despite her not being able to calm down but Sirius put it down to it being the first 'bad dream' she had seen.

Sirius knew it was different this time with Prongs and Lily, she was obsessed with protecting them and she wasn't this obsessed with Amycus.

He had heard Octavia mutter to herself previously about dying for the greater good and he didn't want to think that his best friend, his brother, was one of those people.

"Someone going to finally explain what is going on?" Lily questioned, becoming annoyed when the other three burst out laughing again.

"Okay so I lied when I said seven years, it started in third year I think?" Octavia spoke, questioning as she looked at the others for confirmation. "Anyway, some first year overheard us talking and Prongs bragging about how his family, the Potters, have been in Gryffindor for centuries so of course the first year ask if he was a descendant of Gryffindor."

"According to the books there are no proof that the descendants of any of the Four Founders are still around." Lily pointed out.

"Not necessarily, Purebloods are still in existence and our families date back centuries, having been at Hogwarts since it's inception. Even some of the families where the name has died out is because of Squibs being born into families and being disowned." Sirius explained.

"Exactly, so if the Squib was disowned and lived with Muggles technically they carried on the name and having magical descendants at some point in the line." Octavia continued.

"So are any of you descendants of a Founder?" Lily questioned.

"Nope, but imagine if you were." Octavia responded and Lily nodded.

Sirius fell silent, both he and Octavia knew who one descendant was, they both knew that Voldemort was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

"Alright lets go back to this house, are you sure it's safe?" Sirius questioned.

"Yes, until just now no one except Lily and I know about it. We figured, trusting a small number of people, Dumbledore, Fabien and Gideon, Wormtail and Moony, maybe some other people in the Order." Sirius and Octavia shared a look as James said 'Moony'. "Don't, I really don't want to hear these accusations again."

"No more missions though," Octavia pointed out.

Sirius looked over at James and Lily, he could see it on their faces, they both thought Octavia was insane. "She's right." He joined in, standing by his wife.

"Why?" James questioned, not pleased with where this was going.

"Because this new house needs to stay safe, you trust who _you_ trust but you can't go leaving the house. I've heard of Godrics Hallow and it's half Muggles, blend in with the Muggles and live as them. No missions, no Apparating anywhere and limit the amount of times we visit you. Anyone could follow us out there." Octavia explained.

"Anyone could follow you to your own home, why haven't you become shut ins?" James pointed out and Octavia took a deep breath.

"Because Voldemort just wants me dead, I'm a thorn in his side and nothing more. You, he sees Harry as his downfall because of that stupid blood Prophecy, he's given up on me for you." Octavia responded, anger lacing her voice.

"Snow," Sirius warned her and she placed her face in her hands. "She's right Prongs, we both spoke of the risk especially after Willa was born but we never had any proof that they wanted Willa dead. But Voldemort wants Harry dead, you need to do this, give up what you want for him."

James turned and looked at Lily, even Sirius could see the emotion in her eyes as she looked at where Harry was still sitting on James' lap. "How do you feel about it love?" he questioned softly.

"Anything to protect him, he's our son James. If we have to hide out in a town then we will, we will do whatever it takes to keep Harry protected." Lily responded, reaching over and grabbing Harry from James.

"I would like to check the house out before you two permanently move in, check the wards and place them, basically anything I can do to help." Octavia spoke and James nodded, standing up.

"Love, are you alright to start packing while I take Snow?"

Sirius sat there and watched his friends, Lily didn't say anything verbally but she stood giving him a slight nod before walking over and softly kissing his cheek. Sirius could heard the slight murmur of her whispering in James' ear but it wasn't loud enough that he could hear her.

Sirius' interest was spiked as James turned and looked at Lily, a large smile on his.

Sirius stayed silent and waited until both Octavia and James left, looking over at Lily when they did. "What did you say to him?" he questioned.

A slight blush appeared on Lily's face and Sirius let out a laugh before jumping off the couch and following Lily out of the room.

"How worried should we be about Snow?" Lily questioned instead.

"I don't know Lily, I've never seen her this obsessed about something. Even when we were trying to become Animagi and creating the map, she was obsessed but not like this, not to the point where she sneaks out of the house in the middle of the night." Sirius spoke and Lily looked over at him for a moment before placing Harry in his play pen in the main bedroom.

"Why is she obsessed though, why does she think that this will happen, why we will die?" Lily responded and Sirius stayed silent, walking over and joining Harry as Lily walked around and began packing their things.

"You know you're a witch right? You can wave your wand and it will all magically pack itself right?" Sirius teased.

"Says the person who lives his life the most Muggle way possible out of all of us?" Lily responded with a grin and Sirius let out a laugh.

"Touché, what did you say to Prongs, really?" Sirius questioned once more.

"Just something about the fun we can have when you lot aren't randomly turning up." Lily responded.

Sirius didn't say anything, he just let out a laugh before focusing his attention solely on Harry while Lily did what she needed to do.

.oOo.

Octavia was exhausted but she couldn't sleep, not just yet anyway.

She had spent hours at the new place that James and Lily would be calling home, there wasn't a single ward surrounding the property so she had to begin from scratch putting everything she could think of to protect them.

But she feared it wasn't enough, she knew Dumbledore would know of something, a way to keep them protected better than just simple warding and she feared a blood ward wouldn't do.

She stood there are the boundary of the Hogwarts grounds staring up at the Castle, she didn't even realise what time it was when she arrived here. The students were out on the grounds enjoying the sun, not even thinking of the horrors taking place out in the world that didn't affect them.

She couldn't walk onto the grounds, not with all the students standing around, studying and having fun, relaxing from the stress that is exam time. She didn't know which students were in league with Voldemort and she wasn't naïve enough to think otherwise, having spoken to Regulus she knew that he was recruiting from within Hogwarts to keep an eye on the students and there was always someone helping recruit for the following year.

"Hagrid," Octavia beamed spotting the large man heading towards her.

"Carrow," he greeted in return.

"Please, call me O, how many times have I told you this?" Octavia responded, still smiling up at the giant.

She was fond of Hagrid, ever since he tried to heal her while she was injured as a wolf despite her snarling and attempting to bite his hand off. He waved it off like it was no big deal, that she was protecting herself.

She knew Hagrid was a part of the Order, but due to him being expelled from his own time at Hogwarts he didn't have a wand and was useless in battles. Instead Dumbledore used him as some sort of messenger, sending messengers to people or even working as a spy in some of the more low key bars, hoping to overhear information and as such not many people knew of Hagrid's involvement despite everyone knowing how loyal he is to Dumbledore.

"I spent seven years chasing you and your friends away from the Forbidden Forest, only to find out you willingly spent time with a werewolf every month."

"Nonsense Hagrid, I was an absolute angel." She grinned at him and he let out a booming laugh.

"What are you doing here?"

"I need to meet with Dumbledore but there are too many students around, can you get a message to him?" Octavia questioned.

"Of course."

"Tell him to meet me at the Three Broomsticks?" Octavia questioned and Hagrid nodded before turning away and heading towards the Castle.

Octavia took a deep before heading to Hogsmeade, unsure as to how long she will have to wait for him.

.oOo.

Octavia was sitting there in the Three Broomsticks waiting for Dumbledore, she knew the man was busy with both running of Hogwarts and in the plans of taking down Voldemort but she was terrified with the idea of losing her friends, the people she considered family.

The only thing distracting her was watching the fox frolic around in the over grown grass and bushes in what would be considered the back yard to the Three Broomsticks, she thought maybe Rosmerta didn't like leaving the safety of her bar, but then again most people didn't.

Octavia knew that the wizarding world was becoming a shadow of itself, it's former glory was disappearing. Not many people frequent the Three Broomsticks anymore, it was the emptiest she had ever seen it. Even the number of times she goes into Diagon Alley to talk with the goblins at Gringotts about something the number of people were small and the ones that were there were in a rush, quickly doing what they required instead of browsing all the stores and what they had to offer.

"Octavia," Dumbledore's voice broke through her thoughts and she turned her head, finding Dumbledore standing there.

"Why is it that the patrons of this bar understand the complex things our world is going through but yet I look out the window and something is simple as a fox frolic through the bushes is able to distract my thoughts?" she questioned turning back to the window and continued to watch the fox.

"Because you have many things you wish to distract yourself from, why did you wish to speak to me today?" Dumbledore spoke as he took a seat at the table with Octavia.

Octavia stayed silent, trying to find her words as Rosmerta appeared and placed a drink in front of Dumbledore while replacing her empty one.

"James and Lily are moving out of Potter Manor and into a more secure location, I'm trusting them with who they trust as to who can know where they are."

"You still believe someone close to them is the traitor."

"Why is Harry Voldemort's downfall and not Neville? They're only a day apart with Neville being one day older. So again, why Harry and not Neville?" Octavia questioned.

"I cannot tell you that. What do you want from me?"

"I've put what wards I can, pretty much every single one I know that will be of any good around their new home but I need something more. I've now seen them die twice and I want to prevent it from happening. There has to be something that better to hide them."

Octavia took a sip of drinking, much again allowing her attention to be taken by the fox outside while Dumbledore stayed silent, she hated how bad the war was getting. She feared how many people had to die before Voldemort was finally taken down.

"I'm looking Octavia, I'm doing the best I can by looking into something that will hide them much better than the standard ward you would have placed. I do not want you to think I do believe your warding is subpar, I believe they can be exceptional and you are very creative when placing them, intertwining more than one together and making them near impossible to pull down."

Octavia looked back over at him, realising what he was getting at. "You want like a giant invisibility cloak? You know James has one?"

"No I did not, do you think he will lend it to me to examine? Perhaps the invisibility cloak is the key to hiding them." Dumbledore pondered.

"We all borrowed it during Hogwarts, he didn't have a problem with us helping ourselves to it whenever we wished." Octavia responded with a shrug.

"Is this the same one, the same one you all used during your time at Hogwarts?" Dumbledore questioned and Octavia nodded. "Interesting. I have to be off, the end of term requires many things from me so unless you have anything you wish to discuss."

"No not at all, I didn't intend to keep you for long." Octavia responded.

"Enjoy the rest of your day, I do believe there will be an Order meeting soon enough."

Octavia sat there and watched as Dumbledore stood up from the table and leaving a couple of Galleons on the table for Rosmerta before leaving the pub and her alone with her thoughts.

Octavia knew James' invisibility cloak was something special, considering he had it for at least 10 years and it was still in its original working condition. She's looked over it a hundred times trying to see if there was a way to duplicate the magic within it but she never got anything from it. So, either she was looking in the wrong spot or Dumbledore knew something she didn't and he didn't feel like sharing.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to bookdragonslayer, Ginny702, YumiKnowsBest, Raven that flies at night and Horse lover for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Horse lover, I'm glad you love my story, it means so much to hear this from my readers.**


	120. Breaking Point

Chapter 119: Breaking Point

 **August 1981**

Octavia closed the door to Regulus' room with a sigh of relief, she could see the figure belonging to her brother in law in his bed but she felt like it was weeks since she last had a conversation with him but in reality they do exchange words every now and then.

She knew Regulus was doing something for Dumbledore, she had no idea as to what it was because neither of them had decided to disclose the information with her but she did worry for the safety of Regulus. He had started being mentioned in the Daily Prophet in the last couple of months and it worried her, despite the Ministry reversing his death Walburga refused too, stated that what he did was worse than what Sirius did and deserved to be cut off and no longer deserved to wear the Black name.

Octavia was confused at first, wondering if Kreacher spilled the beans and told Walburga what he did but Regulus explained that Kreacher couldn't and probably wouldn't. Regulus stated Walburga didn't know that Kreacher was in on what happened and as such won't order the elf to tell her everything.

She walked down the hall and checked on Willa, shaking her head at the sight. She doesn't know how Willa found the position she frequently slept in to be comfortable but yet there she was, hanging over the edge of her bed holding on to her Padfoot for dear life.

She wanted to enter the room and move her daughter she so was lying on her bed in a more comfortable position but she also knew that at the slightest movement Willa would wake up.

She pulled the door closed and rested her forehead against the frame, she hated admitting she was terrified, terrified of what was happening out in her world.

She hasn't seen James or Lily since they went into hiding, everyone agreed the less visitors they have the better and as such she missed her best friends, even Peter had been sparse on his visits and she didn't even want to think about what would happen if she turned up to Lilith and/or Remus after what happened last time.

There were rarely any missions these days and it's why she was so worried about Regulus, most of the Order were in hiding. Voldemort was getting too strong and his supporters were everywhere and they were beginning to feel like this was the end.

"Snow?" Sirius' voice rang from downstairs and she took a deep breath before heading downstairs in search of him.

"You didn't even try and look for me," Octavia commented as she entered the living room and found Sirius just lounging there on the couch with a letter in hand.

"You caught me," he grinned up at her and she shook her head, walking over and joining him on the couch. "Lily sent me a letter, she's worried about Prongs." He spoke, sadness etched in his voice and Octavia nodded, grabbing the letter from his hands.

"I can just imagine what state Prongs is in, having to be on house arrest like that," she spoke softly, looking down at the letter reading it.

Sirius stayed silent as Octavia read the letter taking it in what Lily was telling them and it must be bad if Lily was asking them for a visit with hopes of improving James' mood.

The letter also made mention of the birthday gift the couple had sent Harry for his first birthday, a broom very similar to the one James and Lily had gifted Willa one year for Christmas.

"I still can't get over the Bones massacre either, how is it possible that only two of them survived, the young girl and Amelia." Octavia spoke, leaning in against Sirius.

"Wasn't Amelia the same girl you threatened to match Remus' face if she continued to talk about him?" Sirius questioned.

Octavia let out a laugh, "I completely forgot about, the things you do for people you think are your friends."

"Maybe we should go visit Prongs and Lily, bring Willa with us and her and Harry can fly around on their brooms after each other?" Sirius suggested.

"Sounds good Pads," Octavia responded with a yawn.

"Come on baby, let's go to bed and we'll get in contact with Prongs and Lily tomorrow." Sirius pressed his lips into her hair, only to get a nod in response.

Octavia felt him shift beside her and she let out a groan, she was perfectly comfortable resting against him on the couch. She would have been perfectly content with falling asleep with him on the couch and she didn't feel like moving.

"Come on baby," Sirius urged her once more.

She let out a groan but allowed Sirius to get off the couch and pull her up with him and lead her upstairs.

.oOo.

"James really needed this," Lily spoke as her and Octavia look in from the kitchen where they could both James and Sirius attempting to catch Willa and Harry who were both on brooms, both of them laughing at the thrill of it.

"I think in a way Pads did as well, I don't know if it's because it's just been the two of us and Willa for so long he's getting bored or has just had enough. Regulus is gone all hours of the day, only to come home and sleep and Worms hasn't visited in a while." Octavia turned and rested against the bench, putting her back to the boys in the living room.

"Worms seemed a little down but I thought it was to do with the Bones murder."

"Doubtful, unless his family knew them. We didn't have anything to do with them, Amelia was a year below us and Edgar was above us at Hogwarts, in Hufflepuff. Amelia wasn't even involved in the Order like Edgar was, she was busy keeping up appearances within the Ministry trying to help from there when she could." Octavia explained and Lily nodded.

"It sounds fair then why?"

"Wasn't it Dorcas' birthday the other week?" Octavia questioned, vaguely remembering something in the past about the other girl's birthday.

Lily's eyes went wide, "I completely forget it was her birthday, I can't believe that. I forgot her birthday."

Octavia placed a hand on Lily's arm, truth was she did the same with Marlene two months back and she was beside herself. Ever since second year Marlene and Octavia had been incredibly close and she couldn't believe she forgot a close friend, a family member's birthday.

"We're in a horrible time Lily, don't be hard on yourself. I forgot Marlene's and I was beside myself but Pads said that Marlene wouldn't blame me because of what we are still going through, she would just be proud of me for staying strong through this horrible time and Dorcas will be exactly the same."

"She was my best friend and I forgot her birthday, would you forget Pads or even Lilith's despite you two not talking?" Lily pointed out.

Octavia lowered her gaze and stared at the mug in her hand that housed the coffee that Lily prepared for her.

She stood her ground when it came to her theory of Remus being the traitor but she hates that she lost her best friend in the process, she knew things were said between them that were incredibly harsh but she couldn't apologise because it meant she changed her mind and no longer viewed Remus as a threat or traitor.

"It'll all work out," Lily responded softly.

"You know what, I think we should have cake." Octavia stated as she placed the mug on the counter and walked over to the cupboards and began looking through for what she was after.

After finding everything she needed she was grateful that Dumbledore had asked Bathilda to look after the family, bring them groceries to prevent them from leaving the house as little as possible.

"What are you doing Snow?" Sirius' voice came through and Octavia looked up, frowning at the smirk on his face. "Baby you have flour all over your face," he mused.

Octavia lifted her arm and proceeded to wipe her face with her sleeve but it just caused Sirius to burst out laughing, "you're making it worse," Sirius spoke up.

Octavia ignored him and continued mixing the cake batter, wondering if she had the ingredients to make frosting as well.

She heard Sirius walk around the kitchen before she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and a chin come down on her shoulder.

"It won't be forever," Sirius whispered.

"Just until Voldemort is dead or realises that the Prophecy is bollocks." Octavia responded, placing the spatula down on the bench.

"Come on, come back out to the living room with everyone else." Sirius spoke.

"Mummy come play with me," Willa spoke as she entered the kitchen.

Octavia pulled away and looked at Sirius, "you planned that didn't you?" she questioned.

He grinned at her before leaning over and softly kissing her, "not at all, pure coincidence."

Octavia didn't believe him but allowed him to pull her into the living room where everyone was sitting, she stood there wondering why Willa was standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Yes?" Octavia questioned and Willa jumped towards her before laughing. "Oh I see how it is," she responded before shifting into her wolf form and jumping at Willa.

Willa let out a squeal before running off and Octavia chased after her.

Sirius let out a laugh before taking a seat on the couch, pleased with hearing Willa's giggles as she was chased throughout the house.

"Who needed this more, you or Snow?" James questioned.

Sirius looked over his best mate with a smirk on his face, "what are you on about, this is all for you mate." He teased.

James' retort was silenced as there was a crash from the other room, "I'll check it out," Lily spoke, standing and leaving the room.

James stood up and moved to sit beside Sirius, "how is she really doing? Remember I grew up with you two ever since we were eleven, I may not know her as well as you do but I know there was a reason she hid in the kitchen to bake a cake instead of being out here."

Sirius leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling, "she's obsessed mate."

"Like with the map obsessed?"

"Worse, she is constantly searching through books with hopes of finding something to make this house more protected. I don't know how to help her this time, warding isn't my area of speciality the most I usually do is the Anti-Appartion wards I throw up." Sirius responded softly.

"Dumbledore is searching as well for something, he came and visited us the other week and he has an idea but needs to research it a bit more to make sure there is no chance of anything going wrong. Snow should take it easy, spend time with you and Willa because surely something happens to you as well right?" James looked over at him, waiting to gauge his reaction.

Sirius shrugged, "we're unsure, there's no proof that says I die but in every moment she's seen from the future I'm not around. We don't know what happens, whether I die or leave."

"Or she leaves you?" James teased.

"Possible but we're both leaning towards me dying for her to be so obsessed with your death because of what may happen to Harry. She hasn't seen anything regarding me, she can't prevent what she doesn't know and as such she's putting all her concerns on to you and Lily." Sirius finally sat up straight and looked at James.

"She's hoping with keeping us alive she can change everyone's future?" James questioned and Sirius nodded. "But does she know when we die?"

"No clue, I only managed to get out of her that it happened at Potter Manor. When she sees things that make her that distraught I hate asking her more questions with fear of making her worse, I don't want her to lose it and there's too much bad blood in her family when it comes to psychological issues."

"She has you and Willa to keep her grounded, you won't let anything like that happen to her." James spoke as Lily re-entered the room.

"So Snow slipped on the rug and knocked over one of the side tables, both her and Willa are fine." Lily explained and it was then Willa came running into the room with a snow white wolf not far behind her.

"Daddy, mummy fell down, she funny." Willa giggled and Sirius couldn't help but laugh as he bent over and picked her up.

"I'm sure it was funny, did you make sure mummy was alright?" Sirius questioned, looking over at the wolf and knowing she was fine, he had seen her injured as a wolf enough times to know if something was wrong.

"No," Willa shook her head, a slight giggle coming through. She looked up at Sirius before climbing off his lap and walking over to where the wolf was sitting on the floor. She wrapped her arms around the wolf's neck, "I'm sorry. Be okay mummy." Willa spoke, pressing her face into the fur.

Sirius looked over at James and Lily, noticing the looks on their faces. "What?" Sirius questioned.

"You aren't worried about her walking up to a real life wolf like that?" Lily questioned.

"An issue for another time," Sirius shrugged. "For now we're working on apologising and making sure other people are okay after she accidently tripped Regulus the other week and was too busy laughing to make sure he was okay."

"Was he okay?" Lily questioned.

Octavia had shifted back, "sort of, he had broken ankle. I don't know even know how she managed to trip him." Octavia shifted back and kneeled down in front of Willa. "I'm okay baby."

"Alright I think it's time for lunch before anything else gets broken," Lily spoke and everyone nodded, standing up and following her back into the kitchen.

.oOo.

"Hey, O."

Octavia ignored Regulus' voice as she continued to read the book in front of her, she had finally found something that mentioned something different when it comes to the children of Wandless.

"Octavia," Regulus called out once more and she briefly looked up at him before back at the book in front of her. "Damn it, acknowledge my presence." Regulus snapped.

"What the hell do you want? I'm busy." Octavia snapped back in response, not pleased with the interruption as he said he was fine watching Willa for a couple of hours. She had only been in here for thirty minutes.

"Yes reading a book, so busy." Regulus mocked. "I need to show you something."

Octavia let out a sigh before standing up and following Regulus out of the room, unsure as to what he was going on about but it was when they stopped in the doorway to the living room where Willa was sitting in there playing with her toys as she talked to herself.

"So she's talking to herself, she's done it before and probably will again." Octavia spoke up but Regulus shook his head, pointing over at her.

It was then Octavia took notice of what Willa was saying, it sounded vaguely familiar. "Is that the Winnie the Pooh book she is obsessed with and will only let you read?" Octavia questioned.

"Nope, it's the new one we brought her yesterday and I only read it to her last night. She's reading it word for word." Regulus explained as he picked up the book and opened it to the correct page showing Octavia.

Octavia looked down at the book and followed on as she could hear Willa speak, some words she would stumble over but aside from that she was reciting the book word for word.

She looked up at Regulus before looking over at her daughter in awe.

Why had they never realised this before, or even seen some sign as to this was why Willa hated being read the same story over and over.

"It makes sense when you think back O," Regulus spoke softly.

Octavia shook her head as she walked over to where Willa was placing her toys around the small table she had. She sat down on the floor at the table and waited for Willa to hand her a cup.

"Thank you baby, were you telling your toys a story?" she questioned and Willa slowly nodded.

"Am I in trouble?" she questioned softly, a slight pout on her lips.

"No of course not baby. Is it the book that Uncle Reggie read you last night?"

"It was good." Willa responded with a grin.

"Do you do that with all the stories we read you, do you tell them to your toys?" Octavia questioned, quickly looking over Willa's head at where Sirius had appeared.

"Only the good ones."

"How baby?"

"I remember."

"All of them?" she questioned in shock and Willa nodded.

"Remember everything."

"Is that why you don't like the same book twice?"

"Boring." Willa responded, picking up Padfoot and leaving the room.

Octavia was unsure as to if Willa found the conversation boring or found it boring being read the same book twice when she remembered it.

She continued to sit there on the floor as Sirius walked over and sat beside her on the floor, he must have returned from visiting Peter.

"Baby," Sirius spoke quietly and placed a hand on her neck, only to have her jerk away from him.

"Don't," she snarled at him. "We've always wondered what I had done to her, to our precious baby girl and we've found it. If she remembers everything, she is going to grow up remembering Dorcas and Marlene, two of our friends who are now dead. She still every now and then asks where Marlene is, she doesn't understand that Marlene is dead. I can't bear the thought of her growing up with these memories and thoughts."

Octavia hated herself, she had no idea how this was going to affect Willa as she grew up. She didn't want to begin to think how it worked, would Willa remember every little detail or did she just remember the books?

"This doesn't change anything except for now we know why Willa doesn't like being read the same book twice. You didn't do _anything_ to her except be an amazing mother to her. There is nothing wrong with her."

Octavia bitterly laughed before standing up and staring down at Sirius. "No I just made her the first of her kind. No one, I mean it, no one can tell me what the hell be different about her. I'm terrified of what she will be like when she grows up. Surely I've done something to her."

Sirius stood up and stood in front of her, she could see his arms twitch as he wanted to reach out and touch her but she was glad he didn't, she didn't want it right now.

"We've had this discussion on multiple occasions but it needs to stop. I'm worried about her as well but she's healthy, she has magic and she is travelling along like any other three year old should be. There is nothing wrong with her and if she remembers everything then what is the big deal? Yes she will always remember Marlene and Dorcas but she has good memories, happy memories of both of them. When she is older she will understand why they disappeared, she will understand that they are dead." Sirius spoke.

Octavia shook her head, walking past him and heading upstairs. She was afraid of what was going to be said and she didn't want Willa to over hear them and worry her daughter.

She heard her bedroom door slam shut behind her, she turned around and found Sirius standing there.

"You talk about how you want more children, you want to give Willa siblings. Have you ever thought that if that happens then we will have someone exactly like Willa, someone who will grow up while we secretly document everything that happens regarding them? Did you not think this through at all when Harry was born and you spent weeks trying to convince me to have another child?" Sirius pointed out and Octavia opened her mouth to make a rebuttal but she had no words, she just closed her mouth and turned away so she wasn't facing him.

"What if…" Octavia started but was cut off by Sirius.

"Stop with the bloody what ifs Snow!" he yelled out in frustration and she flinched, not having had him direct that much anger towards her in a long time. "Fuck baby I'm sorry." Sirius quickly apologised and rubbed a hand up and down his face.

Octavia sat down on their bed as the tears welled up in her eyes, she couldn't believe that Sirius yelled at her like he did, that he got that got angry that it scared her.

"I get that we have no idea what will be different about Willa but I honestly believe your concern with it all is because you will blame yourself. No matter what happens to Willa I will never blame you for it, if she has this incredible memory that allows her to remember everything, then so what? She will have an easier time at Hogwarts and come on baby, she is _our_ daughter, the daughter of two Marauders, she will most likely spend time in countless detentions so if she has something to give her a leg up who cares." Sirius responded with a shrug and Octavia let out a laugh.

He was right, the memory would serve as an asset if Willa turned out to be anything like her parents in the slightest.

"I really am sorry I scared you baby," Sirius reached out and placed a hand on her cheek and she instantly leaned towards him.

Despite her just being scared because of his temper, she trusted him, she had always trusted him and it wouldn't change now.

"I will just hate myself if anything is drastically wrong with her." Octavia spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I know you will baby but I'm worried as well but I'm not making myself sick over it and I will never hate you. We have to remind ourselves of what Dromeda keeps telling us, Willa is perfectly healthy and that is what matters." Sirius pressed his lips into her hair.

Octavia twisted and looked up at Sirius, "I just wish we knew. James and Lily know Harry will be perfectly normal despite that stupid Prophecy about him and Voldemort."

"There's a distraught Benjy downstairs," Regulus' voice came from the other side of the door and it caused them to share a look before they headed downstairs to see why Benjy was here.

Benjy had never once visited them at their home, not trusting the fact that a Death Eater knew where they lived and he wasn't the only Order member that had the same concerns about their house and it never bothered them. They knew from the beginning with trusting Amycus that not everyone would understand them.

"Benjy what's wrong?" Octavia questioned as her and Sirius entered the office, where Benjy was waiting for them.

Benjy didn't speak at first, placed a hand on the back of his neck to scratch it before he paced in the small room.

"Benjy," Sirius spoke and Benjy finally looked over at them.

"Fabian and Gideon are dead." Benjy stated and Octavia stared at Benjy, she couldn't believe this.

"I don't believe you," she snarled at Benjy.

"I'm just passing on the message since most of us are in hiding anyway."

"Exactly, so how did they get cornered? They're top Aurors, how is it possible?" Sirius questioned.

"I was told they were going to visit their sister and it must have happened on the way home. It took at least five Death Eaters, there are four stunned and unconscious at the scene so I'm assuming whoever finished them off took off." Benjy explained.

Octavia looked at Benjy before shaking her head and looking at Sirius. "You can't honestly believe this, this is Fabian and Gideon, they taught us everything we know?!"

"Snow calm down," Sirius suggested and she growled at him before Apparating away.

Octavia went somewhere different to usual, usually when she took off she went to Potter Manor to hide out in the woods behind the manor but today she went somewhere different, somewhere she hasn't been since she left her family.

She took a deep breath before she walked up to the house.

Octavia didn't know why she chose this place, the home she used to visit with her family for Christmas but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Neither her nor Sirius had been here since they left, even after they found out that she had inherited it since they were unsure as to what would happen if they did turn.

She took a deep breath and crossed the wards, standing there waiting to see what will happen but when nothing did she walked towards the front door and slowly pulled it open.

The house was still furnished like she remembered, honestly surprised that her parents hadn't cleared it out but she shrugged it off and walked through the house.

She loved this house, the way it looked covered in a blanket of snow. Despite her never celebrating Christmas with her family in this house she still associated it with Christmas and she loved coming here as a child.

It didn't take long for her to get the fire going and she sat on the floor with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, just staring into the fire.

"Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" Sirius snapped as he appeared beside her and Octavia shrugged her shoulders, refusing to look over at him.

Octavia sniffled a little but still refused to look over at Sirius beside her, tears silently running down her cheeks.

She didn't know how to handle it, most of her friends were dead, James and Lily were in hiding and she barely saw Peter these days as everyone was in hiding trying to protect themselves.

She always saw Dumbledore and Moody as invincible along with Fabian and Gideon, but to hear that Fabian and Gideon were dead it caused her mind shattered. She didn't know what to think, she didn't want to think what would happen if she let her mind wander to the place where Voldemort won this war.

"I don't think I can handle losing anymore friends," Octavia spoke softly.

Sirius didn't say anything at first, he just shifted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I know baby, but we're trying, we're trying to keep everyone safe." Sirius spoke softly, pressing his lips into her hair.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to Raven that flies at night and YumiKnowsBest for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	121. The Dreadful Halloween

Chapter 120: Halloween

 **October 1981**

Octavia was standing there in the middle of a street not from where the Potters are now staying, watching as the Muggles begun putting up their Halloween decorations. She wished she could be as naïve as them, she wished she hasn't lost as many friends as she has.

The remaining Order members are all in hiding, after they lost Fabien and Gideon it didn't take long until Emmeline Vance was also killed and it was with those three deaths that the Order members realised just how strong Voldemort was and the traitor was clearly handing over information.

Sirius and Octavia barely left their house as well, staying at home with Willa, communicating with their friends via parchments and enchanted mirrors.

She had only left today because her and Sirius received word from Dumbledore that he has found a new way to keep James, Lily and Harry protected and she wanted to find out what it was, see if it was worth her and Sirius moving to stay better protected.

She knew Sirius was already there catching up with James since they haven't physically seen each other for two months. She wanted to check on them as well but for the moment she needed a break, too much had been happening and she couldn't take it for much longer.

Octavia took a deep breath before looking around, making sure no one was watching before she Apprated away, appearing near the home of James and Lily.

She walked through the back door to find the home owners plus her husband standing in the small kitchen with Dumbledore and they were clearly in the middle of a conversation as they all abruptly stopped and looked at her when she entered.

"I can leave if you would like?" she spoke.

"Nonsense we were waiting for you," Dumbledore responded giving her a smile as she made her way over and stood beside Sirius. "As I was explaining to them while we were waiting for you that I believe I've found a way to hide this property from everyone."

"How?" Octavia questioned, she hasn't heard of anything of the like.

"It's very old magic but the idea behind it is that you place a charm, a ward as such that will act as a magical barrier around the property. A Secret Keeper is also placed, being the only to give out the location of the warded property to who they wish. If the Secret Keeper hasn't given you the location then you could stand in front of it and not know it, you could stare at an empty block of land, a rundown building or even the houses surrounding it causing the space that the house occupied to magically disappear."

Octavia was in awe as she listened to Dumbledore explain the charm, she couldn't believe something like this existed but then again if something as dark as a Horcrux exist then surely something as good as this exists. Maybe that is why they haven't been able to find Voldemort's location, was he using the same spell or did he think himself that good that he didn't need to hide behind a charm.

"So is that why I'm here, you wish for me to place the ward?" Octavia questioned.

"Logically yes but it has to be the Secret Keeper that places the ward, so whoever James and Lily trust the most will cast the spell. I did offer myself as their Secret Keeper but James insisted on Sirius." Dumbledore responded.

Octavia turned and looked at Sirius, he was the obvious option, he was James' best friend and everyone knew that if they went to Hogwarts with the pair.

Sirius seeing the fear in her eyes reached out and placed a hand on her neck, "I'll be fine Snow." He spoke softly but she pulled away, she knew at some point in the future Sirius betrays them, could this be that moment? She had to trust him, she had to trust her husband and the boy she has called her best friend for as long as she could remember.

"Voldemort fears Dumbledore, why not him?" she questioned, looking at James.

"I trust Padfoot, don't you?" he questioned.

Octavia tore her gaze from James and looked at Sirius, he had been convincing her for years that he would never betray them, the people they called family. He didn't leave when she fell pregnant and she could see how much he adored Willa and that was enough wasn't it? To trust him and not her dreams.

"Of course," she gave Sirius a smile.

"Very well. If that is settled, Octavia we have to leave while Sirius casts the spell. We've already agreed that it is better if no one knows of their location regardless of us all knowing the house is here."

"So for now this is goodbye?" she questioned softly and Dumbledore nodded.

"Good luck to the both of you," Dumbledore spoke before he left, leaving the four of them alone.

"Why so wary Snow?" James questioned.

"I'm being silly, everyone will suspect its Pads. Don't want him getting hurt is all," she responded walking over and hugging them both. "Don't do something idiotic by leaving, this spell will protect you so stay in the house under its protective spell."

"We will, you don't need to worry about us anymore." James responded.

"Hard not too when I've seen you dead," Octavia spoke, taking a deep breath. "I'll see you at home?" she questioned, looking at Sirius.

"Of course baby, I'll be home soon enough. Just got to get this right." Sirius wrapped his arms around and pulled her close.

Octavia took a deep breath, breathing in his scent as if it was the last time she was seeing him before hugging James and Lily one last time and wishing them a goodbye and telling them to be smart and stay safe and she too left, allowing Sirius to cast the Fidelius Charm over the house.

.oOo.

It was hours before Sirius returned home and he hated that he was going to be lying to his wife but it was easier this way, if only four people knew then it was safer.

After Octavia left earlier they all realised their mistake, he was the predictable Secret Keeper and as such he was putting himself at risk. He suggested Peter in turn, because who would suspect him? He wasn't the greatest when it came to magic, he fared alright in duels as long as he wasn't left alone and he was a Marauder, a brother and hadn't given them any reason to not trust him.

So they tracked down Peter and did the switch, getting Peter to cast the spell instead, it took a while but they knew it worked when the house disappeared from their view and in turn Peter shared the location with the three of them.

If everyone was going to assume that Sirius was the Secret Keeper than he had to at least know the location and check in on them while Peter was going into hiding.

"Everything go alright?" Octavia questioned as he took a seat on the floor in the living room where Willa was attempting to colour.

"Yeah it just took longer than I thought to successfully cast the spell but it's done and they are successfully hidden." He responded.

"Hopefully we're doing the right thing."

"We are baby, this will keep them safe." Sirius responded, both of them falling silent as they watched Willa hoping to rid their concerns.

.oOo.

 **November 1981**

Willa was almost 3 and a half years old and Octavia thought her daughter was well accustomed to sleeping through the night but yet, she didn't sleep a wink the previous night.

Octavia was exhausted and just wanted Willa to get some sleep but any time it seemed like Willa was dozing off and Octavia went to place the young girl in her bed she would just start complaining again, it always caused Octavia to take a deep breath and sit back down in the rocking chair, knowing it was still the only thing that calmed her daughter.

She hoped that Sirius would come home soon, it wasn't unusual for Sirius spend some time with James, Lily and Harry, it was normal since he was the only one that knew of their location and as such the only one who keep them company and preventing them from losing it due to being locked up with no communication to the outside world and there was only times a mirror call or communication through their linked parchments will work to keep them from thinking about their concerns and fears for their own safety including Harry's.

A knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts, she carefully stood up, shifting Willa so she was able to easily carry her to the front door.

She pulled the door opened and instantly frowned at seeing both Remus and Lilith standing there, "what come to make more accusations about me?" she snapped at them but they shared a look.

"Can we come in?" Lilith questioned softly, quickly looking over her shoulder at the muggles in the street getting ready for their day.

Octavia hesitated and Remus took a deep breath, holding his hands up. "We aren't here to cause trouble Snow, promise."

Octavia took the hearing of her nickname a good sign, that first fight after Dorcas was killed the nicknames were instantly dropped due to anger. "Fine," she stepped aside and allowed them to enter the house and followed them towards the living room. "What are you doing here anyway? Last I heard, both of you wanted nothing to do with me and in turn Pads." she questioned taking a seat on the armchair, once again having to shift Willa.

"Maybe you should put Willa in her room," Lilith spoke and Octavia shook her head. "It'll be for the best Snow," Lilith reasoned and Octavia took a deep breath before standing up and heading down the hallway, putting Willa in her room, hoping the crying will stop soon enough and she will fall asleep.

She walked back down the hall and resumed her position in the armchair and looked at the couple in front of her, hoping they will speak first.

"Put simply, James and Lily are dead." Remus spoke and Octavia stared at him.

"I don't believe you, there is no way."

"Sirius has also been arrested." Lilith added in.

"Impossible, I would have been informed of his arrest as his wife. You're insane." Octavia stared at her former best friends, they haven't had a pleasant conversation in almost a year and they choose now to turn up, to sprout lies, it didn't make sense.

"Snow we aren't lying, Sirius gave away the James and Lily's location to Voldemort and he turned up there in hopes of killing Harry. Harry managed to survive but they didn't, James and Lily are dead."

"First you were dead set on the traitor being me and now you're accusing Pads, you're both insane. There is no way, neither Sirius nor I would have betrayed James and Lily, they're family." Octavia snapped. She couldn't bring herself to using James' nickname anymore, if his death is true then it would be too painful.

"You two brought Regulus into your house, he is a known Death Eater-"

"If you are implying that because of our family connections it is believable that we were the traitors when we weren't. Pads loves Willa and wouldn't do anything to risk losing her."

"He's been arrested Snow, for blowing up a street and killing thirteen people." Remus explained slowly and Octavia shook her head.

She placed her face in her hands and took a couple of deep breaths, she couldn't believe this. "I know Pads has a temper but this is insane. I've never seen him lose it this bad, aside from Snape and Regulus when those two were on the outs, Pads has never once hurt anyone." Octavia argued.

She knew about that dream she had about a conversation between her Remus that she saw years ago, the same one that made stated Sirius was a traitor but he had been telling her for years he would never betray them and she had to trust him.

Aside from that, the dream was different, for one Lilith was present and they were saying the same things.

"What have you been doing? You've been disappearing at odd times and weren't always there when we needed you. Or what I don't deserves answers now that the accusations are being thrown at my husband instead of me?" Octavia questioned, wanting to know what he was up to, what caused her and Sirius to think he was the traitor.

"Dumbledore wanted me to insert myself in with the werewolf packs, hoping to get them to show their alliance with us, not all werewolves were following Greyback." Remus explained and tears welled up in Octavia's eyes.

"I don't believe you," she spoke, her voice breaking and Lilith instantly stood up walked over to squeeze herself in beside Octavia on the chair but Octavia didn't want to be consoled by Lilith, she pulled away and stood up facing both of them.

"It doesn't matter if you don't believe us, James and Lily are dead and we need each other more than anything, us and Wormtail." Lilith spoke softly. "I hate those things I said to you Snow, I hate that I called you a freak and I said Willa will be the same. I was just so angry at the things you were saying about Moony."

She didn't believe what the two of them were telling her, there was no way Sirius would do what they are saying he did, no way he would risk not coming home to her and Willa, most definitely Willa.

Regardless of the dream she saw all those years ago, Remus telling her that Sirius had betrayed them, she doesn't believe he did this, that he was the cause of James and Lily being dead, that Harry will grow up without his parents.

"Merlin, who now?" Octavia complained as there was another knock at the door and she walked over to open it, her stomach dropping at the sight of Dumbledore standing there.

"Good morning Octavia," Dumbledore greeted. "May I come in?"

Octavia, terrified at what Dumbledore was going to tell her was stunned and hadn't moved yet, at his comment she nodded and stepped aside allowing him to enter.

"Remus, Lilith, it's good to see both of you. I assume you have filled Octavia in on last night's events?" Dumbledore questioned and they both nodded.

"It's not true, they have to be lying." Octavia stated and Dumbledore turned to face her.

"That Sirius betrayed James and Lily and they are dead, I believe it is true unless you know something we don't?" Octavia shook her head, she was under the assumption that Sirius was their Secret Keeper like everyone else. "There is one more thing, the reason it wasn't released to the general public early, and why I didn't inform you in my message, this morning along with everything else was because we had trouble contacting one person. Among those people who died in the street that Sirius blew up, Peter Pettigrew was amongst the Muggles. It looks as though Peter tried to confront Sirius on what he did."

Octavia lost it at that point, "not possible. I don't care what everyone says, I know Sirius and I know he would never be the reason for the death of three of his friends. You've all lost it!" Octavia yelled at them as her eyes welled up.

Remus stood up and walked over to Octavia and wrapped his arms around her, not saying anything while she fought against him but it wasn't long until she relaxed against him and began crying against him.

"I know Snow, we've lost everyone and we've all we have got left. Even if you don't believe Sirius did it, we need to stay together, we need to be a family again. Regardless of what happened I hate that those things were said."

Octavia nodded before turning her head and looking at where Dumbledore was now sitting, "what happened to Voldemort?"

"Everyone believes he is gone, but you and I need to have a discussion about that, along with Regulus." Octavia nodded at Dumbledore before pulling away.

"What is it Snow?" Lilith questioned.

"I need you to watch Willa for me, there's something I need to do. The rocking chair is stopping her from crying." Octavia didn't even wait for a response before she Apparated out of the house, arriving in the Ministry.

She knew they would look after Willa, she might not have apologised for what she said but they did and surely they knew she would now that she knew everything. Dumbledore would excuse himself and wait for Octavia to contact her when she was ready and Regulus returned.

The Ministry was chaotic but Octavia knew it was a good chaotic, everyone was thrilled that Voldemort was gone and now they had to work endless hours to round the last of the Death Eaters up and throw them in Azkaban but there was one thing she had to do before they were all rounded up, she had to protect her siblings. She knew Dumbledore would protect Regulus, he had been helping where he could for almost two years now, but there was no one to protect her siblings.

She made her way through the Ministry hoping Artemis was in his office, he would be shocked at seeing her standing there at his door but he would know why, he would know that she was coming to him to make sure the fine print of both Amycus and Alecto's Wills get played out.

"Octavia I didn't expect to see you this soon," Artemis spoke, noticing her standing there in his doorway.

"Yes well with Alecto being on the Aurors must watch list, I figured it wouldn't be long until they go looking for her and it won't take long for them to assume Amycus was involved. I know you work for a lot of the families and I have no right asking for your help but help me help them, if they have gotten worse then I just want them to get better." Octavia pleaded with the lawyer, hoping he will help as her siblings' lawyer.

"Very well, how about we get some Aurors in case they fight us, I know some of the more understanding ones and won't push for them to be placed in Azkaban." Artemis raised from his seat and walked towards where Octavia was standing. "You're doing the right thing Octavia, regardless of everything they have done, this is what they want, what they need."

Octavia pushed back her tears, today was becoming a rollercoaster and she wanted it to be over with but for now, she worried about her siblings and nephew. She knew Willa would be safe with Remus and Lilith, if Remus was telling the truth about the werewolves then she had no idea who the traitor was because she didn't believe for a second that it was Sirius.

Octavia followed the Aurors into Amycus' house, she knew why they went first in case he fought them but she didn't believe he would, he knew about the placement in St Mungo's and knew that Octavia would respect his wishes.

Octavia entered the room and found Amycus sitting on the couch looking at the Aurors, not even planning on fighting them. "My wand is right there, I can't do anything and my son is in the other room." He stated and Octavia pushed her way past them and stood in front of her brother.

"You alright Am?" she spoke softly, glad when he nodded and stood up to hug her.

"I'm so glad you're alright, please look after Leighton, he means everything to me." Amycus whispered in her ear.

"Of course, he's family, where is he?" she questioned, pulling away from her brother.

Amycus turned his attention away from Octavia and looked at the Aurors, "am I allowed to say goodbye to my son as well?"

Octavia placed a hand on his arm, "I will get him and you stay here where they can watch you, I don't want anything to happen to you." She spoke softly and he nodded, sitting back down on the couch.

Octavia walked down the hall, unsure as to where Leighton was exactly but she heard a noise from one of the rooms and assumed he was in there. When she opened the door a young boy turned to look at her, curious as to who she was. Octavia smiled at the beautiful boy with brown hair that belonged to Celeste but the bright blue eyes he had were Octavia's.

"Leighton?" she questioned and he nodded. "I'm your Aunt Octavia but you can call me O," she walked over and sat beside him on the floor where he was playing with his toys. "Your daddy has to go somewhere for a short while but I will look after you, you know I have a little girl who you can play with, I can introduce you to many other kids you can play with. Does that sound alright to you?"

"Where's daddy?" Leighton questioned.

"I can take you to him?" Octavia responded, standing up and holding out her hand.

Leighton hesitantly stood up and grabbed Octavia's hand, unsure as to who the strange women was but allowed her to lead him out of his room.

Catching sight of Amycus on the couch, Leighton ran towards him and threw his arms around his father's legs.

"Daddy," Leighton cried against Amycus' legs and he bent down to pick his son up and placed him on his lap.

"I have to go on a long trip buddy but your Aunt O is a wonderful person who will take care of you and if my memory serves right, she has a little girl who you can spend time with. I'm also pretty sure you can take all your toys with you, but you need to be a good boy for her and I will come home as soon as I can."

"I promise daddy," Leighton gave Amycus a smile before looking at Octavia, "I can bring my toys?"

"Of course," Octavia held a hand out for him. "How about we go pack up your things now before I take you home with me."

"Leighton why don't you go ahead, I need to talk with O." Leighton nodded before running back down the hall towards his room and Octavia faced Amycus, unsure as to what he wanted to talk about. She was actually surprised the Aurors had allowed this to go on for as long as it did, maybe it was because he handed his wand over straight away and he wasn't fighting them. "Stay here with Leighton, pack his things and then take him home with you, don't come to Alecto's with us. She's long gone and her seeing you will make things harder, the Aurors can handle her. I want you and Leighton safe."

Octavia walked over and stood in front of him, "I will keep him safe while you get better, you need to get better for him, every kid needs their dad."

"It's time to go Carrow," one of the Aurors spoke and Amycus nodded, not even fighting them when they Apparated him out of the house.

Octavia stood there for a moment taking in the photos around the room of Amycus and Leighton, it was obvious that Amycus was raising his son differently to the way their parents raised them.

She walked around and gathered a few of the photos hoping Leighton will feel more at home with them within reach, a couple of them she planned to leave with Amycus after she was allowed to visit him.

She walked down the hall to where Leighton's bedroom door was left opened and stood in it, smiling as she watched Leighton run around his room attempting to shove as many things as he could in the bag he had grabbed, which was incredibly small.

She let out a laugh as he let out a sound of annoyance and he looked up at her. "they won't fit," he complained and she walked over.

"That's what magic is for, now why have you only packed toys, what about your clothes?" she questioned and he shook his head.

"Just toys," he responded and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright you pack the toys and I will pack the clothes."

.oOo.

"Alright so this will be your room for the time being, how about you start unpacking your toys and then we will set about painting the room whatever colour you want?" Octavia spoke as she stood in one of the guest rooms with Leighton.

He looked up at her with a large smile and his eyes sparkling, "blue!" he exclaimed and she let out a laugh.

"Very well, how about you unpack first. I will be right back, you stay up here." Leighton nodded before he began vigorously pulling all of his toys out and deciding where to place them.

Octavia left the room shutting the door behind her, hesitating for a moment wondering if he was like Willa where she could leave him alone in a room for a few minutes but then she remembered how she found him.

She headed downstairs and entered the kitchen where she found Remus and Lilith in there attempting to feed Willa.

"Mummy!" she exclaimed and Octavia put a smile on her face as she walked over and picked her up, before sitting back down and placing Willa in her lap, feeding her the toast on the plate.

"Thank you for watching her," she spoke, looking up and giving Remus and Lilith smiles.

"Anytime, we mean what I said. We all need each other now and we will happily help you out with anything you need in regards to Willa and the boy you've brought home with you?" Remus spoke, lifting the cup to his mouth with a raised eyebrow.

Octavia lowered her gaze and looked at where Willa was now happily eating her toast, unsure as to what was going on with her daughter, wondered how much worse it will get now that Sirius won't be coming home. She still needed to take a trip to the Ministry in hopes of seeing him but for now she knew he would be fine in one of the Ministry's holding cells until his trial, he would be annoyed she didn't come straight away but he would understand, understand that she was protecting Amycus and Alecto and getting Leighton somewhere safe.

"He's my nephew," she looked up at them. "It's Amycus' son, a couple of years ago a set of Wills were delivered to Ted that stated if anything happened to Amycus I would get Leighton, he would be in my custody to do decide what is best for him. If and when Voldemort fell then both Amycus and Alecto were to be placed in St Mungo's, please don't look at me like that. I know which side they've been on and what they could possibly do but if they aren't mentally healthy then I just want them to be healthy, at St Mungo's they have their wands taken away from them and they get locked up in a room. Not that much different to Azkaban."

Remus and Lilith shared a look, making Octavia think they've had a discussion while she was gone.

"We've decided that everything regarding Sirius and your siblings is going to be a topic we will agree to disagree on, we need to be there for each other and you have two young children you can't possibly raise on your own." Lilith explained and Octavia nodded.

"I want to apologise for everything I said after Dorcas' death, I was angry and scared for what was happening, what could happen and I just wanted to protect my family."

"We know," Lilith responded, giving her a smile.

"It's only going to get worse, once they both realise they aren't coming home, it will get worse." Octavia spoke, running her fingers through Willa's hair.

"Do you know what Regulus' plan is?" Remus questioned and Octavia shrugged.

"Last I heard he was planning on leaving the country, travelling the world, becoming a Curse Breaker but who knows now that he has Bridgette back."

"We'll get through this Snow."

"I know Moony, it means a lot that you two are still here for me after everything, everything we all said."

"If you can get passed it, so can we."

Octavia nodded before picking Willa up and resting her on her hip, "now about we go upstairs and introduce these two because I promised a young boy to paint his room blue."

.oOo.

Octavia was still exhausted after the day she's had between Voldemort being taken down for the time being, finding out that James and Lily were dead along with Peter and everyone believe Sirius was to blame for their deaths along with the twelve Muggles.

Willa was already asking questions of where Sirius was and Octavia had no idea how to answer them, she didn't know where to begin but it didn't take long for her to be distracted by the new face that is Leighton.

She walked across the Hogwarts grounds, it was still early enough that she wasn't going to disturb Dumbledore's evening but she also knew it was late enough that all the students would most likely be in their common room or the library.

She knew a conversation would have to take place between her, Dumbledore and Regulus but she knew Regulus was still out doing whatever it was he was doing for Dumbledore, for now she was worried about Harry and where he was going to be placed.

"Octavia what a pleasant surprise," Dumbledore spoke as she walked in and took a seat across from him. "I believe I said we would have a conversation once Regulus returned."

"Yes I know but there is something else I am more concerned about, Harry." Octavia spoke.

"He is being placed with Lily's sister."

Octavia was shocked, "What, why?" she knew that Petunia wouldn't be the best placement for Harry, she knew that Petunia hated magic of any sort and it was what put a wedge between the two sisters to begin with.

"It's what's best for him Octavia," Dumbledore responded.

"You're kidding right, what about what James and Lily wanted for Harry. They wanted him to be placed with his Godfather."

"I know that but with Sirius in custody."

"Fine, what about me? I may not be the Godmother but I also knew that they stipulated in their Will that he would be placed with me if anything happened to the three of them. Hell if not me, why not Remus or Lilith?" Octavia argued.

James had managed Lily to write a Will, stipulate who will get Harry in what order just in case something happened to them and Sirius. They had informed her that she had also been listed on the Will as well Remus and Lilith, despite her at the time not trusting the two of them.

But she didn't believe for a second that they had listed Petunia and her husband on the Will so she was unsure as to why Dumbledore was doing this, why he was going against their wishes with Harry's placement.

"Their Will was destroyed, the Ministry tried to pull it from Gringotts but the goblins said that the Potters had it pulled to make changes and when I checked the house it wasn't in sight."

Octavia was confused, she didn't understand as to how Dumbledore was granted access to the house if Sirius hadn't given him the location.

"How did you get access to the house, how did someone get Harry out?" she questioned.

"I didn't want to disturb you unless necessary but I had a theory that if the house was destroyed enough it would also destroy the Fidelius Charm surrounding it. If it hadn't then I was hoping you could pull down the charm knowing it was there under the charm." Dumbledore explained and Octavia nodded.

It made sense, she still had no idea what the specifics were but if the house was destroyed so would the magic. She really wondered how it was that Harry managed to survive.

"So if Sirius gets let off, gets found innocent then we will get Harry?" Octavia questioned, hope filling her as she didn't want Harry to grow up in the care of people who hated magic.

"Octavia, Sirius is being taken to Azkaban as we speak. As the Aurors caught him he was laughing about what happened, seemed like he didn't care."

"What do you mean he's being taken to Azkaban, where is his trial!" Octavia snapped, she was furious she couldn't believe that Sirius was being treated like this.

"They over heard him in his cell, muttering about how he was the one to blame for their deaths. He practically handed them his statement Octavia, they don't need a trial." Dumbledore explained but it didn't decrease Octavia's anger.

"He's been treated like a bloody Death Eater when he wasn't, he wouldn't have betrayed James. I know we all know he was the Secret Keeper but there has to be something else going on that we don't know about."

"I know the same as you do, until you find out otherwise there is nothing I can do. Barty Crouch is refusing to take my advice on this topic, said he is throwing a Death Eater in Azkaban for something he did, something they have admission of guilt on."

"This is bloody insane," Octavia snapped, shaking her head as she turned and left Dumbledore's office.

She headed back towards the Ministry hoping someone could help her, she knew Artemis would be helping with her siblings as well as any other Death Eaters attempting to get out of their own crimes. She knew enough Aurors, hopefully one of them would help her.

Octavia found herself in Moody's office and she knew he was annoyed by her visit considering he was on the way out, most likely helping with rounding up the last of the Death Eaters but she stopped him.

"If you're here about Sirius," Moody started, definitely annoyed by her visit she concluded.

"I want to see him," Octavia spoke, attempting to hold back her anger.

"I can't let you see him," Moody responded.

"Why the bloody hell not? He's my husband!" she yelled at the older Auror. She knew he wouldn't be phased by her anger since he had taken on multiple Death Eaters and Dark Wizards, she was like a bunny compared to them and she knew it.

"Technically no, you two got married under muggle laws and never made it official at the Ministry to be classified as a married couple, I can't let you in because technically you aren't his wife, despite you calling yourself Octavia Black, technically you are still Octavia Carrow."

"You were at my wedding along with most of the Order, since when does a muggle wedding not count amongst us? I thought the whole point of this god forsaken war was to show that we didn't care about the differences between muggle, Muggleborn, Half-blood and Pureblood."

"I know I was at your wedding but the reason it isn't binding within the Ministry Law is because you haven't signed a magical wedding certificate, until that is done you are still, by Magical Law only, Octavia Carrow who is engaged to Sirius Black. Even if I wanted to let a Lawyer in so you two can sign the paperwork just so you can see him, I can't. I'm sorry but I can't let you into see Sirius."

"But he's innocent, surely you know that, this is Sirius we're talking about. There is no way he would have done what he is accused of."

"Then what happened? Because as far as everyone knew, you included, Sirius was the Potter's Secret Keeper."

"I don't know," Octavia growled out. "But why isn't he getting a trial? Why aren't memories being taken, or why isn't he even getting fed Veritaserum?"

"Because the evidence is piling against him, all the Deat-"

"Don't you dare say he was a Death Eater!" She cut him off, ignoring the annoyed look on his face. "I lived with him for three years, I raised our daughter with him for three years! I would know if he was a bloody Death Eater! Hell I grew up with him, he was my best friend!"

"As I was saying all the Death Eaters are getting thrown in Azkaban, all our world wants is to be back at peace and that won't happen without them being in Azkaban."

Octavia collapsed into the chair and she fell silent, her husband was being thrown into Azkaban for something she believed whole heartedly he didn't do it. Now she was at a complete loss as what to do.

"He was muttering in holding cell that he was to blame, it's the admission of guilt we need to skip a trial."

"I know this, Dumbledore told me." Octavia snapped.

"The only way you can have him pulled for a trial is for one of his family members to have him pulled." Moody suggested and she looked up at him.

"He's the Head of the Family and Regulus is technically dead to the family."

"And not to admit he also has to face charges for being a Death Eater, I've seen his mark." Octavia let out a groan, she knew this but she couldn't think of both brothers ending up in Azkaban. "But both Albus and I will be speaking on his behalf when he returns, he has been helping and as such we will be helping him."

Octavia nodded, "the rest of Sirius' family won't help us, their either trying to keep themselves from Azkaban or aren't classified as family members anymore."

"Look are we done, I have things to do. I've given you what you need to get Sirius out of Azkaban and given an actual trial, it's up to you to find someone to help you."

Octavia nodded and allowed Moody to leave his office, her following not long after.

.oOo.

"Where's Harry?"

Octavia jumped at the sound of Remus' voice and she dropped the bottle of Fire Whiskey that was in her hands.

"Sorry Snow." Remus apologised.

She wiped away her tears before she turned and faced him, waving him off. She then waved her hand and fixed the broken bottle before placing it on the bench and looking at him. "Harry is with Petunia and her husband." She explained and saw the look of confusion on his face.

"Why? Why there and not here with us?"

"Sirius is in Azkaban and their Will was destroyed, the same one listing us to look after Harry. According to the Ministry there is no one to look after him, so he is with the only blood related family he has left. I didn't end up staying for long once I found out Sirius was already in Azkaban, I screwed up. I should have taken care of husband first instead of my siblings. If I had of gone there then maybe he wouldn't be in Azkaban straight away."

"And maybe your siblings would already be in Azkaban, but why didn't Sirius get a trial?"

"Found at the scene of the crime," she shrugged, she didn't want to tell him about Sirius' admission of guilt because it was bad enough that both he and Lilith thought he did what he was accused of.

"He deserves a trail though." Remus objected.

"I know that but the Ministry don't believe that and his family don't like us very much and probably won't help us, the only one that will is Dromeda but she was burned and cut off from the family and as such no longer classified as a family member." Octavia explained.

"I know you are convinced that Sirius didn't do this but maybe it's what is best for Willa, if you're constantly taking her to the Ministry for trials and she's seeing Sirius, it wouldn't do her any good." Remus suggested.

"She's stopped her questions for now but how do I tell a three year old that her father isn't coming home any time soon?" Octavia questioned, she had no idea how to tell Willa that Sirius won't be coming home, she doesn't even know how long his sentence was yet, she doesn't think anyone knew but killing thirteen people and betraying James and Lily like he did wouldn't be a short sentence, she knew that much.

"That I do not know, but Lilith and I won't be leaving you alone anytime soon so we will work it out together."

"Means a lot Moony, are you sure you're still okay with watching Leighton and Willa? It's been a long day and I need a nap."

"It's fine, Lilith went home to get Emerson and then she will be back here to help me. Go have your nap, you look dead on your feet."

"Thank you," Octavia gave him a small smile before heading upstairs, her bed in her mind but she haltered at the top of the stairs. She didn't know how she would go sleeping in the bed she shared with Sirius knowing he won't be coming.

She let out a sigh, there were only three other bedrooms in this house, one was Willa's, one Regulus had been using and the other was now Leighton's. In the end she decided to sleep in Willa's bed.

She entered Willa's room and couldn't help but shake her head at the sight of the mess, she waved her hand and all the toys returned to their original position and she took a seat on Willa's bed.

As soon as she was curled up in Willa's bed she couldn't keep the tears a bay for what happened today, for every single thing she had been through and through it all she had lost her husband and would have to come up with a reason for her three year old daughter as to why her father wasn't coming home.

She laid there attempting to catch her breath as the heavy sobs broke through and she well and truly broke after everything she has been through in the last three years, well and truly not able to handle anymore.

.oOo.

Regulus arrived in the office and he stood there for a moment, he yawned before stretching his back. It had been a long couple of days, him only getting a couple of hours sleep each day. He deemed what Dumbledore asked him to do be of high importance and his lack of sleep was worth it despite him being unsuccessful.

He left the office and went in search of Octavia and Sirius, wanting to check in with them before he went and got some sleep, hoping Willa didn't spot him before he was able to get some sleep.

But he was confused when he entered the living room, seeing Remus and Lilith in there with three children, one he remembers to be Leighton.

"What are you doing here?" Regulus questioned, shocking them as they looked up at him. Last he heard both Sirius and Octavia weren't talking to this particular couple, he wasn't given details but he knows whatever happened hurt both of them despite them refusing to speak of it.

"Where have you been?" Remus questioned.

"Doing something for Dumbledore, he had me checking out some leads in Albania. I'm technically dead and can travel as I please. Why are you two here? Last I heard things weren't friendly between the four of you." Regulus explained, it was the same thing he was allowed to tell Octavia and Sirius until otherwise, he assumed others were allowed to know.

"So you've been out of contact with what is happening here?" Lilith spoke.

Regulus was intrigued, what was going on in Britain while he was gone. He didn't say anything and the others didn't either, instead Remus stood up and handed over the Daily Prophet.

Regulus didn't even have to look for his answers, the Prophet said it all, Voldemort was defeated last night. He looked up at them, "where are O and Sirius?" he questioned, he needed answers and he didn't trust these two.

"She is upstairs having a nap," Remus responded.

Regulus didn't bother asking where Sirius was, figured Octavia would tell him everything that he's missed out.

When he pushed open her bedroom he was confused to find the bed empty, didn't even look like someone has slept in it.

Regulus couldn't explain what brought him to open Willa's bedroom but when he did he found Octavia asleep in the bed. He knew this wouldn't be a good sign.

He walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, softly shaking her awake. "O, wake up." He spoke softly, hoping she will wake up.

He watched as she opened her eyes and spotted him standing there. "Hi," she spoke softly.

A frown appeared on his face as he realised something was going on, he took a seat on the end of the bed and waited for her to sit up. "What did I miss?" he questioned.

"Voldemort is supposably dead, James and Lily are dead, Harry is off living with his magic hating relatives, oh and let's not forget that Sirius is already in Azkaban for apparently betraying James and Lily by giving up their location and killing thirteen people." Octavia spoke and Regulus was completely and utterly shocked.

"I was only gone four days, how is Sirius already in Azkaban, where's his trial?" Regulus questioned. "My brother would hand me over before he would betray James, I don't believe this. I get the Black temper can be bad, but thirteen people?"

"I have no idea why he's not getting a trial, something about submission of guilt and being caught at the scene and laughing about it, I don't know. Today feels like the longest day with making sure Amycus and Alecto get placed in the psych ward of St Mungo's and getting Leighton here and then finding out what is happening with Harry and then finding out Sirius got thrown in Azkaban, it's all be half assed stories." Octavia explained as more tears came through and she didn't even bother wiping them away, she was just hurting too much and knew they would keep coming.

"That would explain why Leighton is playing with Willa and another girl."

"Emerson and yes, Artemis is handling the paperwork for me, said he'll send me an owl when it's ready."

Regulus nodded and fell silent, he knew Artemis would be do anything for the right price as well as making sure two Death Eaters stay out of Azkaban and they probably won't be the last.

"Wait," Regulus spoke, breaking the silence and she looked up at him. "What's happening with me?"

"Moody said he and Dumbledore will help, speak on your behalf. You should be safe, I just wish you didn't piss your mother off by faking your death though."

"Because then I could have pulled Sirius from Azkaban, but I'm still technically dead. You can't visit him?"

Octavia shook her head as the tears continued to fall and Regulus hated seeing her this upset, "I'm not allowed because we aren't married in the eyes of the Ministry, we never signed the marriage license for the Ministry."

"Can't Artemis do something, say he lost the paperwork. Won't you be able to pull Sirius from Azkaban then?" Regulus suggested.

"And who will forge Sirius' signature and then there's the risk of what's in our potential marriage contract. Sirius will hate me if we get him out of Azkaban just to lose Willa because of something like that, he would rather be in there then out knowing that she is safe here with us." Octavia responded.

Regulus let out a sigh, "we're at a loss then. I don't know how to help O and I can't do anything until mother reinstates me but she won't, I'm not even game enough to step foot in Narcissa's home. If Bellatrix is still coming and going from there she will kill me on sight. If Bellatrix gets rounded up, then yes maybe I can plead to Narcissa, even agree to keep quiet and go along with whatever Lucius uses tries to stay out of Azkaban."

"So let's hope that Bellatrix gets arrested soon enough, but if he doesn't come home how do I tell a three year her father isn't coming home? Leighton knows Amycus is going away for a bit and won't really ask questions for a while."

"But Willa won't understand when Sirius doesn't return in a couple of days." Regulus finished for her and she nodded. "Don't worry, we will work it out. Hopefully whatever happens with me won't prevent me from coming home either. Are you going to be alright?"

"I've lost two best friends and someone who I was becoming close with and not to mention my husband is now in the worst place imaginable. These last twelve hours have been hell."

Regulus patted her leg, "I'm going to have a shower and then get some sleep myself, I'm here for you O and I'm not going anywhere without a fight."

"Thank you," she responded softly before he got off the bed and headed towards the bathroom.

.oOo.

Octavia looked beside her as her and Regulus made their way across the Hogwarts heading towards their meeting with Dumbledore. She didn't know what the three of them had to speak about, but whatever it was she was a little concerned with how Regulus was going to go when the Ministry finally realises he was a Death Eater and calls upon him.

"They said they'll help you Reg," she spoke softly. She knew he was worried about what would happen when his time was up.

"I know, I'm just worried about you and what will happen if they don't go easy on me. I admit my mistakes but I've done as Dumbledore as requested, I wasn't here when you deeply needed me to be." Regulus stopped walking and looked at Octavia. "If I wasn't in Albania, we could have spilt up. You could have handled Amycus and Alecto while I handled Sirius, getting him out before he ended up at Azkaban."

"I know Reg but you couldn't have known what would happen, I had seen bits of what would happen and even I couldn't predict this. I spent years knowing that Sirius does something to betray them but I could never imagine he would betray us to cause James and Lily to end up dead, I still don't believe this is what he dead, we are missing something." Octavia spoke and Regulus nodded, pulling her for a hug as tears built up in her eyes.

"I know, I believe you. I don't believe for a second that Sirius did what he is being charged with, remember I claimed that Sirius would hand me over before James and that is saying something. He saw James as a brother when I wasn't the one I should have been. I just wish I was back from Albania sooner."

Octavia pulled away and looked up at her brother in law, she gave him a watery smile before wiping away the tears that escaped. "You're here now Reg, that's what matters."

"Come on, we shouldn't be late."

Octavia nodded as she followed him up the grounds towards the Castle, unsure as to what awaited them inside.

The two of them entered Dumbledore's office and they were instantly confused as to the sight before them, both Snape and Moody were in Dumbledore's office, talking about something.

"Perfect timing," Dumbledore spoke noticing the two of them standing there in the doorway.

"What is going on here?" Octavia questioned, she felt uneasy around present company.

"We were just discussing what we were going to do with our reformed Death Eaters," it was with Dumbledore's comment that Snape turned around, looking at who was with her.

"Thought you were dead Black."

"And I'm surprised to see you here, let me guess you heard word of your precious Muggleborn and came running?" Regulus taunted and Octavia sent an elbow into his side.

"Don't start Reg," she hissed at him when he looked at her.

"What's your problem Black?" Snape sneered as he stood up, pointing his wand at Regulus.

"That is enough Severus, you are both here on my gracious, both will be staying out of Azkaban on my good graces." Dumbledore spoke and Snape returned to his seat.

"Even though he is meant to be dead?" Snape questioned and Octavia rolled her eyes.

"What, you didn't have time to read the Daily Prophet while you were hiding from Voldemort. The Ministry has been making claims about him being alive for some time now, but he's been working for Dumbledore a lot longer than you." Octavia snapped, walking over leaning against the wall where she was able to keep an eye on Snape.

"You knew he was a spy?" Regulus questioned in shock.

"I guessed, I was here meeting with Dumbledore when he turned up but Dumbledore never told anyone so I stayed quiet." Octavia responded and Dumbledore nodded, confirming it.

"Severus I will tell the Aurors and the Wizengamot the truth, you came to me before Voldemort's fall and in turn you became a spy for me. There is nothing more to it, you may leave and I will contact you soon enough about what we previously discussed." Dumbledore spoke, dismissing him.

Octavia watched as Snape hesitated before leaving, almost as if he wanted to know what Regulus had been up to for Dumbledore but as everyone stayed silent, he reluctantly left leaving the four of them alone.

"Now as for why we really met today and don't worry Regulus, I will keep you out of Azkaban as well, perhaps something similar. You did in theory come to us for safety and you have done missions for us along the way. How was Albania?"

Octavia was curious, she was curious from the start as to why Regulus went to Albania, she didn't know what use it would be to the Order in regards to taking down Voldemort.

"It was a bust, I searched that forest high and low but couldn't find it. I'm assuming when Voldemort was there last time he took it with him." Regulus spoke.

"What were you looking for?" Octavia questioned.

"You aren't the only one that has been wondering if Voldemort has more than one Horcrux Octavia," Dumbledore spoke and Octavia was shocked, he had been blowing off her with her concerns.

"How do you know what object it would have been?" she questioned.

"Not only did he become obsessed with mastering death he became obsessed with finding trinkets that belonged to the founders. He assumed he was the last heir in existence and as such assumed he got claim to all of their possessions. I never heard him say that he had them in possession but he spoke of the Sword of Gryffindor the most, making me assume that maybe he hasn't found that one." Regulus explained, she now realised that she wasn't the only one having private meetings with Dumbledore.

"Okay it makes sense, but why Albania?" she questioned.

"We know that Voldemort was in Albania for a period of time not long after his graduation, it was a rather large leap to assume that he hid a Horcrux there but Black here was up for the search." Moody added in and Octavia nodded.

"But Regulus came up empty, where would he have put it?" she questioned.

"That is what we don't know, he went to one of his supporters for an elf to help, one would assume other supporters are hiding a Horcrux but we don't know what we are looking for. Regulus how is your arm?" Dumbledore explained and at his question regarding Regulus' arm, Octavia turned and looked at her brother in law.

"It's fading, not completely disappeared but it is fading, slowly." Regulus explained and Octavia stayed silent.

"Severus said the same thing. I would assume that Voldemort isn't truly dead, so either Kreacher didn't destroy the Horcrux or Voldemort had more than one."

"Or both," Octavia finished for Dumbledore.

"Yes or both."

"So what now?" Octavia questioned.

"Voldemort is without a body and most of his followers are running because of it, while they are focusing on staying safe and out of Azkaban we can focus on our search for the Horcrux and their possible locations."

"That could take a while." Regulus pointed out.

"No kidding, the only reason we have one is because Voldemort went to Regulus and in turn he was concerned for Kreacher." Octavia snapped.

"O calm down, we have time." Regulus spoke softly but she ignored him and looked at Dumbledore.

"You expect me to sit back and wait, as we slowly search for the things that will permanently kill Voldemort, take down the person that is responsible for having my family ripped out? For why I someday have tell Willa what her father did because he probably won't be coming home because some dimwit in the Ministry thought it would be smart to deny his right to a trial." Octavia responded, anger coming through easily in her voice.

"Everyone lost people throughout this war Octavia."

"Yes I get that, I lost friends throughout the war as well but Halloween, the same day that everyone will continue to celebrate for years to come, the same day that my family was ripped apart. How do you expect me react? I was hoping this search would be easy and we could prevent Voldemort from ever returning but now you're telling me that one day some Death Eater could find a way and then Voldemort is back in full force wreaking havoc before we've even managed to mourn the loss of everyone completely?"

"Perhaps you should go Octavia, spend time with Willa. We can continue our search without you while you heal, when you're ready you can continue to help." Dumbledore suggested.

Octavia nodded and decided to head home, so much has happened and she felt she's spent more time trying to fix everything instead of spending the time she now has with Willa.

She didn't know how she was going to cope but as long as she still had Willa along with Remus, Lilith and Regulus helping her then she would be okay because had to. She had Willa and Leighton worry about.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Here it is, the chapter that everyone has been waiting for and it was definitely longer than my usual chapters but I just couldn't break it up properly.**

 **There are only five chapters left that will cover the next few years and then I will begin a new story that will follow Willa's years at Hogwarts and the books.**

 **Thank you to Ginny702, Horse lover, Raven that flies at night, bookdragonslayer and YumiKnowsBest for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **Horse lover, you're right Octavia has dealt with so much death and couldn't take anymore. She does break because of it all.**


	122. After The War - Left Alone

Chapter 121: Left Alone

 **December 1981**

Octavia sat there in the living room staring at the Christmas tree set up in the corner of the room, Leighton and Willa had a lot of fun decorating the tree how they wished, even enjoyed how Octavia made the tree flash its lights the way it did.

They were both sound asleep and eagerly awaiting for their presents despite the week they still had to wait.

Octavia had no idea if Amycus had been celebrating Christmas with Leighton but his face lit up at the idea of receiving presents and since she was still unable to visit her brother she had no way to ask him.

The Healers also refused to say anything just yet, all they said was that they had high hopes for him and they will let her know when he's allowed visitors.

"Am I interrupting?" Octavia turned her head at the sound of Lilith's voice, giving her best friend a smile.

Remus and Lilith had been amazing towards Octavia, being there every day and helping her manage the two toddlers while Regulus did what he needed to do as to have his name cleared as well as continue the search with Dumbledore for more potential Horcruxes.

"No of course not," Octavia patted the spot beside her on the couch.

"Where's Regulus?" Lilith questioned as she walked over and took a seat beside her on the couch.

"He has a meeting with the Goblins."

"It's 9pm."

"In New York," Octavia responded.

Things had been hard for Regulus after the fall of Voldemort, his name may have been kept of the Death Eater list thanks to Dumbledore but that didn't stop the suspicions come through from the public and everywhere he went he got stares from people.

He didn't want to leave but she pushed him to take the interview and potentially do what he's always dreamed off. She knew she would be okay, she had both Remus and Lilith, as well as Dromeda.

"Wow, I see he's aiming big."

"The Goblins don't care what he may or may not have done during the war, according to them he's done nothing to wrong them. The Goblin he needs to meet with is in New York over Christmas and Regulus offered to go there for a meeting."

"How did Regulus get out of time in Azkaban?" Lilith questioned.

Octavia wasn't surprised that Lilith was asking this, she knew how Regulus got out of time in Azkaban. "I paid his fine, when Sirius was given his life sentence his Will was activated leaving everything in his name to me while everything that was previously in Regulus' name back to him. The Black family vault all those other family related things that get passed on have gone to Willa but until she is of age I'm the proxy, it's meant to be used for Willa's Hogwarts supplies when the time comes but I figured why not use it to make sure Regulus doesn't end up in the same place."

"Will you be okay when he leaves?"

Octavia shrugged, "I have to be don't I? I can't rely on him forever, I know he was only here because it was easy when it first happened and then he didn't want to bring Bridgette down with him but now he's free to live his life the way he wants. He has his money back, a clear name and the girl he loves. Regardless of him getting the job or not I don't see him staying here for much longer, he won't leave me alone in this but he won't stay here forever."

"What if Moony and I move in here?" Lilith suggested.

"Why?" Octavia laughed, Lilith smirking at her.

"Alice and Frank are moving back home, their previous house was destroyed during the war and mum and dad are taking some time to travel the world. I love my brother but I can't live under the same roof as him again. If Regulus leaves, Moony and I can move in here and help you." Lilith suggested and Octavia stared at her, mouth open wide in complete shock.

"You two can't do that, move out on your own, live together like a family. If Remus is really worried about a job I can try and get him one with the family business when I'm allowed to see Amycus which I'm sure will be in the New Year." Octavia spoke, she was very touched by the offer but she couldn't let them do it, they had their own daughter to worry about.

"My offer to do an internship with St Mungo's is still on offer and I've accepted, I start in the New Year. The money isn't the greatest until I'm qualified and I don't have access to a family fortune like you do, my family's money isn't even as good as the Carrows or Blacks, we are better than some families like the Prewitts or Weasleys but nowhere like yours. If Moony doesn't work, I'm unsure as to how comfortable we will be able to live." Lilith spoke and Octavia nodded, she didn't know how to respond.

So much was said between her and Lilith before the war was over, she knew there was still pain on both sides because of the things that were said but they were getting passed it, she was unsure as to how she could do this, accept their help after what she thought of them, what she said to them.

"Just think about it Snow, if you don't want this house to be crowded with all these people then it's fine we will work it out. We just don't want you to struggle and fall apart from everything, losing James, Lily and Peter and then losing Sirius, it's a lot for us and you're raising two toddlers on your own." Lilith spoke, placing a hand on Octavia's.

Octavia was touched by this offer, unsure as to if she could cope with that many under the one roof but then again at one time or another she's had this many people here before. She still had to think about it and see what Regulus was doing with his own life before she agreed to anything, she didn't want to kick him out if he didn't want to leave.

"I will, thanks Lilith. I'm really glad you're here now," Octavia spoke, tears building up in her eyes and Lilith instantly hugged her.

"Always." Lilith responded softly.

.oOo.

 **January 1982**

Octavia pushed opened the door, unsure as to how the doors here worked considering she was able to easily open it. If she could open the door, were her siblings really that well locked up here within St Mungo's?

"Am?" she questioned softly entering the room.

She was finally allowed to visit Amycus, she didn't want to bring Leighton with her until she was able to judge what state he was in. She knew he seemed alright when she last saw him but she didn't know what he would be going through while in St Mungo's.

Amycus turned and looked at Octavia but didn't say anything before he looked back down at his lap. She didn't say anything but walked over and took a seat in the lone armchair, she decided if he wouldn't speak, neither would she.

When she spoke with the Healer, they were hopeful for his situation, they stated he was slowly improving, that he was nowhere near as gone as Alecto. They had hope for Amycus to return to normal eventually, but not Alecto. She was upset that she had truly lost her sister, the same one she cared for when she was younger.

"You know I only killed one person," Amycus finally spoke up and Octavia looked at him, unsure as to what he was on about. "During the war, I only killed one person, it wasn't even a Muggle or Muggleborn, it was a bloody Pureblood." He shook his head, laughing to himself.

"What are you on about Am?" she questioned and he finally looked up from his lap, looking at her.

"Evan came home bragging about what he attempted to do, I kind of lost it and killed him, it's why no one knows where he is. Al assumes what happens but hasn't told anyone because she doesn't exactly know and her memory is messed up. It was before the Wills more made, there was a moment where she was herself, almost like she was 15 and wanting to protect you again, she told me to kill him."

"You know?" Octavia gasp, she never planned on telling Amycus about what Evan attempted to do, that he attempted to rape her. She didn't see the point after she heard that Evan was missing and no one had seen him since the Christmas Break after it happened.

"I was furious at what he tried to do, I just kind of lost it. I tried so hard to make it through the war without doing anything as bad as Al, I tried to stay innocent but also do enough that he wouldn't turn on me so that I could continue to look after Al but after a while it became pointless, she was just too far gone and was becoming reckless." Amycus responded.

Octavia stood up and walked over, taking a seat beside her brother, taking his hand in hers. "I appreciate what you did, I truly do but surely you know I can handle myself, I was able to handle Evan and he didn't touch me. He didn't get the chance Am." She spoke softly.

"I left Sirius to look after you, I trusted him to look after you but yet that happened."

Octavia looked up and faced her brother, quickly noticing that he wasn't looking at her. Every time she was hurt in a duel against a Death Eater, she knew word would have gone back with them bragging about what happened and as such he would have heard every time she was injured.

"Look at me Am," she spoke softly, waiting for him to look up at her. "I'm perfectly fine, I'm sitting here in front of you in one piece. I made it through the war because you trusted me, you trusted Sirius to look after me and for me to trust people on my own. I made it away from our family because you trusted me to know what was right." She spoke once he was looking at her.

Amycus nodded and she took a deep breath. "You'll get through this, you'll get past whatever it is the Healers are seeing in you. You'll go home to Leighton and be able to raise him."

She saw something flash through his eyes at the mention of Leighton and she knew this to be a good sign.

"How is he?"

"Depends, will you be mad that he celebrated Christmas with us?" she questioned with a grin and he shook his head.

Octavia wasn't allowed to enter the room with her wand, fear that Amycus would over power her and take her wand but at this point she was grateful for her own magic. She waved her hand and her bag come floating towards her, allowing her to pull the photos from her bag.

"He's a wonderful boy, you've done well raising him Am, you should be proud." She handed over the photos she had from Christmas, the same ones with Leighton and Willa pulling faces at the camera while they held up their presents.

"She's beautiful and looks just like you," was all Amycus said as he looked through the photos.

"You'll meet her when you get out," Octavia stated and was pleased to see a smile on his face, she knew his son and niece were the way to get through to him. So he can get out and make sure the next generation of Carrows will be raised differently to their parents.

"These are yours," she pulled out the ones she took from his house and handed them over. "Keep them, along with the ones of Willa and Leighton on Christmas. They will keep you sane."

"Thank you," Amycus spoke, going silent as he continued to look through the photos.

.oOo.

Octavia was currently standing in the kitchen making breakfast, both Leighton and Willa were sitting at the table eating their own breakfast while she made breakfast for herself, Remus and Lilith.

In the end Regulus was offered a job with the goblins, both he and Bridgette were and all she was told was that the two of them were traveling the world doing the odd jobs that the goblins needed in various locations. Normally Curse Breakers needed training but the goblins assumed the training he had while working in the war will help protect him and he was getting on the job training at the various locations.

It took ten days before Octavia had enough after they left, ten days before she broke because both Leighton and Willa started asking questions of where their fathers were and she didn't know how to respond, she still hadn't worked out how to explain to Willa that Sirius wasn't returning home after he was given a life sentence to Azkaban.

Her hope for Regulus being able to convince Narcissa to help went away the longer Bellatrix evaded the Aurors, she didn't want to hold out in case she was never captured.

She didn't even have to ask to them for help, to move in and help her. She asked them to watch both Willa and Leighton one day while she took care of some things, she didn't have to say what those things were but she just had a day to herself, a break before she completely broke down with all their questions.

The next morning when she woke up Remus and Lilith had already moved in and the girls were excited about the prospect of sharing a room.

All she said was a thank you and they went on with their day, not even acknowledging that Octavia needed help but couldn't bring herself to ask for it.

She turned around as she heard Lilith enter the kitchen, saying good morning to both Willa and Leighton. "Are you alright?" she questioned, noticing Lilith looked a little off colour.

"Fine, just a little off." Lilith responded

"What are you pregnant?" Octavia joked, turning back to the omelettes she was cooking. But it was when she didn't receive a response. She turned and looked at Lilith in disbelief. "Lilith?"

"What's pregent?" Willa questioned, attempting to repeat the word she previously heard.

Octavia let out a laugh, "It's pregnant baby and ask me again when you're 18." She responded. Willa shrugged before going back to her toast, throwing a piece at Leighton and Octavia groaned when he threw one back.

Lilith laughed softly, standing up and walking closer to Octavia. "Are you mad at me?"

"Because you're pregnant and I'm not? I'm happy for you, both you and Moony. If things were different than yes maybe Sirius and I would be trying for another but he isn't here. Don't tell me you were afraid to tell."

Lilith shrugged.

"Don't, ever. I will always be happy for you no matter what happens between now and whenever." Octavia responded, placing the omelettes on a plate and handing one to Lilith.

"Thank you."

"No problem, how far along are you?"

"Almost four months," she responded with a large smile.

"You've been keeping things from me, I'm not happy." Octavia responded with a fake pout on her face and Lilith let out a laugh, taking a seat at the table just as Remus entered the room with Emerson trailing after him.

"Heard you going to be a father again Moony," Octavia stated and Remus looked a little confused, looking over at his wife as he sat Emerson at the table, handing her some of the toast in the middle of the table.

"I told her, finally."

"Good, no more secrets then." He stated, taking a seat at the table. "Thanks for breakfast Snow."

"You cooked yesterday, we have to rotate while teaching Lilith how to cook." Octavia teased, Lilith rolled her eyes in response.

"Lil makes good toast," Willa declared.

"Only because she smothers it in peanut butter." Octavia responded to her daughters comment.

"Reggie better, when is Reggie coming home?" Willa questioned.

Octavia took a deep breath, she knew the answer to this one. He wasn't any time soon. "Baby, this isn't Reggie's home anymore, he moved with Bee. The two of them are visiting all the places Reggie's told you about."

"Miss him," Willa spoke lowering her gaze. "And daddy."

"I know baby, me too." Was all Octavia was able to response, for once grateful that Regulus was the topic of questions instead of Sirius.

Octavia then had a plan to create new mirrors to communicate with, one for Willa and one for Regulus. If she could make her daughter happy by finding a way for Willa to communicate with the uncle she missed, then she would.

She looked over at Remus as he placed a hand on top of hers, "it'll get better," he whispered, only loud for her to hear.

.oOo.

Octavia stood there at the edge of the Black Lake, she came all this way to Hogwarts to see Dumbledore but she hadn't made her way inside the Castle. The last few times she was here, the conversations weren't the most pleasant.

But she needed Dumbledore's help, she didn't know who else to go to.

She could see how much Willa enjoyed having Leighton and Emerson around to play with but there was still two red blobs appearing on her drawings she claimed to be Fred and George. She couldn't believe that Willa remembered meeting them at her second birthday and that her and Sirius did promise one day she would see them again.

Her and Sirius were talking towards the end of the war of asking Fabian and Gideon to help them get in contact with Molly, to organise the three of them to have play dates and allow them to be actual friends and with their death, they hoped Dumbledore would be able to help them.

"Something tells me you didn't come here for the view," Dumbledore's voice came from behind her.

Octavia didn't turn around, she just shrugged and continued to look out across the lake. She was curious as to how the giant squid, the merpeople and the grindylow survived when the lake was completely frozen over. She knew some animals needed oxygen regularly going into the water to survive, but she didn't know about the creatures living in the lake and she was curious to find out one day.

"Do you know how to get in contact with Fabian and Gideon's sister, Molly Weasley?" Octavia finally questioned.

"I do, why do you ask?" Dumbledore responded.

"Willa's second birthday they ended up watching Molly's set of twins, Fred and George. The two of them and Willa instantly hit it off and she clearly remembers them, I want to see if Molly will agree to the three of them becoming friends, them having play dates or whatever else it is that people do with their children." Octavia explained.

"Let me just inform Minerva that I will be leaving and I can take you now." Dumbledore spoke and Octavia nodded.

She continued to stand there, looking out at the lake, wondering if it was safe to ice skate across, wondering if maybe that was something else she would have to learn to teach Willa along with swimming.

Octavia didn't say anything as Dumbledore returned, just placed a hand on his out stretched arm and allowed him to Apparate the two of them to their destination.

When they were arrived she could see a house in the distanced and assumed that was where they were heading.

As they got closer to the house Octavia could see that the house was an odd shape, as if parts of the house was added on at different times and magic was the only thing keeping it upright.

"Is this where she lives?"

"Yes, her and her family live here." Dumbledore responded, walking down the path before knocking on the door.

The door opened, revealing a short plump women who Octavia instantly assumed was Molly, seeing some similarities between her and her deceased brothers.

"Dumbledore, what are you doing here?" Molly questioned, obviously shocked at her visitors.

"Hi, I'm Octavia Black." Octavia introduced herself, she didn't care that the Ministry didn't see her as legally married to Sirius, she knew otherwise and was going to continue calling herself otherwise.

She saw as a flash of recognition flash across Molly's face, taking in the name. "You were friends with my brothers and Marlene, such a sweet girl." Molly spoke, tears building up in her eyes.

"Yes of course, I considered the three of them family and I was devastated when they were killed. I wished to meet you earlier but I also knew how hard your brothers were trying to keep you protected and out of this war for the sake of your sons." Octavia gave her a smile.

"Everybody loved my brothers, it's the way they were. They had this personality and aura about them that brought everyone in, would you like to come in for tea?" Molly questioned.

"I would love too," Octavia responded and they both looked at Dumbledore.

"I have to head back to Hogwarts, things to do." Dumbledore bid them goodbye before leaving and Octavia followed Molly inside, taking in the sight of the house.

This was the type of magical home she wished she grew up instead of the one she did. She knew in her current home magic was easily recognised but that was because of their neighbours, she hoped over time she could slowly have more and more magic around Willa as she got a bit older.

"Something tells me you aren't here just about my brothers." Molly spoke, handing over the tea and Octavia accepted it. She hated tea, but she hated being rude to people she was trying to become friendly with.

"No, I have a three year old daughter, two months younger than your twins and at her second birthday Fred and George were present and they all instantly hit it off. She seems to remember meeting them and now that the war is over I want my daughter to meet other children, why not start with children she's already met. If that is alright with you of course."

"That sounds wonderful," Molly responded with a smile and Octavia was pleased.

"Now I do have more than just my daughter in my custody at the moment, I also have my nephew while my brother is in St Mungo's." Octavia spoke, waiting to see how the older witch reacted.

"You introduced yourself despite knowing I would know full well who your family is, as well as what they may or may not have been charged with." Molly responded instead and Octavia didn't react, she knew this would happen from now on. Two potential Death Eater siblings, a brother in law who got off just paying a fine with thanks to Dumbledore and a husband in Azkaban for killing thirteen people and being a traitor.

She took a deep breath, "yes I did. I figured it would be easier now before they were reintroduced. I may be looking after my nephew for the time being but I also hope my brother will be released when his health is returned. If you wish for your sons to never be around my brother, I will respect that but that being said I won't bring my daughter around and leave my nephew at home."

"Understood and I'm glad you will respect my wishes, may whatever they be. Your nephew is innocent and wouldn't have had any part in what is going on in the world. We will see what happens as the friendship between them all progresses."

"Good to know, thank you for the tea. When am I able to bring them around? I believe Willa is dying to be able to run around in a backyard as big as yours."

"Tomorrow would be perfect," Molly spoke with a smile.

Octavia was pleased with how things went with Molly, she was pleased that Molly agreed for Willa to become friends with Fred and George and allowed one of the only good things she's ever seen to come true.

.oOo.

 **February 1982**

Octavia headed downstairs, she didn't know how much more she could take after losing so much. She had lost so many friends from her time at Hogwarts and now she only had Remus left.

Just when she was slowly starting to get over the pain of the deaths of James, Lily and Peter, having Sirius thrown in Azkaban for supposably being the cause behind their deaths, something happens to Lilith.

Lilith was visiting Frank and Alice when they were attacked, a few stray Death Eaters were still convinced that Voldemort was alive and in hiding, that they knew where he was because Frank and Alice were well known Aurors and all three of them were a part of the Order of the Phoenix, they were thrilled that Lilith was there since they weren't planning on it and they thought it was a bonus.

But in the end all three ended up in St Mungo's due to brain damage from over use of the Cruciatus Curse. Neville was lucky, Augusta and Liam had taken both Neville and Emerson for the day, wanting to spend time with their grandchildren.

That was a week ago.

Octavia entered the kitchen, expecting to see Remus in there with Willa, Leighton and Emerson making a start of breakfast. It was a sort of routine they had gotten into in the past week, they had taken turns at getting up early and making sure the three of them had breakfast. They promised to help each other out since they were all that was left of their group of friends.

She was shocked at the sight in front of her, the kitchen was empty, she honestly thought Remus would have been up by now.

She turned around and headed back upstairs, thinking he maybe he accidently slept in but she found his room empty.

Checking on the kids, she found Leighton's room empty and when she went across the hall she found them all sitting in the girls' room playing with toys.

"Where did daddy go?" Emerson questioned, shocking Octavia.

"What makes you think daddy went anywhere?" she questioned, joining them on the floor.

"He bring Lee to play with us, said he loved me and left. Where did he go?"

"I'm sure he is around somewhere, you all stay here."

"Mummy where daddy?" Willa questioned and Octavia's heart broke, Willa was beginning to ask this question more and more, she didn't know how much she could take especially if Remus had taken off like she feared.

Octavia just kissed the top of Willa's head before leaving the room and going back to Remus' room checking it more thoroughly.

It was completely empty, she couldn't believe Remus had left like he did, leaving her alone to raise Emerson along with Willa and Leighton on her own. She thought the only way she would make it past all of this was because she knew Remus would always be there to help her.

She went to Leightons's room and quickly throwing a change of clothes into a bag before going back to girls' room and doing the same.

"Mummy?" Willa questioned but Octavia didn't turn around straight away.

She wiped away the tears before walking over and kneeling in front of them, "how would you like to go visit Fred and George for the day?" she was met with a response of massive smiles on their faces.

When the four of them arrived at the Burrow, they all took off running towards the voices and Octavia slowly followed knowing that everyone was in the kitchen having breakfast.

"Octavia dear, what are you doing here?" Molly questioned as she rushed over to greet her.

"Can you watch them for the day? I have some things I need to take care off."

"Of course, you've been through so much, both you and Remus. I will look after them for the day, you take your time."

"Thank you Molly, that means a lot. They also haven't had breakfast."

"There's always plenty of food here."

Octavia was entirely grateful for Molly right now, she quickly caught on to how much her, Remus and Lilith were at times struggling with raising the three toddlers and always stated they could bring them over whenever they wanted.

Molly was a stay at home mum, she also two older boys who could from time to time help keep some of the child in line. She had no idea how Molly did it but she was in awe of the older witch being able to control as many children as she did.

Octavia left and heading straight to St Mungo's, she knew without a shred of doubt that if Remus took off he would come here to see Lilith.

She entered the room that Lilith was sharing with Frank and Alice, only to find it empty. So she headed over to the Healer's station to see if they had seen him.

"Excuse me, have you seen Remus Lupin?" Octavia questioned, the Healer looked up at her before looking back down at the paperwork in front of her.

"Yes, you missed him by about ten minutes."

"Did he leave anything?"

"Yes but he requested they be given to Mrs Longbottom."

"Hand it over," Octavia demanded as she held out her hand.

"They're for Mrs Longbottom."

"How about this, you come home with me and explain to a two year old as to why her father isn't coming home, now hand them over." Octavia growled out, smiling once the Healer placed the envelope in her hand.

She pulled out the first piece of parchment and quickly scanned it, her heart breaking the more she read.

 _I, Remus Lupin, hereby hand over all legal medical enquires regarding my wife Lilith Lupin, nee Longbottom, to her mother Augusta Longbottom deeming her, her legal Guardian for the duration of her stay in St Mungo's._

 _I, Remus Lupin, hereby hand over Guardianship of my daughter Emerson Clarity Lupin to her Godmother Octavia Laken Carrow refusing Guardianship from this date forward to the unforeseeable future._

Octavia stared at the letter as the tears ran down her cheeks, she couldn't believe Remus packed up and left, left her alone with three toddlers to raise and no idea how to begin to explain where he had gone. Her heart broke every time Willa questioned where Sirius was, she didn't know how she would cope having it come from the both of them.

She knew the moment she saw Octavia Carrow in the letter that he was serious, he was gone and wasn't planning on coming back. He knew the Ministry couldn't fight the letter and the rest of the documents, not since they found out that Octavia and Sirius weren't technically married.

She slid down the wall and placed the parchments on the ground, unsure as to what to do next. For the first time in who knows how long Octavia had no idea what to do next.

"Octavia are you alright?" she heard Augusta's voice but refused to look up, just held the letter.

"He's gone." Was all she said as the older lady grabbed the letter.

"Where are the children?" Augusta questioned.

"With the Weasleys, I woke up and Remus was gone, I knew if there was anything it would be here but I couldn't bring all three here, I had enough trouble getting all three through the Floo network." Octavia explained, wiping away her tears.

"I know it's against their wishes but I can take Emerson if it will makes things easier on you, I know you've already got Willa and Leighton." Augusta suggested.

Octavia shook her head, standing up and facing her. "No, they all wanted me to look after their children should anything happen to them. Remus must have known I would be able to handle them if he did this, I can't believe he did this." Octavia continued to shake her head as she walked down the corridor, leaving St Mungo's.

Octavia had no idea what she had gotten herself into, what her friends had gotten her into but she would do it, she would raise these three beautiful child as if they were own.

Now they were she supposed.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you to the four Guest readers and YumiKnowsBest for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

 **To the Guest who suggested that Octavia and Regulus should be together until Sirius gets out, I don't have that planned at all because Regulus has Bridgette.**

 **To the Guest who gave their ideas as to who suggested that Sirius looked like Harri Musumeci, yes I can see that.**


	123. Through the Years Pt 1

Chapter 122: Through the Years Pt 1

 **April 1982**

It has been six weeks since Remus left, leaving Octavia alone to raise, Willa and Leighton along with his own daughter Emerson.

There were some nights where Octavia couldn't do it, she would have all three of them waking up in the middle of the night crying of some nightmare and asking where their father was. Leighton was easy, Amycus was away getting healthy so he could come home.

Sirius was becoming easier, she was beginning to tell Willa that he was away because he hurt people, that he was naughty. Willa rarely questioned it but when she did, Octavia didn't know how to respond. How do you tell an almost four year that her father killed thirteen people? Octavia never responded, she would just ignore the question or change the subject mentioning something that would truly pull Willa's focus but she was beginning to question what Willa was thinking about the whole thing.

"Are you sure it is wise to bring both of them?" Andromeda questioned as she looked over at where Octavia was attempting to put Leighton's cloak on.

"I think it will be best for both Leighton and Amycus," Octavia responded, giving Leighton a pleading look. "Please Leighton." She pleaded with the young boy.

"Yes I get that that but why are you bringing Willa?" Andromeda spoke and Willa looked up from where she was on the floor with Emerson and Nymphadora.

"It's his niece, I'm hoping for anything to bring him back. I can see it in his eyes when I speak of both of them and I'm hoping if I bring them, then maybe but he has no connection to Emerson, no need to get better for her."

"Very well, why don't you just use magic on him to put his cloak on if he's being that much of a pain?" Andromeda suggested and Octavia's actions froze before she hung her head.

"Merlin, I need a good night's sleep." She scrubbed her face with her hands before standing up in search of her wand. "Between the three of them, it's bloody hard." She complained.

"Language," Andromeda scolded but Octavia wasn't phased. "I personally believe that neither Amycus nor Lilith will appreciate you teaching their children bad words." Octavia shrugged before waving her wand and Leighton's cloak magically appeared on him.

"I get your struggling to raise the three of them, I can't imagine what it's like to raise three toddlers on your own but you aren't alone in this, I'm always here for you." Andromeda spoke and Octavia finally looked up at her.

"I know and thank you," she gave him a smile before grabbing Leighton's hand before he ran off. "Come on baby," Octavia spoke getting Willa's attention, grateful when she stood up and walked over to her and grabbed her hand.

"I saw you arguing with her while chasing her around the house and now she comes to you just like that," Andromeda pointed out.

"Yes, a conversation for another time but for now I need to handle one question about fathers." Octavia responded before Apparating to St Mungo's.

She led both Leighton and Willa through the halls of St Mungo's, taking them carefully through the security point at the psych ward entrance before picking Willa up and placing her on her hip, unsure as to how she would react to meeting a new person after losing so many people recently.

She opened the door and watched as Leighton stepped forward, entering the room. "Hey buddy," Amycus spoke, spotting Leighton standing there.

"Daddy?" he questioned, still not moving from his spot.

Octavia placed a hand on Leighton's head and urged him forward and after that Leighton ran towards Amycus. She had a smile on her face as she watched the reunion between the two of them.

She walked over and placed Willa on the bed, sitting beside her and looking at her brother. "Willa this your uncle Amycus."

"No Reggie," she complained, shaking her head and Octavia caught sight of a smirk on Amycus' face.

"You can have plenty of uncles, Amycus is my brother and we haven't spoken in such a long time. I've been looking after Leighton for him."

"Lee's daddy?" Willa questioned.

"Yes."

"Is my daddy here?" Willa questioned and Octavia quickly noticed in the corner of her eye that something appeared on Amycus' face.

"No baby, your daddy isn't here."

"O?" Amycus questioned.

Octavia let out a sigh before looking up at her brother, "your Healer told me not to tell you of anything that was happening outside, I just tell you about Willa and Leighton."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but we're not here because of me. We're here because your Healer finally okay'd me to bring in these two." Octavia gave him a look, hoping he would let it drop and not question Sirius.

"Fine, have you been on your best behaviour for your aunt?" he questioned instead, looking down at Leighton, instantly looking at Octavia by the look on his sons face.

Octavia just laughed but didn't say anything as Leighton launched into a story about what happened when they visited the zoo the other week.

.oOo.

 **June 1982**

Octavia stepped out of the floo and allowed Willa and Emerson to follow Leighton towards his room, showing them the way.

Amycus was finally allowed to leave St Mungo's, his Healer deeming him healthy enough to return home to raise his son while returning for regularly sessions with the Healer to make sure he isn't returning to how he was.

It took a bit but Octavia managed to convince Amycus to spend the first two days alone while she still looked after Leighton, she wanted to make sure he would adjust to being at home after being in St Mungo's for so long.

After the days past Octavia agreed to bring Leighton home and he was more than eager to return home, the weekly visits to see his father weren't enough.

Octavia followed after the three children knowing Amycus would come looking for them when he had been notified of their arrival, so she stood in the doorway to Leighton's room and watched as he began showing them things that he didn't bring with him.

"I like that he's made friends," Amycus spoke, appearing beside Octavia and she nodded.

"He's friends with more than just the two of them, heard of the Weasleys?" Octavia questioned with a smirk on her face as Amycus groaned.

"Oh come on, not a Weasley."

"Fast friends," Octavia teased.

"Well if it's going to be that way, do I get to find out what happened to Sirius now?" Amycus questioned and the smirk fell from her face. Octavia has been avoiding every single topic that came up regarding Sirius when it was just the two of them and Amycus quickly learnt that Sirius wasn't a topic to bring up in front of Willa.

She looked over at where Willa was clearly distracted by Leighton and Emerson. "He's in Azkaban for killing thirteen people."

Amycus let out a laugh, "no seriously what did he do?"

"That's what he was charged with, the other one was left off public record but it's still just as ridiculous." She explained.

"So he's in Azkaban for something he didn't do and there must be a reason as to why you have a second girl I didn't know about?"

Octavia was glad her brother believed her about Sirius, it seemed less and less people were these days. "Emerson is the daughter of Remus and Lilith."

"And where are they?"

"Lilith is in St Mungo's permanently curtesy of Bellatrix, Rolophus, Rabasten and Barty Crouch Jr."

"And Remus," he urged her.

Octavia shrugged, "who knows, he took off a week after Lilith was put in St Mungo's."

"When O?"

"Middle of February." She responded softly, turning around and facing him properly.

"So four months you've been looking after the three of them alone."

"Not alone, Dromeda helps along with Molly Weasley, she's been very kind to look after them from time to time but I generally stick around and help her watch all the children since she has six with another one on the way."

"And what, Regulus thought it would be fun to see you suffer from wherever in the world he is?" Amycus responded.

"I didn't tell him, he's finally getting to live his life the way he's always wanted and I wouldn't take that opportunity away from him." Octavia responded, giving him a look before she walked over to see what the children were doing.

"O," Amycus spoke, sounding slightly apologetic and hoping she would continue the conversation.

"Don't start," she snapped.

.oOo.

 **June 1982**

Octavia went and opened the door, unsure as to who could be knocking at this late hour. She pulled it open and saw Regulus standing there.

"You move out and started using the front door again? You're not going to pass out on me are you?" she teased.

"Didn't know if you would still be awake, you know I received an interesting letter from Amycus." He stated.

The smile instantly fell from her face and she stood to the side allowing him to enter. Andromeda has said a number of times she'll tell Regulus what happened but she never did, but she couldn't believe her brother went behind her back and did this.

"You didn't have to come all this way to check up on me. I'm fine really."

"No, you were just abandoned by the last friend you had left. Has he even contacted you?"

"No, he ignored my letter when I sent Bellamy. The only reason I know he's alive is because he sends Lyall a letter every few weeks stating his fine. Lyall is disappointed in him for leaving and Augusta is furious. She offered to take Emerson but I refused. I'm managing better now Amycus is home." Octavia explained, but she knew by the look on Regulus' face he didn't believe her.

"I would have come home had you told me. O, we've sent a few owls since I've left and nothing about how you were left alone." He responded.

Octavia didn't say anything, just continued along to the kitchen hoping he would drop this conversation. "You've made a home with Bridgette," she responded when she was sick of Regulus giving her a look.

"What in the hotels we stay in before we go to the next country? This is my home and your family. Everyone says you and Sirius were so alike and they were true but they didn't realise how alike. You both had this notion that you couldn't ask for help when you needed it, instead you shut everyone out and try to get through it on your own until you break, I believe your abuse was a very similar situation." Regulus responded.

Octavia leaned against the bench and crossed her arms over her chest, "I just haven't asked _you_ for help Reg, you finally had your life back and you were able to do what you wanted for a change. I let you live your life with Bridgette how you two wanted it to be. I did have help, Molly offered to take the three of them on the days when Arthur was home because she could see I was struggling. Dromeda is always there when I need her and now Amycus is home, he helps a lot. It's just the questions I still can't deal with."

Tears built up in Octavia's eyes. She took a step back when Regulus stepped closer to her, wanting to comfort her.

"I know Willa will get easier when she gets older, I can tell her what he did. Just like I tell her you and Bridgette are traveling the world seeing all those places you told her about. She is always questioning as to where everyone is and she just can't accept they're all dead. And Emerson, how do I tell that sweet girl her father up and left? It's easier with her mum because she's allowed to see Lilith, she understands her mum doesn't recognise her and is sick." She reached up and wiped away the tears.

"If I knew this was going to happen I would have come home, I should have come when you told me Bellatrix and company attacked Lilith, Frank and Alice. I tried sending an owl to Narcissa asking if she could come forward for Sirius, to help get him out of Azkaban. I tried blackmailing her by saying I stayed quiet about Lucius in my own trial, only listing previously known Death Eaters but Lucius must have intercepted the letter because he was the one to respond, told me it's Sirius' own fault for turning his back on his family and that no one would believe me if I came forward now." Regulus responded and Octavia nodded.

She wanted to say thank you, thank him for trying but a quiet voice spoke before she could. "Reggie?" they both turned and found Willa standing there rubbing her eyes.

"Hey kiddo, shouldn't you be asleep?" he questioned, giving her a smile.

"Bad dream, come read me story?" Willa spoke, grabbing his hand and pulling him from the room not giving him an option in the matter.

Regulus let out a laugh and looked over his shoulder at Octavia and she gave him a smile, following them both upstairs.

"How long are you here for?" she questioned.

"A couple of days is all I could manage to get off." He responded.

Octavia nodded, "she really missed you." She responded knowing she could now give Regulus one of the mirrors she made for a new set of communication, allowing them to communicate easier and more often. These mirrors would also hopefully stop Willa's questions as to where he and Bridgette are.

.oOo.

 **December 1982**

"Okay, you two play here while I go find uncle Amycus," Octavia spoke directing Willa and Emerson over to the table where she placed their colouring books and crayons before she went on the search for her brother.

But it was at that point that Leighton came running past her, quickly saying hello before joining the two girls at the table.

"He missed them," Amycus spoke from behind her and she turned around to find him heading towards her.

"He saw them three days ago," Octavia responded with a smile. She was glad that Leighton, Willa and Emerson got along incredibly well, they were family.

Amycus let out a laugh, "yes but he also spent almost nine months with you and in turn them."

Octavia flashed him a smile before walking away from where the three children were sitting at the table, allowing them to talk without being overheard.

"Are you sure you're going to be fine looking after all three of them? The girls both still ask where their fathers are and my answers aren't stopping the questions at the moment." Octavia questioned, sneaking a look over at them making sure they weren't paying attention to her and Amycus.

"I will be fine, you did it for four months, I will be fine for two nights and I have Dinky to help, she is thrilled that we came back."

"I know, I would have told her to come help me but I couldn't risk anyone seeing her."

"I know O, I just hate that you were alone after everything that's happened."

"Don't start Am, I still can't believe you told Regulus," Octavia snapped, still annoyed that he went behind her back.

"Why can't you watch them again tonight?" Amycus questioned.

Octavia stayed silent, instead watching as the children giggled about something that she didn't understand. This was going to be the first Blue Moon since Voldemort had fallen and she was concerned for how it was going to go, if it wasn't for the fact that the Dark Mark on Snape, Regulus and Amycus' arms weren't truly gone one would assume that Voldemort was gone as they hadn't heard any word as to where he was.

She was truly worried about being taken into his head while this was all happening, she knew Death Eaters managed to prevent from being placed in Azkaban, Amycus had told her as such. She was unsure as to if any of them knew where Voldemort was and helping him regain his body but in case any of them were aware of his location she didn't want him to risk seeing the girls or even working out where Octavia lived with the girls while she raised them.

"Did you ever hear about the Prophecy linking Voldemort and I?" she questioned and Amycus looked completely shocked. "I take it from that look you didn't know. Anyway things happened and every Blue Moon our minds become linked from midnight to midnight, we're able to see what the other is up to. We don't believe he is dead, we believe that he is out there somewhere and as such when it turns midnight I will be able to slip into his head and he will be able to do the same. I don't want him to see Willa or Emerson. If he has Death Eaters that know of his existence, I don't want them to come after the girls, so I'm going to hide out at Potter Manor while this is happening."

Octavia looked at Amycus, knowing he was trying to take in everything she just said and she turned her gaze to look at the children. She didn't want to leave tonight, it's been a year since Sirius has been gone and Willa was getting more and more anxious about his disappearance and she still had no idea as to how she was going to explain everything.

"Could you get a possible location out of him?" Amycus finally questioned, Octavia turned and looked at him.

Octavia shrugged, catching as Willa turned and looked at them both. "It's possible, but he could be anywhere. He may be hiding out in the woods somewhere, I really don't know." Octavia spoke, keeping her voice low to make sure Willa didn't hear her. She feared what Willa would be questioning next if she had any reason to believe that Octavia was talking about Sirius when she wasn't.

"Are you in danger?"

"Possibly, if he's got Death Eaters helping him then they could come to me but I will be putting every single ward I know of around the Manor to help protect me."

"What if nothing happens and he's really gone? That our marks will never truly fade?" Amycus questioned and she could only hope, hope that all of this nightmare was well and truly over with.

"Then we'll consider ourselves damn lucky that Kreacher did his job."

Octavia and Regulus had filled Amycus in on the fact that Voldemort had created at least one Horcrux, more so in hopes that Amycus had any ideas as to where any potential other ones were but Amycus was at a loss, telling them both that they were the smart ones and not him.

Amycus didn't respond and Octavia walked over and sat in between Willa and Emerson, softly kissing the top of Emerson's head before looking at Willa. "Be good for Uncle Am, I will be back soon." She spoke, pressing her lips into Willa's hair.

"No mummy, don't leave." Willa cried and Octavia's heart broke.

"I promise I will come home baby, you get to spend all day tomorrow playing with Leighton and Emerson and maybe you can go for a fly if you are good."

"Fly now?" Willa questioned, looking behind her at where Amycus was still standing.

Octavia knew it was dark outside, that it wouldn't be safe for them to go flying.

"Of course, how about you stay here with O while I grab Leighton's broom and then we can go into the other room." Amycus responded and Willa's face lit up.

Octavia was glad that Willa perked up at the idea of going for a fly, forgetting that Octavia was about to leave.

"Don't leave mummy," Willa spoke.

Octavia let out a sigh before looking down at Willa, she reached out and cupped Willa's face. "Okay, I will stay until you go to bed."

Octavia wanted to be at Potter Manor and able to place the wards before it hit midnight but now she was going to have to stay here and keep Willa's mind at ease. The loss of one parents placed fear in her daughter's mind that the second will also disappear.

.oOo.

Octavia stayed there in Potter Manor for 24 hours completely bored out of her brains, no one came for her and Voldemort didn't even make any comments suggesting he knew she was there. What was shocking most of all was that it seemed as though Voldemort didn't have a body and she knew she had to pass the information on to Dumbledore but for now she had to return to Amycus' house and check on Willa, making sure her daughter was okay with her disappearing for the time she was.

Octavia Apparated to Amycus' house and waited for Dinky to find her to see who set off the wards signalling an arrival before she continued through the house with the room Willa was using as her final destination.

She opened the door and found her daughter perched on top of the bed, a smile appearing on her face when she noticed her standing there.

"Missed you mummy." Willa spoke.

"I missed you too baby, why aren't you asleep?" Octavia questioned softly as she walked over and sat down on the bed with her daughter.

"Bad dream," Willa replied, snuggling in against Octavia.

"Tell me about your dream baby," she spoke softly.

Octavia always feared that one day Willa may have the same gift she did when it came to seeing the future, she didn't want her daughter to go through the same things she always felt when seeing the future. Octavia could deal with the good parts of the future, it was the bad parts, the parts where she had to grow up knowing she would lose James and Peter one day because of their death, or even potentially lose Sirius. She hated those parts of the future she saw.

"Flying pumpkin," Willa mumbled with a yawn as she slowly fell back asleep.

Octavia just smiled, holding in her laugh. She didn't know where this fear of pumpkins came from for Willa but yet every now and then she dreamed of this scary flying pumpkin.

Octavia wanted to go and find her own bed, somewhere she could sleep for the night but Willa was clutching her tightly and would wake the moment she tried to pull away.

In the end Octavia just made herself comfortable on the bed Willa to get some sleep.

.oOo.

"So you couldn't get a location on Voldemort?" Dumbledore questioned.

Octavia was currently sitting with Dumbledore in the Three Boomstricks pub in Hogsmeade while she was recounting what happened during the Blue Moon while Willa and Emerson sat at the next table over playing with their dolls.

"No, all I saw was trees. There wasn't even a specific tree to suggest where in the world he is, it's been over 12 months and if he's hitched a ride with someone he could be anywhere." Octavia responded, taking a sip from her butterbeer.

"Nothing at all?"

"No Dumbledore, he didn't even acknowledge me. Pretended like I wasn't even there, last time especially towards the end of the 24 hours he did acknowledge me, even taunted me."

"He's most likely taking this time to regroup and plan his next step, we know he is still alive even if it is partly, we know either Kreacher failed or there is another Horcrux somewhere. It gives us an idea of what to work with."

"I just wish there was nothing there, that Voldemort was dead so then I don't have to worry about the future of the girls. I don't want them to go through the same fear that I did." Octavia spoke, looking over at the girls, wishing their innocence could always stay and that they never have to know what it's like to have the same fears she did from a young age.

"We're doing everything we can. Remember Regulus and Bridgette are searching what they can while abroad, seeing if they come across any whispers regarding Voldemort." Dumbledore responded.

"I should get the girls home, I promised them we'll go see Dromeda, Ted and Nymph today." Octavia stood up and walked over to where the girls were sitting to pack up their things and leave the pub.

.oOo.

 **May 1984**

Peter was exhausted, he had spent the last two and a half years running and pretending to live as a rat. He doesn't know how those blasted animals do it, he wasn't able to the food he wanted and for all purposes his mother assumes he was dead.

He doesn't even know how his father died, just went home one day to see his mother mourning the both of them.

He knew that if he came clean to his mother he would make things worse, she would blame everything on their devotion towards the Dark Lord.

He knew that the Dark Lord wasn't truly gone, who could defeat such a great and powerful wizard. He needed to find somewhere to live, somewhere stay that allowed him to keep an ear out on things and make sure he was safe.

He had to pick a Pureblood family, a Pureblood family full of blood traitors and since the Dark Lord and his followers killed most of the large blood traitor families during the war he was limited with his options.

He also wanted to be close to the Dreamer, he knew that if anyone was searching the Dark Lord it would be her and Dumbledore.

.oOo.

Octavia arrived at the Burrow with the idea of picking Willa and Emerson up and taking them home for dinner.

She walked through the back door and it was then Percy came over to her, "O." Percy spoke with a large smile on his face and Octavia smiled down at him.

"Hi there Percy, how you been?"

"Good, you won't guess what happened today."

Octavia smiled at the boy and knew it was easier to just follow along with his games, she knew that at times Percy didn't receive the same attention that the others did, Ginny was the youngest and only girl so sometimes Molly fawned over her while Fred and George were always causing trouble and Molly was constantly yelling at them for something. It didn't matter if Percy was pretty independent and preferred his books over people, Octavia knew it was important to give all children the same attention.

"Fred, George and Willa actually behaved today?" she questioned and Percy laughed.

"No," he shook his head.

"You scored a goal while playing Quidditch?"

"No, I wish." Percy responded sadly.

She knew that Percy wished he could play Quidditch like all his brothers, Bill was on the Gryffindor team at Hogwarts while Charlie had plans to try out when he was old enough at Hogwarts. Even Fred and George, despite being younger had taken to Quidditch very quickly.

Octavia knelt down and faced Percy properly. "What happened today Perce, I have no more guesses."

"You didn't even try."

"You got me," she grinned at him, pleased to see a smile on his face.

"It's not fair!" Charlie yelled as he came running into the kitchen.

Octavia raised an eyebrow and looked over at Charlie, "what isn't fair?"

"Percy got a pet and I got nothing!" Charlie complained.

"I found a rat in the garden and he looked so upset, mum said I could keep him if I look after him and remember to feed him." Percy explained.

"It's not fair," Charlie repeated.

"Where is this rat Percy?" Octavia questioned, ignoring Charlie for a moment.

"Oh," Percy looked around, as if he has lost the rat. "I'll go find him," Percy stated before he left the room and Octavia finally looked back over at Charlie.

"What's wrong Charlie?" Octavia questioned, noticing the sour look on the young boys' face.

"It's not fair, Percy gets a pet and I get nothing." Charlie complained, crossing his arms over his chest.

Octavia always had a soft spot for Charlie and she contributed it to the fact that he was in love with magical creatures, almost obsessed and it always gave them many things to talk about.

"How about I talk to your mother and see what I can do alright?"

Charlie didn't say anything, a large smile appeared on his face before he left the room with something else in mind.

Octavia couldn't help but laugh and go in search of Molly, hoping that Willa was on her best behaviour today. She may have to stop bringing Willa around as much if they didn't start behaving.

.oOo.

 **August 1984**

Octavia arrived at the Burrow, hoping that no one came and investigated as to who arrived but she could hear Molly in the background yelling at Fred and George for having done something towards Ron once again, if it was anything like last time, she doesn't know how but somehow they convinced him that eating salt was a good thing. How Ron fell for that one, Octavia didn't know.

She quietly headed upstairs, spotting Percy in his room surrounded by books but it was when the scent came floating from his room that her whole body froze and ran cold.

The smell was so familiar but she pushed the memories aside and continued up the stairs as she convinced herself she was going a little crazy, imagining something that shouldn't be there. She knew Percy found a rat in the garden and it was most likely a common garden rat and wouldn't have any connection to Peter, she was just trying to convince herself that Peter was actually alive and not dead. She had done it once before, seen a stag in the forest near Hogwarts and she stood there staring at the stag as tears ran down her cheeks while she convinced herself why it wouldn't be a good idea to transform and chase the animal.

She knocked on the door frame to Charlie's room, having spotted him sitting on his bed, head buried in a book on dragons. His head snapped up and smiled at her. "Hi O."

Octavia walked over and took a seat at the end of his bed, "I have a present for you, but it must be a secret. The last thing I need is everyone else asking for a present." Octavia spoke and the smile grew on Charlie's face.

Octavia knew what was going to happen when they all found Charlie received a present, this wasn't exactly something he could keep a secret, although he could try.

"I promise, what is it?"

"Well remember how you were upset that Percy got a pet and you didn't?"

"It's a rat, of all things a rat?" he questioned sounding incredibly dramatic and she smiled at him.

"I also promised I would speak to your mum about something, she said I could get you something that won't cause you any serious harm and also won't require feeding." She placed her hand in her pocket and pulled out what she was hiding.

His eyes went wide as it took in what was in her hand as she held her hand opened. "That's a dragon scale," he spoke in awe.

"Yes it is, good job Charlie. I have a friend who works with dragons and I asked if he could send me a scale. Do you want to see a magic trick?" she questioned and Charlie quickly nodded.

Octavia cupped one hand over the dragon scale, focusing on her magic. She had read up on spells that transfigure one thing into another and had been practising with a wand, she had also found a spell that could convert something into its original object.

It took her a while to practise it and Charlie was heading to Hogwarts soon so she thought it would be a good gift for him since she also got Bill a little something for getting into Hogwarts.

She opened her hands and allowed Charlie to take in the sight of the small miniature dragon sitting in her hands.

"Definitely the best magic trick I've seen," Charlie explain, clearly shocked at what he just witnessed.

"Now this little guy will take some time to get used to you but after a while he will follow you around. You can name him, teach him tricks, anything you can with a normal pet. He won't need regular feeding because he isn't technically real despite him acting like a real dragon, he won't grow any bigger, his bites aren't poisonous or painful and even though he breaths fire, it's cold not hot." Octavia explained.

It took Molly a little convincing that the fake dragon would be perfectly harmless, she had to show Molly one of the previous dragons she attempted to create before converting back to the scale. In the end Molly relented, seeing how harmless the creature was and also knew how happy it would make Charlie having a fake dragon, one of his favourite creatures.

"Thank you, thank you." Charlie repeated over and over as he threw his arms around her neck.

"Your welcome Charlie, now just don't lose him. That's the only scale I have."

"You said he'll follow me around."

"Yes once he gets used to you, spend time with him in your room and give him plenty of attention but don't ignore your family before you leave for Hogwarts. One more thing, definitely don't tell anyone at Hogwarts where you got the dragon, the last thing I need is letters turning up asking if they could have one." Octavia requested.

"Can I tell Bill?"

"Yes, tell him it is your starting at Hogwarts gift." Octavia responded, she had gifted Bill with a set of books on the pyramids of Egypt.

No one knew where Bill's fascination came from, everyone suspected Charlie's fascination came from Octavia. But they all allowed Bill to have his books on pyramids and Egypt just like they allowed Charlie to have his books on magical creatures.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **I know in the books it states that the Weasleys had Scabbers for 12 years, allowing everyone to assume he went straight from his duel to the Burrow but I never understood as to why he chose the Weasley family of all families when there are plenty of Pureblood families, or even Halfbloods with Ministry connections.**

 **Thank you Raven that flies at night for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	124. Through the Years Pt 2

Chapter 123: Through the Years Pt 2

 **September 1984**

Octavia went and answered the front door, unsure as to who could be knocking on the door but she was given a surprise when she pulled it opened.

"Anna?" she questioned softly, shocked at seeing her cousin standing there.

After Avianna's parents were killed she was furious with Octavia, blaming her for their death. She agreed to not to return to Britain but she also no longer responded to Octavia's letters, instead sending her letters straight to Hogwarts for Chloe.

Octavia heard from Bridgette that Chloe was still in communication with Avianna and some of the friends they had together at Hogwarts and it hurt Octavia that her cousin cut her off so easily.

"I always thought you would be at my graduation, despite everything I always thought you and Sirius would be there because you were the only family I had left." Avianna spoke.

Octavia was still shocked at seeing Avianna standing there, an official adult in their world and looking completely different but also the same since they last saw each other.

"Please say something, I know I said I hated you but you had also just told me my parents were dead. I was just angry and you were the one there that I could take my anger out on."

Octavia let out a laugh, which confused Avianna but neither of them had a chance to speak as sets of thunderous feet came heading their way.

"Aunt O, Willa hit me." Leighton cried and when Octavia turned around all three children were standing there and she was instantly curious as to where Fred and George had gone.

She thought she was crazy, looking after all five of them but she found it was surprisingly easy and they were behaving. Until she stopped watching them to answer the door.

"Anna this is our nephew Leighton," Octavia spoke, walking around and standing behind the children. "Your niece Willa," she laughed softly as Willa brushed her hand away from her hair. "You remember Remus and Lilith, their daughter Emerson. And there are two troublemaking twins around somewhere that happen to be Fred and George Weasley, the nephews of Fabien and Gideon." Octavia introduced all the children with a smile before looking up at Avianna.

"I was going to say, I didn't realise you and Sirius were this busy." Avianna teased and the smile fell from Octavia's face.

"Daddy?" Willa questioned, looking up at Octavia.

"No baby, you know daddy's not coming home." Octavia spoke and she looked up at Avianna who was shocked. "Come in Anna, there is much we should discuss but it should wait until I'm freed from babysitting duty."

Avianna didn't say anything as she entered the house and followed Octavia as she chased after the children.

.oOo.

"You didn't have to wash the dishes," Octavia commented as she entered the kitchen and found Avianna washing the dishes.

"You were busy putting three children to bed," Avianna responded.

Amycus was unable to come and pick Leighton up, there was an issue within the company and he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon and asked if Leighton could stay the night.

"I don't normally have three, Amycus just couldn't come and pick Leighton up." Octavia responded, walking over and leaning against the bench beside the sink.

"Amycus, as in your brother? I thought you two weren't talking because of the war."

"The war is over, has been for almost three years."

"I have to ask," Avianna spoke, looking up at Octavia.

"Where Sirius is?"

"Yeah…"

"He's in Azkaban," was all Octavia said in response. "Look I'm really sorry about not being at your graduation, I honestly didn't know if you wanted me there and plus, I never got an invite and as such didn't know when you graduated. The one time you came home for the summer I picked you up at a friend's house, a few days after your school year finished. I had no idea when your school year finished."

"I thought you would know?" Avianna questioned softly.

Octavia shook her head, "no I didn't, I haven't been speaking much with Dumbledore because I've been focusing on raising the girls and Leighton when I had him for a short time. Time has been a blur since the war ended, I almost forgot the girls' birthdays one year."

"Where are the rest of your friends?" Avianna questioned, finally realising what Octavia was saying but also wasn't saying at the same time.

"Dead or gone, they're gone all in some way or another but I'm not alone, I have Dromeda and Ted, my brother has been a huge help and Fred and George's mother takes the girls from time to time. Anna I felt the loss of your parents as well, they were family because you were family. We all started getting picked off one by one after that until that Halloween when Voldemort fell and then I lost Sirius and four months later I lost the last of my friends. I've been trying to stay afloat."

"I feel bad for not reaching out sooner and apologising knowing all of this now." Avianna responded.

Octavia shrugged pushing away from the bench and grabbing the plates, magically drying them before grabbing them and putting them away. She didn't want to talk about this anymore, she was moving on in her life and didn't want to be dragged back down to her worst.

"O, where are you?" Amycus voice came from somewhere in the house.

"In the kitchen Am," she replied, turning and looking at her cousin hoping this would go alright.

Octavia turned and faced her brother as he entered the kitchen but he wasn't paying attention, he was looking at the blonde in the kitchen with her.

"Dinky," Amycus called out and Octavia narrowed her eyes at her brother, she hated when he called Dinky here with risk of getting caught by the Muggle neighbours.

"You called Master Am, oh Miss Tavia it is good to see you." Dinky spoke when she arrived in the kitchen and Octavia gave her a smile.

"Dinky can you please grab the box at home labelled Avianna?"Amycus questioned and Dinky nodded before disappearing.

"Avianna it is a pleasure to finally meet you, I'm Amycus." Amycus introduced himself.

"Hi," she responded shyly and it was then the box appeared on the kitchen counter and Amycus stepped towards it, pulling the top off.

"Over the years ever since O first told me about you I was collecting photos and what else I could when it came to your parents and sister. It was hard because I wasn't meant to know of you until you disappeared. Once the war was over and I was out of St Mungo's I was able to freely search the Manor for anything regarding your family." Amycus explained pulling photos out. "You look a lot like your sister," he handed over a photo of Bexley, a large smile appeared on Avianna's face.

"I always told you when the time came I would help you learn about our family but I couldn't risk my mother finding out about you until there was nothing she could do. Amycus received the family title after you were in hiding and it was easier to keep you there."

"Family title?" Avianna questioned.

"I'm the head of the family, I have control of its funds and where the gold goes as well as having a seat on the Wizengot. Speaking of which, we should head to Gringotts tomorrow and have a trust set up for you."

"Why?"

"You are technically a Carrow so you technically deserve a share of the family wealth." Amycus quickly responded, not looking up at Avianna as he searched for something in the box.

Octavia laughed at the look on Avianna's face before she patted the girl on the shoulder before walking over and taking a seat beside Amycus, helping him with the box.

.oOo.

 **November 1984**

"Damn it Carrow, why won't you leave me alone?" Moody questioned and a growl escaped Octavia's mouth, she still hated being referred to as Carrow and it's been three years since the truth came out.

"Why won't you give Sirius a trial?"

"Because he's already been sentenced, what do you expect me to do?"

"Get him out and give him the trial he deserves!" she demanded and Moody leaned back in his chair, not at all phased by the annoyed girl in front of him.

"Why? What good would it do, tell me. We all know Sirius was the Potter's Secret Keeper, if Sirius didn't betray them like we all know he did, then what happened?" Moody questioned and Octavia collapsed into the chair.

This was the only thing she couldn't answer, she didn't believe it happened, she spent years growing up with the knowledge of that argument between her and Remus and Sirius telling her it would never happen. Sirius spent years telling her he would never betray them but she couldn't explain what happened instead.

"I get it Octavia, you love him. But understand this, put aside the fact that you are dead set on the fact that he didn't do this, if we do pull him from Azkaban and give him a trial, if it turns out he's guilty still, he will receive a Dementor's Kiss. Do you honestly want me to organise a trial and risk you being wrong, risk losing him forever? I get he's in there for life but do you really want to risk subjecting him to a Dementor's Kiss?" Moody and questioned and Octavia shook her head as the tears built up.

She hated she was alone in raising Willa and Emerson, that there was days she couldn't cope anymore and dumped them on Andromeda and Amycus. There were days where she just broke down, not being able to handle it anymore.

She knew Amycus understood completely because he was raising Leighton on his own after Celeste had died and her family had been killed all because they refused Voldemort, refused to follow him.

And Andromeda was family, she would never turn her back on Octavia and Octavia was grateful for having both of them in her lives.

She hated relying on Molly so much, Molly had enough children to look after while Arthur was at work and Octavia hated putting two more, sometimes three, children in her care and normally chose to spend the day at the Burrow and help Molly with whatever she could.

But the truth was, Octavia was unsure how much longer she could go on knowing Remus had left, Sirius was locked away for something she whole heartedly believed he didn't do and Lilith was still in a bed at St Mungo's.

"It will get better Octavia, it will get easier. The girls are still too young to understand what happened and they don't understand why their dads won't come home."

Octavia didn't say anything, she just leaned forward and placed her face in her hands as the tears built up.

"Talk with your brother and Andromeda Tonks, organise with them what days they can look after the girls while in return you look after their own offspring and get a job. I know about your obsession with magical creatures and I heard of an opening in the regulation and control department. They may even have some sort of day care worked out." Moody suggested and Octavia looked up at him in shock.

"I can't leave the girls."

"Why? Plenty of parents work while their children are looked after by other people. You shouldn't coddle the girls, I also happened to know you were raised by an elf and not your parents, you turned out pretty okay." Moody responded, clasping his hands together in front of him and Octavia looked at him.

Moody was right, her and her siblings were mostly raised by Dinky and Kreacher when she was at the Black household. Her parents may have been there to punish her as well as organising her tutoring sessions and etiquette sessions. Her parents were only there for public appearances.

She knew this was the same in all of the Sacred Family homes, she knew that Amycus left Leighton in Dinky's care some days when he wasn't able to work from home. She trusted Dinky, she cared for Dinky and she knew Amycus would allow her to leave the girls in Dinky's care. She also knew that when Amycus left Leighton in Amycus' care he shut off the Floo network and put up a ward that only he could Apparate through, if there was an emergency then Dinky was able to take Leighton from the home with her own elf magic.

"A job may help distract me," she muttered and Moody nodded before grabbing a piece of parchment and quill, writing something down before handing it to her.

"Talk to Caffery, old friend and I'll put in a good word for you."

"Thank you."

"Just stop banging on everyone's door about Sirius, I've told you what will happen if he gets pulled and it's more than most people get. Narcissa is the only person left that can have him pulled without the severe consequence until Willa is of age." Moody responded and Octavia knew what he was getting at.

If she continued to annoy the Auror department about Sirius someone may just have him pulled to annoy her, to have the trial he deserves but also make sure the trial got crashed. She may have her connections within the Auror department but there were also a few people who either feared her or hated her, she had to be careful.

.oOo.

 **April 1985**

"Aunt O!" Octavia smiled at the sound of Leighton's voice before she let go of Emerson and Willa's hands allowing the two girls to run out of the fire place and towards the boy.

"Leighton, have you been a good boy." Octavia smiled down at her nephew.

"I'm always a good boy," he puffed out his chest and it was then Octavia heard the laugh belonging to her brother, she turned her head and found Amycus standing in the doorway.

They had both come a long way from the war and Octavia was glad that Amycus was able to heal after everything that happened and be there for Leighton, for them to be a family together.

"He's too much like you O," Amycus complained but Octavia just grinned at him.

"You did leave him in my care for several months," she responded and a frown appeared on her brother's face.

"Something I'm beginning to regret," Amycus muttered and she laughed.

"No you don't, you're grateful I was there for him while you and Alecto were in St Mungo's just like I'm grateful you are here for me now, even more so now I'm working." Octavia responded.

"Have you seen Al?" Amycus questioned and that quickly got the attention of the children on the floor.

"Who's Al?" Emerson questioned but Octavia could see the gears working in Willa's head behind her eyes.

"It's Alecto, our aunt you git." Willa responded.

"How does she know who Alecto is?" Amycus hissed and Octavia looked at her daughter, who just shrugged.

"I don't know if it's because of me or it's who she is, but she has an incredible memory, doesn't forget anything. She remembers everything, must have heard Sirius and I talking about Alecto at one stage or another." Octavia explained.

"You aren't going to tell her off for calling Emerson a git?"

"Why, they say that word every two seconds, it's what they call each other. They heard Bill call Charlie a git over Christmas Break and it's their favourite word at the moment. There is no cruelty in it between them, Emerson literally says 'I love you, you git'," Amycus rolled his eyes before looking at Leighton.

"As long as Leighton doesn't pick up that habit from them I don't care O." he turned and looked back at Octavia. "Willa still won't say I love you?" he questioned, changing the subject.

It was only recently they realised that Willa hasn't said those three words in such a long time, Octavia will tell Willa she loves her every morning when she goes to work but Willa doesn't say them back. Willa won't even say them to Emerson and as such everyone that views Willa as family has been telling her that they love her with hope of her finally saying it back but she won't.

The only person she says she loves is Sirius and he's gone for the unseeable future.

Octavia didn't have the chance to respond as the fire place lit up with green flames and panic filled her as she looked over at Amycus who looked just as confused.

It wasn't until their mother stepped out that Octavia rushed over to the girls and gripped both of their hands, she hated Apparating with the two girls while they were young but she would do it if things turned nasty.

"Mother, what are you doing here? You don't normally show up without warning." Amycus spoke and Ophelia looked over at where Octavia was standing.

"And now I can see why you always requested warning before I showed up."

"I requested warning because I don't want to think of what you could be doing to Leighton or Dinky while I'm gone."

"But yet you leave Leighton to your blood traitor sister."

"Because I trusted her with him, she would never hurt him like you did with us, remember, father is dead and with that I gained the family title. Don't push me." He warned Ophelia and she looked over at Octavia.

"She looks just like you, I don't know who the other girl is though, clearly not yours." Ophelia spoke and Octavia tightened the grip she had on the girls' hands.

Emerson and Willa both looked up at Octavia, the look on her face was something they haven't seen before and knew it was best not to say anything, but they were incredibly curious as to what was going on.

"That's none of your business, as Amycus said, you're unwelcome here."

Ophelia didn't say anything, just reached into her bag and pulled something out before throwing it on to the small table that Leighton was still sitting at, wary of his grandmother visiting.

"What's that, another contract you want me to sign so you can buy more property?" Amycus spoke.

"No, it's the marriage contract between Sirius and Octavia. I was coming by to give it to you and in hopes of you passing it along to her, she deserves to know what would have happened had the two of them gotten married." Ophelia explained and with that she was gone.

Octavia let go of Willa and Emerson's hands, letting them run back over to Leighton and sit at the table so they could colour with him as she picked up the contract.

"I never told them that you two got married, mind you it wouldn't mean anything since you two never signed the magical wedding licence." Amycus explained and Octavia nodded as she flicked through it.

"There's nothing in here, nothing like the normal marriage contracts between the families. It just states that Sirius and I would have gotten a house and a whole heap of gold. Nothing about our children, nothing." She looked up at Amycus in shock.

Amycus shrugged before taking the contract, "I'll get Artemis to look into it and try and dissolve it, it should be pretty easy since Sirius is in Azkaban."

"Shouldn't be though," Octavia complained and Amycus looked at her.

"You had the choice to go to trial, to try and get him out but you chose against it." Amycus responded.

Octavia looked up at her older brother, attempting to hide the tears that were brimming in her eyes from the young children.

"What if I was wrong, what if he really did it? I will lose him forever if that's the case."

Amycus didn't say anything, he just wrapped his arms around his baby sister, he hated seeing her like this, in pain at losing someone she loved and he never wanted her to go through that again.

"You can't think like that, you have Emerson and Willa to worry about. Sirius lives on through Willa, she is so much like the both of you."

Octavia pulled away and looked at her brother, before looking over at her daughter quickly noticing that she was looking up at her. Octavia gave Willa a smile before wiping away the tears that escaped, pleased when Willa turned and focused back on Emerson and Leighton.

"I've seen that look on Willa a number of times recently," Amycus spoke and Octavia laughed.

"I know, it's like she knows what is going on but doesn't always say anything. She's brilliant though, I've seen that much and is already attempting to grab a hold of the books that Charlie and Dora require for Hogwarts."

"Maybe she'll be in Ravenclaw and not Gryffindor, won't cause trouble." Amycus spoke.

"Can only hope."

"Speaking of Hogwarts, I'm looking into tutors for Leighton, do you want me to group Emerson and Willa with him?" Amycus questioned and she looked over at him.

"Is it that time already?" Octavia questioned, unbelieving that it they were already at the age for tutors for Hogwarts.

"Yeah for Willa, I've had one for Leighton for the last few months but the last one just quit. Yes or no O?"

Octavia stayed silent and looked back over at the children, in disbelief the girls were already 7 and 6. It may not be time for Emerson to start tutoring for Hogwarts but she will be alright with the reading and spelling part, it was normal for other families with other children to home school all of their children at once. It was only the families with money that paid for tutors and if required hired multiple ones if there was an age gap between the children.

"Let me think about it, I know what Sirius and I would have done for Willa if things were different. I just want to think what Lilith would have done for Emerson." Octavia responded.

"Just let me know, I'm not having interviews for a couple of weeks because of the Easter break."

"I will Am, thank you for watching the girls tonight." Octavia gave her brother a large smile.

"Have fun on your date," Amycus teased and Octavia shook her head.

Neil Jones worked on the same floor as Octavia within the Ministry, he had asked her out on a date a few times now.

She was a little hesitant at first, worried about how the girls would cope if it went further, how Willa would feel having her father replaced but Octavia had to think of herself.

Sirius had a life sentence with no chance of getting out, she would always love him and miss him incredibly for the rest of her life but she couldn't be a shut in.

She only said yes because Neil knew exactly who she was, what she was and who her fiancé was but was still brave enough to ask. She said yes out of respect and curiosity.

.oOo.

 **August 1985**

Willa bounded down the stairs as she heard the doorbell go off and instantly hoped it was Mrs Bakersfield bringing by the cookies she promised the other day. She pulled the door opened and her actions froze as she saw who was on the other side of the door.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned bluntly, watching as the brows furrowed on the guest.

"Really, is that how you are going to talk to me? Just the other night when we spoke on the mirrors you were saying how much you missed me." he spoke.

A large smile appeared on Willa's face before she launched herself forward at Regulus, incredibly happy at seeing her uncle standing there. "I really have missed, you don't visit anymore." Willa spoke into his neck before pulling away and looking at him.

"Is your mum around?" Regulus questioned.

Willa stepped aside and allowed Regulus to enter, "yeah, she's in her office. You can go disturb her, last time I did she bit my head off. Where's Bee?"

"Visiting her family, she'll come by soon." Willa frowned at Regulus and he let out a laugh. "I promise she will come visit."

Willa nodded and allowed Regulus to walk past her and she followed behind, making her way half up the stairs before taking a seat, hoping she could hear the conversation taking place between her mother and uncle.

She did truly miss Regulus and Bridgette, she hasn't seen Regulus in years and Bridgette even longer than that. The conversations that they had over the mirrors weren't enough to change things and there was a part of her that hoped now they were both home, they would stay for good.

"What did…" Willa snickered as she heard her mother shriek, the voices returning to normal level and she was no longer able to hear them.

She stood up and headed back upstairs, walking over and flopping down on Emerson's bed letting out a sigh as she landed.

"Honestly, I just made that and what's wrong with your bed?" Emerson complained from her desk.

"Shock," Willa responded mockingly, pushing herself up on her elbows looking at the girl that was practically her sister. "What are you doing?" she questioned.

"The homework the tutor gave us," Emerson responded and Willa laughed.

"You could come help me instead of laughing at me," Emerson spoke softly and Willa's laughing instantly ceased as she sat up on the bed.

Willa didn't understand it, didn't understand how her mind was so different to everyone around her. She could read a book and instantly remember it word for word allowing her to understand easier the things she needed to learn from the tutor.

Willa had already finished the homework the tutor had given them and Leighton, she knew Emerson was younger and didn't need the tutor just yet, she remembered that conversation that her mother and Amycus had months ago. As such the younger girl sometimes struggled and Willa always helped when she asked.

"Come over here, there's no room for me at the desk." Willa spoke, watching as Emerson looked at her for a moment before collecting her things and joining her on the bed.

"I wish I had your mind," Emerson spoke softly, joining Willa on the bed.

"No you don't," Willa responded.

She hated her memory, she had memories of everyone that died before her father disappeared and it makes it feel so much worse. She envied Emerson because she didn't have the memories, just knew of the people who had died and didn't have to suffer the same fate as dreaming of them that Willa did.

Willa's dreams would sometimes bring forward the memories she had of her father, of James and Lily, Harry, Fabien and Gideon, Marlene, Peter and Dorcas and so many other people that weren't around anymore and Willa would always wake up in tears, unable to handle seeing those things knowing she will never see them again.

Willa knew Harry was still alive, no one knew where he was living though.

Regulus was the one she spoke to one night, not able to handle her memories anymore and he was the one that suggested her working on Occlumency shields in order of hiding her memories from herself.

It wasn't much more than what she was already doing, they had discovered that her accident magic was different, things exploding when she got too angry was happening too often and as such her mother requested she try meditation.

.oOo.

"You ready for this?" Octavia questioned, looking at Regulus beside her.

"You mean enter the home I grew up in with cold and distant parents, sure." He responded sarcastically and Octavia laughed.

"You go first, you have to open the door not me." she pointed out and Regulus took a step forward to the door, opening it.

"Kreacher," Regulus called out, unsure as to if the elf was still alive.

Walburga had finally passed away and as such they were able to find out if Kreacher had destroyed the Horcrux all those years ago when Regulus risked his life to steal to it. It was why Regulus turned up now, hoping they could finally enter the house and take the locket with hopes of destroying it if Kreacher hasn't.

"Master Regulus you're still alive." Kreacher spoke as he appeared in the hallway noticing the two of them.

"Yes Kreacher I am, mother wouldn't let me return home when she learned of what I did."

"She was very angry."

"I bet, where's the locket Kreacher?"

"I'm so sorry master Regulus, please forgive me." Kreacher spoke to himself over and over as he headed for the wall, getting ready to head butt it but Regulus managed to stop him before he could succeed.

"You're forgiven. Where is the locket?"

"Someone stole it, they broke in when Walburga first died and stole things, stole lots of things including the locket."

"Did you at least destroy it?"

Kreacher didn't respond, he burst into tears before throwing himself on the ground.

"Kreacher its fine, stand up." Regulus ordered.

Octavia looked over at Regulus, she could see the anger on his face and it made two of them. Someone with Black blood had entered the house and stole the locket along with whatever else they decided to take.

The way the Pureblood families worked, they all had each other's blood so it could have been anyone really. She just hoped one day it would turn up.

"You head home O, I'm going to double check some things around here make sure nothing else of importance is missing and then inform Dumbledore of what happened today. I will come by for dinner with Bridgette." Regulus spoke.

"No way, we're in this together." Octavia started but Regulus held up a hand to cut her off.

"You have two beautiful girls at home to care for, go home and be with them. I will talk to Dumbledore, I have other things to discuss with him."

"No way, I've just dropped the girls off at the Burrow saying they could spend time with Fred and George, if I turn up there now they'll just get angry and that's the last thing I need from Willa right now."

"Her temper still getting the better of her?" Regulus questioned as he reluctantly turned and began searching the house.

"A Quaffle blew up in her hands the other day, creating burns in the process." Octavia responded.

Octavia was just glad it was only a Quaffle this time, in the past things have exploded and she was hurt in the process. Octavia could see it on her daughter's face that she felt bad that she was hurt, she would hate to think what would happen if Willa hurt someone with her lack of control.

"As long as you aren't getting knocked out by flying pieces of wood again, I never want Willa contacting me on the mirror like that again." Regulus responded.

"At least she had the mirror, imagine what would have happened had she gone next door." Octavia argued and Regulus turned to look at her.

"What does Dromeda say?"

"That she's perfectly fine, she can't find anything magically wrong with her. Remember Willa is the first of her kind, we don't know how my magic is going to affect her. We just have to keep an eye on her as she grows up."

Regulus nodded and Octavia took the hint, she wasn't welcome here while he searched.

She knew their home was a sore topic for him, the same as it was for Sirius when he was still around. She didn't want to think what she would be thinking if she ever had to go home one day in the future and was glad that Amycus refused to move into that house, instead took one of the other properties under the Carrow name.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**

 **Thank you Raven flies at night and YumiKnowsBest for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


	125. Through the Years Pt 3

Chapter 124: Through the Years Pt 3

 **February 1986**

Octavia was currently sitting in the kitchen staring at her empty teacup, she never expected it would be this hard to raise two young girls on her own. She honestly doesn't know how she would have coped without the help of both Andromeda and Amycus and on the rare occasion Molly, they are her saviours and she is incredibly thankful for their help.

Willa and Emerson were currently sound asleep up in their room, she still couldn't believe that they were still wanting to share bedrooms.

To begin with it was something that they were both thrilled with, the idea of sharing a room when every other room was taken, Remus having his own before he left and Leighton as well before he returned home. Now one was a guest room while the one directly across the hall from the room the girls slept in was their play room since two beds and a desk took up most of the floor space in the room. Not once had the girls showed any signs of wanting separate rooms.

It's been four and a half years and she still didn't believe everything happened the way it did, she still doesn't believe that Sirius did what they accused him off. It doesn't matter if she believed him to be James and Lily's Secret Keeper, she just couldn't believe that he betrayed the both of them.

There was a knock on the backdoor behind Octavia, at first she was confused but thought maybe Andromeda was coming to check up on her but then again Andromeda Apparated directly into the house these days.

She turned around and stared at the male, it was someone she hasn't seen in four years, the same amount of time she's had full custody of Emerson.

She picked up her wand and headed towards the door and opened it, pointing it at the male in question.

"What the hell are you doing here Remus?" she growled out her response.

Remus winced at her reaction, he didn't expect her to be this angry.

Remus knew Octavia would be angry, he knew she would be angry for taking off when he did but he just couldn't deal with it on his own. He regrets his decision so much and the fact that he was missing out on Emerson growing up, and she was the only reason he was back now. He couldn't take it anymore.

"I couldn't take being away from Emerson anymore, I miss her so much. I miss both you and Lilith as well, but after the attack and us still grieving over the loss of James, Lily and Peter, it was all just too much." Remus explained but Octavia still refused to lower her wand.

"But you left all of us, you had no idea how hard it was for me to settle both of them after you took off, one would stop crying and the other would begin. When you left, you stated I got custody of Emerson, there were nights I couldn't deal with three toddlers. I broke Remus, more than once. There were nights where I couldn't take it anymore and I dropped them both off at either Dromeda or Amycus' because I needed a break."

"I know and I'm so sorry for leaving you alone with them."

"I assumed that when it was just us left, that we would help each other but no, you left me alone with them and no explanation as what to tell them!" Octavia yelled at him before the tears started falling.

Remus stood there for a moment watching her cry, it wasn't until her wand was finally lowered that he stepped forward and hugged his friend.

"I'm so sorry Snow, I know I can't do anything to fix what I did or how badly you struggled on your own but I want to be here now, I want to help now."

The two of them continued to stand there, Octavia didn't say anything in response, she just continued to cry against Remus and Remus was unsure of what to say next.

"O?"

Octavia and Remus pulled away at the sound of small voice, Remus was stunned at seeing Emerson standing there but Octavia wiped at her eyes before facing the small girl.

"What's wrong sweetie? I thought you were asleep upstairs with Willa." Octavia kneeled in front of Emerson and cupped her face.

"I had a bad dream," Remus' heart broke at the sight of Emerson's eyes welling up, he could see so much of Lilith in her. Emerson was an exact replica of Lilith and that's what hurt the most, him looking at her and being reminded of the love of his life who he lost because a group of people were so set on finding Voldemort.

"Who's that?" Remus was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Emerson speak again, though this time she was looking at him instead of Octavia

"Well sweetie do you remember all those photos I showed you of my times at Hogwarts, of my friends who are no longer with us?" Octavia spoke and Emerson nodded, still not tearing her gaze away from Remus. "Do you remember me pointing out who your parents were?"

"Is he my daddy?" Emerson spoke with such wide eyes that showed so much emotion that it shocked Remus, that wasn't something he saw on Lilith, it was a part of him that came through in her.

"Yes sweetie, he's your daddy. He's been gone for such a long time, dealing with the loss of your mummy but he wants to come home."

"Does that mean that Willa's daddy will come home too? It'll be like we always wished it to be, except for mummy, mummy's still too sick to come home right?" Remus watched as Octavia's head dropped for a moment, this was obviously something that had been spoken about on a number of times.

"That's right your mummy is still too sick to come home but we can always visit her whenever you want, just like Neville visits his parents. No Willa's daddy won't be coming home, he's away for a very long time."

They were all silent for a moment as they watched Emerson take in this information, seconds become minutes and eventually Emerson walked over and wrapped her arms around Remus' waist.

He faltered for a moment, unsure of how to react to this action but it wasn't long until he wrapped his arms wrapped around her in return.

Octavia smiled at the both of them, before standing up and walking over to kiss Remus' cheek.

"I'll go make up the spare bedroom for you," she whispered in his ear before leaving Remus and Emerson alone.

.oOo.

Remus walked downstairs, entering the kitchen shocked at seeing Octavia in there this early in the morning.

"Morning," he spoke and she looked up at him, analysing him.

"Are you actually staying this time round because I don't know if I can handle another round of you leaving?" she questioned and he walked over to join her at the table.

"I promise I am staying, I came back because I realised how much I was missing out on with Emerson growing up and I missed you and Willa as well."

Octavia looked at him, wondering if he was telling the truth. She couldn't go through more questions of where Remus went this time round, even last night she would have sent him packing, telling him to sleep somewhere else before coming back in the morning but Emerson spotted him and started asking questions and in turn she knew she couldn't turn Remus away now.

"Good because I need a babysitter for them while I work, I can't keep relying on Dromeda and Amycus." She smirked at him and he shook his head, finally taking notice of what she said, also realising that he missed that small bit of information the previous night.

"Did you just say Amycus? You leave the girls with Amycus?"

"He treats them just fine and they get along with Leighton incredibly well, it's not like he leaves them alone with our mother."

Remus scrubbed his face with his hands before giving her an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, I just worry about their safety."

"They're fine with Amycus, Amycus adores both of them. If you want we can have both Amycus and Leighton over for dinner one night, remember Amycus is raising Leighton on his own."

"I can deal with that, I know, I remember you telling us that Voldemort killed Celeste and her family. What about the rest of the families, do the girls associate with them?"

"Unfortunately but Amycus can't prevent people from coming over when he has them but he doesn't leave them alone, he keeps an eye on them the whole time. Don't you think after the childhood I had, I would risk putting them in danger?"

"I guess not," Remus spoke softly as he placed a hand on hers, squeezing it. "Thank you for not kicking me out last night," he spoke and Octavia pulled her hand away from his.

"Had no choice after Emerson saw you. Look you gave up custody of Emerson and I raised her the best I could with the help I had. I know you and Lilith had issues with Amycus but he's my brother and as such I leaned on him when I needed him. I would never put the girls in danger, don't you dare ever think otherwise." Octavia snapped.

"I just don't trust Amycus." Remus responded.

"I get that, but as I said, I leaned on him. I get that if things were different, had you not left, the girls would barely associate with those people, only seeing Leighton when he came here but things are different. You left her in my care, in my custody and as such I had to make these decisions alone. Augusta trusted me, she may not like any of those families but she trusted me to make sure Emerson didn't get hurt, Lyall was the same. Both of her grandparents adore her and they both trust me, why don't you?"

"They were all Death Eater's Snow," Remus yelled.

Octavia slammed her hands down on the counter. "You don't think I know that!" Octavia yelled, taking a deep breath so the girls upstairs don't hear her. "I spent years, alongside you and every one of our dead friends fighting them and having them placed in Azkaban only to have them pay their way out. They're all hounding Amycus about setting up a marriage contract between Willa and one of their heirs because Willa is the last one with the Black family name, Willa is the only one who socialises with them because it was the only way for them to drop the idea of an arranged marriage but I don't leave her alone. I force myself to socialise with them to keep an eye on her while Emerson spends time with Neville. Emerson has spent the odd week with Augusta and Neville visiting family in France, I never once kept her from her family."

Remus didn't say anything, it was obvious by the look on his face that Octavia had startled him with her outburst but everything she said was true, she would never once had thought of putting either of them in danger and she hated that Willa was forced to spend time with those families.

"GET OUT!"

Remus and Octavia shared a look as they heard a screech from upstairs.

"Was that Willa?" he questioned and she nodded before standing up and heading upstairs.

They caught sight of Willa attempting to drag a mattress across the hall into another room and the door was swiftly shut behind her. Willa dropped the mattress and marched over to the door and began banging on the door.

"Open up! That's my bedroom!" Willa yelled out.

"Baby what's going on?" Octavia questioned, hoping to get Willa's attention.

"GET OUT OF MY BEDROOM!" Willa yelled once more, the anger coming through in her voice and Octavia took a step back, pulling Remus with her.

"What are you doing Snow?" Remus questioned but she shook her head, watching Willa.

"Emerson!" Willa screeched and moments later the door burst into pieces, taking Willa with it. Octavia was just glad the mattress was sitting there on the floor.

"What was that?"

"Willa's accidental magic coming through, things like to explode when she gets really angry." Octavia explained as she walked over and looked over Willa, grateful that she was fine.

"I'm sorry mummy," Willa mumbled as she sat up on the mattress.

"Its fine baby," Octavia hugged Willa and looked over her shoulder at where Remus was checking on Emerson, who was perfectly fine just shocked at what just happened.

Once it was established that both girls were fine Octavia stood up and looked at them, "now what is going on here?"

"I want my room back!" Willa yelled.

"Please calm down Willa, you don't want to blow up another door do you?" Octavia questioned and watched as Willa closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"But that's our room," Emerson responded and Willa shot her a look.

"Willa why do you want your own room again? You and Emerson have been sharing for years." Octavia questioned, ignoring the glares the two girls were sending each other.

"Because I'm older now and I want my own room mummy," Willa stomped her foot and Octavia tried incredibly hard to not laugh at the scene.

"Okay, now Emerson is it really that bad to no longer be sharing a room with Willa, you will literally be across the hall from her."

Emerson shook her head before looking up at the two adults, still shocked that her father had turned up after being gone for so long.

"Good now that's all sorted, I want my door back." Willa ordered as she walked over to her room and stood there with her arms cross over her chest.

"You think that's how things work Willa, you don't order me around and think that's how you get things." Octavia responded as she grabbed a hold of the mattress on the floor and pulled it in to the room across the hall, she looked at everything in the room and knew it was going to take a while to separate everything for the two girls who would now have separate rooms.

"Come on Moony," Octavia walked down the hall, tilting her head to get his attention.

"Mum!"

Octavia and Remus ignored the older girl as they walked back downstairs and entered the kitchen, Octavia placed her hands on the counter and took a deep breath.

"You alright Snow?" Remus questioned and she nodded before standing up straight and looking at him.

"There's something unusual about the way things explode around her when she's angry."

"So it's happened before?" he questioned and she nodded before scrubbing her face with a hand.

"I've been knocked out by a piece of flying wood while others things just explode, you know exploding Quaffles, dressers, you name it, honestly I don't know how Mrs Bakersfield hasn't heard anything."

"Mrs Bakersfield is still around?" he questioned in shock and she laughed before nodding. "She's probably deaf by now Snow, but you don't think Willa's gotten something from you?"

"It's a possibility, we always wondered how me being a Dreamer would affect her. It could be possible that is where that comes from, you sure you still want to stay and help me?" she questioned and Remus could tell just how affected she was by his leaving.

"I am, I can't stay away any longer and I hate myself for leaving in the first place but so much had happened. I promise I will try and be accepting of Amycus since he has been the one there for you all these years."

"Good because he won't be accepting of you," Octavia responded.

"Why because I'm a werewolf?"

"No, because you left. He was furious, both he and Regulus." Octavia responded and Remus nodded.

He knew he would have to fix a lot of bridges he burned when he left. "I'm not going anywhere Snow."

"Time will tell," she responded, turning her back on him.

.oOo.

 **August 1986**

Willa was currently at the Burrow for the day along with both Emerson and Leighton and all the children were currently playing hide and seek, it was the summer and as such both Charlie and Bill for home from Hogwarts and at the first chance they could, Fred and George guilt tripped the older two into playing with them.

She was hiding in one of the cupboards up in one of the higher floors of the house but it was when she felt something run across her foot she let out a scream.

She continued kicking and screaming, trying to get the thing away from her foot as the door was opened revealing Bill.

"What's the matter?" Bill questioned, but then he caught sight of Percy's pet rat Scabbers. "It's just Scabbers Willa, nothing too scary."

Willa didn't say anything, she just picked up the rat and threw it away from her, out past Bill and into the hallway.

"Filthy thing," Willa muttered climbing out of the cupboard and walking downstairs annoyed that the rat made her lose the game when she thought she had a brilliant hiding spot.

.oOo.

 **September 1986**

"You alright Snow?" Remus questioned as he walked out the front door and found Octavia standing on the porch watching the muggle children play in the street together.

"I hate that the girls can't join in with the other children in these, Mrs Bakersfield is constantly asking if I have an issue with the other children because I won't let them out."

"We know why we don't let them out, Willa can't socialize with the other children until she learns to control her Metamorphmagus ability and it isn't fair if we let Emerson play with them and not Willa."

"I know Moony," Octavia turned and looked at him with a sad smile. "Where are the girls?"

"In the living room," Remus responded and Octavia looked back out on the street.

"We could always move."

"Move where Moony and what would it accomplish?"

"To a magical community where it is full of children just like the girls, the girls will be able to play with other children their own age."

"Even though Dora is a couple of years older she loves spending time with them, they have Leighton, Neville and the Weasley children. We don't hide our girls from the world they are meant to be in despite where we live."

"No, we can't move." They both turned around at the sound of the quiet voice and found Willa standing there holding her Padfoot.

"Why is that baby?" Octavia questioned, walking over and kneeling in front of her daughter.

"Because daddy won't find us if he gets out, he won't know where to find us. He promised me he will always come home, he will come back won't he mummy?" Willa questioned as her eyes welled up and Octavia hugged the young girl.

"Daddy is away for a long time baby, he may never come back." Octavia lied, knowing the truth would just upset her daughter even more.

Octavia and Remus both knew that Sirius was in Azkaban for life, no chance of getting out unless Octavia found the information she needed to prove that Sirius was innocent but she couldn't, she didn't trust her senses anymore, everywhere she went she could smell her dead friends.

"But daddy promised me he will always come home, we can't move mummy, daddy will come home." Octavia wiped away the tears from her daughter's cheek before looking up at Remus.

"So we don't move." Remus shrugged noticing Willa's hair changing colour before he looked out on the street, hoping no one noticed. "What if you sign them up to play Quidditch, I'm assuming they still have junior leagues?"

Octavia couldn't help but smile at the way Willa's face lit up at the idea of playing Quidditch.

"I can play Quidditch?" Willa questioned.

"Yes baby, I will look into some of them and see if we can find you a team. You know Fred and George won't be able to play though right?" Octavia pointed out and her daughter nodded.

"Leighton will though, can Leighton play too?"

"I will talk to Amycus about it."

Willa smiled at them before she turned and headed back inside.

Octavia stood up and turned around facing Remus, "if this ends badly I will blame you Moony."

"Why?"

"She doesn't always play well with others, she grew up around the children she currently plays with. I don't know how she will go with strangers, she's fiercely competitive."

"I know Snow, I've seen her with the Weasley children when they all play Quidditch. She may be fine when she realises she has to share with others." Remus responded.

Octavia nodded, walking over and leaning against the railing hoping he was right. Octavia had longer ago thought of signing the girls up for junior Quidditch but after seeing how Willa played with the Weasley boys she quickly noticed that Willa hogged the Quaffle and didn't like to share and as such she was unsure as how to she would go playing in a team and potentially being benched for not being a team player.

.oOo.

 **November 1986**

Octavia stepped out of the Floo and went in search of Amycus. She was grateful that her brother agreed to work from home today while she had to work and Remus slept off the effects of last night's Full Moon.

Normally after the Full Moon Molly agreed to take the girls, or even Augusta some days but today was one of the days they got tutored, getting them ready for Hogwarts with maths, spelling, reading and writing, everything they would need once they are students.

Except there was one slight problem, Leighton and Willa had a habit of scaring off the tutors and as such Emerson had begun getting tutored with Neville leaving the two troublemakers alone.

She found Amycus hiding away in his office, a sour look on his face while there was a glass of Fire Whiskey on the desk.

"You could just quit if the company is that bad." Octavia teased and he looked up at her.

"No, that is not an issue today. Everything is fine after the paperwork issue was fixed. No, another tutor quit today." He responded.

"You have got to be joking," Octavia responded. Annoyed that they had once again scared off another tutor, she didn't know what they were going to do if they couldn't find a replacement tutor again. "What did they do this time?" she questioned, it was pointless in even supervising their sessions with the tutors because they always managed to do something, regardless as to if they were being watched or not.

One time they pretended to be deaf, confusing the poor tutor. Another time they spoke only in Italian, where Willa picked up Italian Octavia had no idea. She knew Leighton had been taught in his etiquette lessons over the years and maybe he had taught Willa but she was still unsure.

The two of them attempted everything from fake arguments, water fights with no idea as to where the water balloons had come from.

Octavia and Amycus were coming to a loss of what to do with both Leighton and Willa, unsure as to how they will behave at Hogwarts.

Normally the two were relatively well behaved, they behaved for everyone that watched them except for the tutors leaving Octavia and Amycus to believe that maybe it was because they didn't see the tutors as people in charge, someone who can tell them what to do.

"Well Leighton say it was all Willa while she says it was a group effort." Amycus responded and Octavia laughed, knowing those two incredibly well.

"Which means it was all Willa," she responded, shaking her head.

"Yes well the tutor did mutter something about an insufferable know it all on her way out," Amycus spoke, his lips turned up slightly.

"Yes definitely my daughter," Octavia responded, she was going to have to speak to Willa about her manners and respecting other people. "Where are they?"

"Last I heard Dinky had them in the kitchen with her baking cookies."

"They even listen to Dinky, it's just these bloody tutors they don't." Octavia spoke but Amycus didn't say anything, just looked back down at the paperwork in front of him.

She shook her head as she turned and headed downstairs in search of her troublemaking daughter, hoping she was at least behaving for Dinky like she believed.

"Willa," Octavia spoke, her voice sounding like a growl and Willa's head snapped around and looked at her, an innocent looking smile appearing on the young witch's face.

"Hi mummy, have a good day at work?" Willa spoke sounding cheerful.

"It was fine, I heard another tutor quit." Octavia pointed out.

Willa shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't understand why we need a tutor anyway." She muttered.

"Oh so you wish to go to Hogwarts not knowing how to read, write, or spell words? What about maths, you need that for some Potions or even some of the electives at Hogwarts." Octavia responded, a frown appearing on Willa's face and she knew she had her daughter.

Willa had this competitive streak about her and hated whenever she was at a disadvantage. "But I know how to read and spell words," Willa argued.

"But you don't know how to write essays which you need while at Hogwarts, do you honestly think I'll let you keep your broom if you bring home bad grades?" Octavia pointed out, Willa frowning at her. "The tutor will help you learn these things, just as long as you two learn to behave."

"She was a bloody idiot anyway," Willa commented, looking back at Dinky and the cookie mixture for a moment.

"Language," Octavia scolded but she just earned a grin from her daughter.

"Leighton asked her how to spell a word, I just so happened to point out that she spelt it wrong. She tried to defend herself so I pointed the word out in the book we were using. Then she gave me a spelling test as punishment but I just proved I could spell everything she gave me anyway." Willa explained and Octavia now understood why the tutor muttered 'insufferable know it all' on her way out.

"What word?" Octavia questioned, wanting to know if it was an act from them both or if it was an innocent mistake.

"Favourite, the idiot thought it was spelt without a 'u'." Willa laughed.

Octavia was shocked, "wait, your tutor was American?" Octavia questioned.

Willa shrugged, "she had an accent, so maybe."

"I'm going to kill Amycus," Octavia muttered as she turned and left the kitchen, heading back upstairs to kill Amycus.

"You hired an American tutor!" Octavia yelled when she re-entered the office.

"Yeah why?" Amycus responded nonchalantly.

"Oh, I don't know, a bit strange considering they spell some words differently. Leighton asked her how to spell favourite and she helped him, forgetting the 'u'. Willa kindly pointed out that we spell it with a 'u', she quit after giving Willa a hard time." Octavia explained and Amycus looked up at her, a slight smile on his face.

"Oh yes because I can imagine Willa saying that in the nicest way possible." He responded.

Octavia rolled her eyes, "Not the point Am. An American?"

"When those two keep scaring them off I have no choice do I? Why won't Remus tutor them? He has nothing better to do anyway." Amycus responded.

"Really you want to put the poor man through that? Do you hate him that much?" Octavia responded harshly and Amycus narrowed his eyes at her.

"He left O, don't get me started on that. I offered him a job and he refused, that's as far as my kindness reaches and those two are perfectly fine with Remus." Amycus spoke.

Octavia took a seat in one of the chairs, letting out a sigh. "Yes probably because he isn't trying to tutor them."

"You're just paranoid that those two will misbehave this much at Hogwarts." Amycus pointed out and Octavia didn't respond. "He may be able to control them easier than one of the tutors, the tutors aren't their guardians or someone who has been looking after them for years. We're running out of tutors O and we've still got two years before Leighton starts at Hogwarts." Amycus pointed out to her.

"Fine I will ask him but if he says no, do a better background check next time and make sure they aren't American," Octavia warned him.

"Oh I'm sorry for only making they weren't serial killers. You could always hire the tutor." He pointed out and she laughed.

"Why, you're the one with the family fortune." She argued.

"Don't you have access to the Black fortune?"

"Don't touch it, it'll pay for the girls' supplies for Hogwarts." Octavia responded, standing up and heading downstairs to grab Willa and her things before they returned home knowing Remus was getting Emerson.

.oOo.

"How would you feel about tutoring Willa and Leighton?" Octavia questioned as she appeared in the doorway to Remus' room.

She watched as his actions froze at her question before slowly looking up at her. "Are you trying to get rid of me as well?" Remus questioned, a slight smirk on his face.

Octavia let out a laugh, the tutor arrangements were already in place when Remus returned. He didn't like the idea of paying someone to teach his own daughter as it didn't work that way for him growing up but for Amycus and Octavia it was normal, Augusta had even raised Frank and Lilith the same way and it was why she was paying for someone to tutor Neville and of lately, Emerson.

Molly tutored her own children at home and when the older ones began at Hogwarts they helped during the summer where they could.

Octavia knew that Willa had quickly caught on that her own family had more money than the Weasley family, she had noticed that Willa was careful when talking about gifts she received over Christmas while grumbling over presents she received for her birthday against her own wishes.

Octavia didn't understand why Willa hated her birthday, it was something she could never work out or get an answer from her daughter.

"They scared off another tutor today, Am had this idea that maybe you would be able to control them. He'll pay you." Octavia pointed out, knowing she had Remus there.

She knew Remus struggled to find work, his werewolf condition made it so and he hated that he couldn't help contribute to bills or pay for clothes or toys for the girls but Octavia kept reminding him that it didn't bother her, she was just grateful that he returned for Emerson's sake.

"I'll think about it." Remus responded and Octavia nodded knowing that he would eventually agree.

She saw a dream years ago that suggested Remus became a Professor at Hogwarts, it may not have come true yet because they both believed the Defence Against the Dark Arts position to be cursed. Dumbledore had offered them both the position, Octavia nearly every summer since the end of the war and Remus just recently but they both refused.

Despite Remus not having become a Professor yet Octavia still believed he would make a marvellous Professor one day and thought he would do well tutoring them if he could keep them under control.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more as they let me know what you enjoy.**


	126. Through the Years Pt 4

Chapter 125: Through the Years Pt 4

 **December 1986**

Octavia couldn't believe she was doing this, couldn't believe she was going to the one person she couldn't stand with her tail between her legs.

There was a part of her that wished they still had the map, that they didn't lose it towards the end of their seventh year because right now it would help her sneak through Hogwarts undetected because she didn't want anyone to know she was doing this.

She didn't even know how she would begin to explain to Remus where the potion came from.

They had seen it, both read the article in the Daily Prophet a number of times and they were both filled with a large amount of hope at the idea of the Wolfsbane potion. They understood it wasn't a cure but it would help the transformation.

It wasn't until they finally managed to get a hold of it, that they realised that they wouldn't be able to do this.

Regardless of how expensive the ingredients were, Octavia was adamant that she would pay for them and not let Remus breathe a word about the costs, but it was the actual brewing of the potion.

Remus had barely made it through his Potion OWLs, James and Sirius had attempted to tutor him but it always failed and in fifth year when Remus became a Prefect with Lily, that was when she discovered what type of person he was and had agreed to help him pass the class. While Octavia couldn't stand the class, choosing to not continue the subject and it had been years since she brewed a potion and she didn't want to start by poisoning her best friend.

Octavia headed to what she remembered being Slughorn's office, hoping that it had become Snape's office when he took over as Potions Professor but found it empty.

She couldn't believe she didn't realise it was in the middle of classes and that he may be teaching a class.

She leaned against the wall outside the Potions classroom where he was teaching, ignoring the looks she received from the Seventh year Slytherins leaving the room recognising who she was, or some of the other students looking at her in curiosity as to how she made it on to the grounds or who she was.

It wasn't until 15 minutes after all the students left that Snape finally did, his steps halting at the sight of her standing there.

"Why do I have this feeling that a huge favour is coming my way?" He questioned with a sneer on his face and she rolled her eyes.

"You knew I would be coming wouldn't you?" she questioned and he nodded with a smirk on his face. "What will it take for you to brew the potion then?"

"Your boyfriend-"

"Husband." She corrected, cutting him off.

"How does it feel being married to a Death Eater?"

"How does it feeling knowing everyone still believes you to be one despite what Dumbledore says," Octavia snapped in response.

"Talking like that won't get me to brew the potion." Snape commented before heading down the corridor, giving Octavia no choice but to follow him.

"And yet you almost killed me one year, don't you think you owe me?"

"Your _husband_ almost got me killed," Snape retorted, disgust filling his voice on the word husband.

"Touché," Octavia spoke, falling in step beside him and not speaking the one comment she had left in her.

"You're not even going to blame me for Lily getting killed?" he spoke, the quietness of his voice shocking her.

"I want to, knowing it will most likely get you to brew the potion but I can't. I lost them too, I lost both James and Lily and missed out on getting to see Harry grow up, Dumbledore won't even tell me where he is."

"Have you spoken to Dumbledore about me brewing the potion?" Snape questioned, opening the door to his office and letting Octavia step through.

"Nope, don't see the point. If money is an issue, I will pay for the ingredients, we were originally going to but-"

"But then you saw how complicated the potion was and neither of you did NEWTs Potions."

"Exactly, will you?" Octavia questioned, looking over at Snape. Things were still tense between them because of how things were when they were at Hogwarts as students, things happened between them with Octavia almost ending up dead because of him and Snape almost ending up dead because of Sirius and in turn Remus.

Dumbledore had requested both of their presence over the years regarding various things to do with Voldemort and things weren't always friendly between them but they made it work because Dumbledore trusted both of them.

"Why did you come to me? You could have gone to anyone else, your Healer relative, any one of the Potion masters within the Ministry, why me?"

"Dumbledore only hires the best and I want the best for Remus, even if that means coming to you with my tail between my legs."

"Yes that is very joyous sight." A smirk appeared on his face and Octavia lowered her head, scratching the back of her neck.

"You know what, forget it." Octavia muttered before heading to the door.

"How old are the girls?" Snape questioned, shocking Octavia.

"Willa is 8 and Emerson is 7."

"I will make the Wolfsbane potion but I can't this month, it's too close to the Full Moon. It needs to be taken for a week before the Full Moon and I haven't had the chance to make it yet, I would at least want to make a couple of attempts at the potion before Lupin drinks it. I would hate to think what you would do to me if I poison him."

Octavia turned and looked at Snape, completely shocked. She had a feeling he would say no, but yet she came here anyway, "Thank you." She spoke with a small nod of her head before turning and leaving.

.oOo.

"Where did this come from Snow?" Remus questioned when he looked at where Octavia had placed the goblet containing the Wolfsbane potion in front of him.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes because I want to know if someone wishes I would be dead," he muttered darkly and she rolled her eyes.

"Take it, don't take it, I don't care." She snapped back in response before rubbing her temples.

"Who brewed it?" he questioned once more, looking over at her and noticing the look of distaste on her face "You went to Snape with your tail between your legs."

"Not figuratively, but I'm sure he would have enjoyed that sight. Yes he did brew it, I asked him but there is a part of me wondering if he's doing it because of the girls, he asked how old they were."

"Don't tell me you threw Lily in his face," Remus scolded and she looked shocked.

"I did not, it was open for it and everything but I didn't. Take it, don't take it, I don't care. Come a week when it's time for the Full Moon we both go out there while Dromeda and Ted look after the girls either way, that potion just determines how much work I have ahead of me."

.oOo.

 **March 1987**

"Willa come back here," Octavia called out as Willa stormed up the stairs after having thrown her broom on the ground.

Octavia took a deep breath before following her daughter up the stairs. She stood in the doorway to her daughter's room, watching as she removed her Quidditch gear and threw it across her room.

"I don't get it, I'm better than those other players but yet I get benched!" Willa snapped as she kicked one of her braces, her anger getting the better of her.

"Baby calm down before something explodes." Octavia spoke softly.

"I just-"

"Take a deep breath," Octavia spoke, cutting Willa off.

Octavia stood there leaning against the door frame, she stayed silent as Willa closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I don't get it mummy," she responded softly, opening her eyes and looking at Octavia and Octavia could see that most of the anger was gone.

"You don't share, it's a team sport and the coach will put on who shares." Octavia explained and Willa let out a huff before throwing herself down on her bed.

The junior Quidditch leagues were different to the Professional ones, the junior Quidditch leagues rotated their players, having anywhere from ten to fourteen players on the team, allowing everyone to have a fair go at playing. Even the balls they used were developed differently.

When Octavia was younger the junior Quidditch leagues didn't have Beaters on the teams because the Bludgers posed too much of a risk for the children but someone along the way developed Bludgers that were soft upon impact, didn't cause as much damage as what it could to the Professional Quidditch players.

Even the Snitch was easier to catch, slightly bigger and slower. The magic controlling the Snitch also cut off after an hour preventing the games from going for too long and exhausting the children.

"But I'm better than them." Willa responded with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It doesn't matter, it's a team sport baby. If you want to continue to play, you have to learn how to share. Now wash up for dinner, Moony should be back with Emerson soon enough." Octavia spoke before she turned and headed downstairs.

Emerson didn't want to play Quidditch, she was quite happy watching Willa and Leighton play from time to time. Emerson had no problem playing with the Weasley family but it was just for fun, she didn't see the point in playing competitively and when she made the comment it caused Remus and Octavia to share a look, they both knew what the other was thinking. It was all Lilith.

.oOo.

 **August 1987**

"Mummy?"

Octavia looked up from the desk and noticed Willa standing there with Padfoot in her hands.

She knew her daughter was annoyed at her because she wouldn't let her go spend time at the Burrow with Fred and George because they were sick while Emerson was off with the Longbottoms visiting family in France, Willa refused to go saying it wasn't her family despite them all treating her like family when they were in Britain.

When Willa asked if she could see Leighton Octavia flat out said no, refusing to give an explanation.

Amycus informed her the previous night that some of the Death Eaters that avoided time in Azkaban would be stopping by and she didn't want Willa around those people.

Octavia had given in and allowed Willa to socialise with the other children from the families to prevent Amycus from having to cause problems with them because they were insistent on a marriage between Willa and one of the males from the prominent families. They relented if Willa spent one day a month with them.

Something that pleased Octavia was that Willa dragged her heals the whole way there and only talked to Draco Malfoy and Leighton, sometimes Saxon and Cassius Nott since they were close friends with Leighton while ignoring the rest of them.

Octavia long ago gave up on wondering why Willa was friendly towards the Malfoy heir, she knew Willa eavesdropped on the conversations taking place in the house when she could and may have overheard that Narcissa is the only one that can have Sirius pulled from Azkaban without severe repercussions.

"I told you baby, you can't visit Fred and George."

"I know you said they were sick but nothing a Pepper Up Potion can't handle."

"Willa," Octavia warned her and Willa just grinned in response.

"What did daddy do? You told me he's in Azkaban for life, when I was younger it was because he was naughty and hurt people but I've hurt you a couple of times when I get angry and I'm still here, so what did _he_ do?" she questioned and Octavia frowned for a moment.

"Come here baby," Octavia spoke softly while moving the chair back from the desk and holding her arms out.

She waited until Willa was perched on her lap. She wrapped her arms around Willa and softly kissed the top of her head.

Octavia had been wondering when this day would come, when she would have to explain what fully happened. She told Remus she never wanted to tell Willa that Sirius supposably betrayed James and Lily. They had already worked out Willa had marvellous memory recall and she could remember some moments with them before they went into hiding. Willa even remembers racing Harry on brooms when they were younger.

Both her and Remus agreed it was for the best, they would just tell her what the public knew, he blew up a street and killed thirteen people and leave it at that.

"He was placed in Azkaban for killing thirteen people."

Octavia tucked Willa's loose curl behind her ears as she looked up at her.

"Why do you and Moony argue about that? I know you've told me not to eavesdrop but sometimes it happens."

"Because despite him being the only one to make it out alive I don't believe he did it, there has to be something we don't know, something that wasn't seen at the time."

"Why do you have faith in him while Moony doesn't?" Willa questioned.

"I've known your father ever since I can remember, he and Regulus were always there growing up. We were best friends that fell in love and despite him having a shocking temper, I don't believe he would purposely hurt or kill anyone, just like you. You have his temper and I know you've hurt me by accident when things explode when you get angry but I know you baby, you would never hurt me or anyone else on purpose."

"So like Willie the warlock in The Dangerous Tales, he was framed?" Willa questioned.

"Yes sort of. As I said, I believe something is missing from evidence."

"But we're magical, there are ways to look at memories of events and isn't there the truth potion?" Willa questioned.

Octavia knew Willa was brilliant, her mind allowed to be that way because of the way she took in and remembered information but now they were getting into a conversation she possibly couldn't understand because of her age.

"I think that's enough for today and it seems as though the rain has cleared up and I've finished my paperwork, do you want to go to the park or the zoo?"

Willa shook her head and climbed of Octavia's lap, heading for the door.

Octavia placed her head on the desk and let out a quiet groan. She didn't want to have this conversation with Willa but she was asking more and more questions about Sirius and she couldn't keep her in the dark for much longer, especially when all of Magical Britain knew what happened.

"I don't care what daddy did, I want him to come home." Willa spoke and when Octavia looked up she found Willa standing in the doorway, tears glistening in her eyes.

Octavia didn't get the chance to response as Willa turned and left the room completely.

.oOo.

 **June 1988**

"That bloody bitch!" Octavia yelled as she stepped through the fireplace, her anger disappearing as she heard the giggles coming from the other side of the room. She turned her head and found Willa and Emerson sitting there.

"Don't tell Moony," she placed a finger over her lips.

"Don't tell Moony what?" Octavia's head dropped as the voice spoke, she turned her head and found Remus leaning against the doorway with a smirk on his face, having caught her swearing in front of the girls. "I see the girls are learning swear words from you and not Bill, Charlie or god forbid Nymphadora?"

"I got fired Moony, don't start." Octavia snapped as she walked through the living room and entered the kitchen.

"What do you mean you were fired?" Remus questioned entering the kitchen behind Octavia.

"I mean that stupid bloody Umbridge bitch that has been trying to have all those werewolf legislations put in place that will make it impossible for you to find work, she has now implemented legislations that Galloway needed so he can fire me."

"You were fired because you're classified as a Magical Beast?" Remus questioned and she nodded.

Before now, despite Octavia being classified as Magical Beast there were no legislations in place preventing her from getting work but now, now they had been implemented and as such her boss was able to fire her. Galloway had made it obvious from the start that he didn't like her but he wasn't the Department Head when she first started working in the department and he had no reason to fire her. He didn't want to try and do it without an actual reason because of the family she came from and she was good at her job.

"Merlin, what are we going to do? I loved that job and we needed that job." Octavia complained as she rested her head against the kitchen cupboard.

"Don't over exaggerate Snow, we don't exactly need you to work. I'm pretty sure the money you are getting transferred from your family is enough for us to get by and don't you have access to Sirius' vault just in case?"

"That's not the point Moony, I don't want to have to rely on the money I'm getting from a family who only reinstated me because I fell pregnant when I was 17."

"Snow don't be like that, you get along with Amycus just fine. Do you really want to rely on the money you earn or do you want our daughters to have the life they deserve, something we worked hard for after our graduation, what we lost friends and family for, so they could have a happy and safe life."

"I know Moony," Octavia rubbed her hands up and down her face, completely forgetting she put make up on this morning before letting out a huff in annoyance. "This day just keeps getting worse," she complained before turning around and search the cupboards for a bottle of Fire Whiskey.

"What are you doing Snow?" Remus questioned but Octavia didn't respond as she turned around and headed upstairs, thinking a bath with the bottle was exactly what she needed.

.oOo.

"What do you want Moony?" Octavia questioned without turning around from the desk to face Remus, she just knew he was there.

She was currently sitting in the office that was situated downstairs of the house, once the war was over she had it transformed into her own office, needing somewhere to work on anything that she brought home with her.

"We have a visitor that may peak your interest."

"Depends is it Galloway giving me my job back?" she questioned, finally spinning around on the chair a smile on her face as she did and Remus smiled, pleased to finally seeing her smile.

Octavia had been in a mood the last couple of days since she had lost her job, Remus knew how much she enjoyed her job, enjoyed working in a department within the Ministry that dealt with Magical Creatures, it might not be her working in a Dragon Reserve like she always wanted but it was still something she enjoyed and she was able to get out in the field and work with the creatures that she comes across.

The only downside was Oliver Galloway, who feared her for what she was and Dolores Umbridge, who absolutely despised her because she was classified as a Magical Beast, she also hated Willa even more for being a half breed.

"No not Galloway but-" Remus started but Octavia cut him off.

"Not interested, when are you bringing Willa and Emerson home from Augusta's?"

"When you decide to not get drunk again tonight."

Octavia hadn't harmed the girls, far from it. It was more she got drunk and got incredibly loud, keeping the girls awake for most of the night and Remus decided they would get a decent night's sleep at Augusta's and there was nothing wrong with them spending a few days with Neville.

"How about this Remus, you find a job that you enjoy immensely and then get fired because of what you are then you can decide whether or not I can get drunk again tonight."

"How about the fact that I can't get a job at all?" Remus threw in and Octavia's face fell.

She knew from previous discussions that he wished he could find something, even if it was part time so he was able to help out. He barely lasted at any Muggle jobs he had found because as soon as the Full Moon came he had to take time off and most Muggles couldn't accept it, him taking a couple of days off every month.

There were people out in the wizarding community that didn't have a problem but they only offered short term work.

"I'm sorry Moony, I-" Remus waved a hand and cut her off.

"I know Snow, I'm incredibly grateful you took me back after taking off and leaving you alone, I'm grateful you continue to let me live here despite not being able to always put gold towards the bills we have, food or even toys for the girls. I just honestly think you are overreacting to being fired, you will find another job, if not you can always take one amongst the Muggles."

"Who's here?" she questioned softly, standing up from the office chair, she really did enjoy some of the muggle inventions.

"Come and find out, I promise we will get through this and plus surely Amycus would give you a job."

"Yay five days a week with those families," she spoke sarcastically and Remus rolled his eyes. "You could always work with Amycus?"

"You and I both know Amycus isn't too fond of me because I left like I did, come on Snow." Remus spoke, urging Octavia out of the room once more, glad she laughed knowing it was true about Amycus.

"Dumbledore," Octavia stuttered out, noticing Dumbledore taking in the things in their living room.

"Octavia it is lovely to see you again, it has been too long." Dumbledore nodded at her and she returned it before walking over and taking a seat on the couch.

"Will you join me?" She questioned and he nodded before walking over and taking a seat.

"Remus you may as well stay, I have something to talk to you both about."

"Now if you are here once again asking if one of us will take the Defence job, you know we won't, you know we believe that position is cursed." Remus spoke as he walked over and sat beside Octavia on the couch, now glad that the girls were at Augusta's and not here for this.

"Not this year, I seem to have filled the position much quickly this year, but I do have a job offer for Octavia. I recently heard she lost her job within the Ministry."

"I did but how did you hear that?"

"I have many contacts within the Ministry Octavia, you wouldn't believe some of the things I hear. Now about my job offer, I can assure you it is not the Defence Against the Dark Arts post."

"Do tell, surely you know by now that I don't give an answer until I have all the facts."

"Yes I do remember that Octavia, now surely you remember Professor Kettleburn he was your Care of Magical Creatures Professor. He has come and spoken to me about maybe stepping down from his position as a Professor and retire, I managed to convince him to at least lessen his load and take a step back from some of the more dangerous Magical Creatures that. So I am in need of someone to take his remaining classes."

"So you want me to become a Professor at Hogwarts, teach Care of Magical Creatures at a school where I was constantly in detention. What did McGonagall have to say about that?" Octavia smirked at her old headmaster.

"What makes you think I consulted with her in regards to my hiring practises?"

"Surely you know that McGonagall would have something to say about me becoming a Professor, being in charge of a group of students."

"Now don't be like that O, I believe you would be a marvellous Professor, you've matured a lot since having Willa."

"I agree with Remus Octavia, I saw you through the years during the war after your graduation. You matured a lot after having Willa, I believe even in your seventh year you both and the rest of your friends stayed out of detention a lot more that year. Something I put down to maturity, you all grew up and changed your ways."

"Now, now, I'm the only one here that can see into the future and Remus is the only one of us two that becomes a Professor at Hogwarts." Octavia spoke, crossing her arms over her chest, unsure if she wanted to teach at Hogwarts and be away from both Willa and Emerson for that long.

"You and I both know that the future can change, you may not have been able to change some things but other things like this could have changed and who knows, Remus may change his mind in the future."

"Tell me Dumbledore, if I do accept this position what is required of me?" Octavia questioned, looking at Remus. She could tell that Remus was also wondering what would happen to Emerson and Willa with her being constantly gone.

"You will be teaching the sixth and seventh years for their NEWTs course, you will be required to make rounds like the rest of the staff and on occasion take other classes in case someone is sick or unable to teach for that period. If there are no sixth or seventh years wanting to take the class I won't require you to be in constant attendance except for staff meetings and special occasions. You will be able to come home on the weekends, I believe it would be hard on you being away from both Willa and Emerson for a long period of time after everything you both have been through. I'm sure we can also work things out to allow you to take Full Moons off." Dumbledore explained and Octavia nodded before standing up and walking over to the window to look out on the street where the muggle children were playing.

"So let me get this straight, you want me to spend 10 months of the year at Hogwarts away from my daughter and goddaughter, who to this day are still struggling with the loss of one of their parents. You want me to teach a bunch of 16 and 17 year olds how to deal with Magical creatures, despite me being classified as one."

"The offer is there Octavia, but yes that is what I require of you. There is a month of the term left and then two months of the summer break. I need to know of your decision by August so I can send out the school letters including their book requirements for the new school year."

"Of course, I will definitely let you know." Octavia spoke with a small smile and Dumbledore bid them both goodbye before standing up and heading towards the fireplace and disappearing through the green flames.

"Snow?" Remus questioned as he walked over and stood beside Octavia, who was once again looking out the window.

"Out of all the possibilities I never once considered teaching, I don't know if can be away from the girls for that long."

"Let's be realistic Snow, Willa turns 10 in a few weeks. You're worry about being away from her for 10 months of the year, is only going to be a year. It will only leave Emerson and we have already discussed attempting to enrol her in a local primary school to keep her occupied while everyone else is at Hogwarts and if we don't, then it doesn't matter."

"What about you though? Within two years both of them will be at Hogwarts with me."

"I can visit, we can meet in Hogsmeade and Dumbledore stated you can Full Moons off, I will be fine. You loved that class, it was your favourite. You never considered teaching because you never wanted to be away from the girls but in all honesty is this something you would consider? Teaching the students about Magical Creatures." Remus watched as Octavia slowly nodded.

"Then we will work it out, we will manage and once both girls are at Hogwarts I'm sure I will find it easier to find another job whether it be muggle or magically because I won't have to worry about them and if we have to find babysitters."

"Maybe, I will think about it but surely you know I won't take this if the girls don't want me to go."

"The girls are both 9, they will be thrilled with the idea of you being at Hogwarts. If they were 15 or 16, it may be different." Octavia laughed before resting her head against his shoulder.

Octavia fell silent as she thought this through, this was something she would enjoy immensely, teaching the next generation about magical creatures, something she was truly passionate about. She was scared for how the girls would react, scared for how Willa would react to her being gone.

Willa didn't like change, even when Remus returned after his disappearance Willa was very funny around him, almost wondering if he was going to disappear again but once she got used to him to being around she treated him no different to Emerson, looked up to him and treated him with affection.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Here it is, the end of the Mysterious Life of Octavia Carrow. I know in a previous chapter I said there would be a total of 126 chapters plus the Prologue but it was after I posted that chapter I realised that I missed a number along the way and as such it is a total of 125 chapters.**

 **I never had any idea this idea I had about a different type of magic existing would come this far and as such I want to thank every single of you who has read, followed, favourited and reviewed this story along the way as it all means so much to me. It's knowing that people are reading gives me the motivation to keep writing.**

 **I also posted the chapters for the new story that will follow Willa's time at Hogwarts so please check it out. It is called One of a Kind  
**

 **Thank you to YumiKnowsBest, Raven always flies at night and infamous-wizard for your reviewing, it means a lot to me.**


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